Grand Junction – In a scramble reminiscent of the oil-shale boom a quarter century ago, would-be shale developers are promoting plans to bake, microwave, gasify and dig up the rock-locked oil under western Colorado and parts of Utah and Wyoming.
Members of the Senate Energy Committee are coming west today and Thursday to look at some of those efforts. A hearing Thursday in Grand Junction will examine the potential impacts of development of a resource that has stymied energy experts for a century and devastated western Colorado once before.
“Go slow” is the shared message that civic leaders and conservation groups are preparing to deliver at the Senate field hearing.
“We need to develop these resources in a thoughtful manner that respects the other economic, cultural and environmental values that contribute to the Western Slope’s way of life,” said Kathy Hall, chairwoman of Club 20, a coalition of Western Slope government and business interests.
“It’s important that everyone recognize that this is an industry in its infancy,” said Bob Randall, attorney for Western Resource Advocates, an environmental law and policy organization.
While local voices urge caution, the Bush administration has been pushing for development of areas containing an estimated 1 trillion barrels of oil – an enticing promise with oil prices above $70 a barrel.
The Bureau of Land Management has approved five research-and-development leases on federal land in Colorado to give three companies a chance to prove they can cost-effectively produce oil from rock. The oil is in the form of kerogen, a precursor of petroleum that hasn’t yet been liquefied by millions of years of deep-Earth heat.
Shell Exploration and Development Co. has three of those leases for variations of a method of heating the oil underground.
Chevron and EGL Resources Inc. have leases where they will attempt to show they can use electricity to heat the shale underground and then use the natural gas released in that process to further liquefy the kerogen.
In Utah, the Oil Shale Exploration Co. has a lease to mine shale and cook it above ground – a method that failed during the last boom.
Oil companies without research leases also are moving ahead with plans for demonstration projects. Those companies will vie for the attention of the Senate committee, as will those urging the government to look at potential impacts before allowing commercial production.
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.
