If you’re interested in the future of oil shale development in Colorado, you’d better clear your summer calendar.
In mid-July, the Department of the Interior is to release its environmental impact statement on shale development – an estimated 2,000 pages in seven volumes.
State natural resources officials, whose job is to be interested in shale, will get an early look at the study, but they don’t think they can give it the scrutiny it needs.
Originally, Interior told Colorado, Wyoming and Utah the state would get just two weeks to review and comment on the study.
Gov. Bill Ritter and Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal protested that ridiculous timetable, said they needed four extra months and dispatched aides to Washington to plead for time.
They got their answer Tuesday – the states will get only a couple more weeks and so will have until June 12 to study and react to the shale report. Federal officials also suggested the states can weigh in during the three-month public comment period that kicks off July 13. Those study periods are inadequate at best, although in fairness to Interior, its hands are tied by unrealistic timetables inserted in 2005 energy legislation by a drill-happy Republican Congress.
The big question is this: What’s the rush?
The nation could use the estimated 1 trillion to 2 trillion barrels of oil locked in the rocks of Utah, Wyoming and western Colorado. But oil companies can’t just pull some equipment out of warehouses in Texas, truck it to Colorado and start pumping shale oil.
There is now no commercially viable technology for extracting oil from shale, and it may be years before technology and oil prices intersect in a way to make shale work.
Smart scientists are working on the problem. Shell, for example, has spent millions of dollars and many years working on the puzzle. But it won’t make a decision on commercial production until after 2010.
The biggest questions about shale, and the ones with the most important implications for Colorado’s future, are these: How much water will shale production require; is it available; and who loses water if the shale industry needs it? How much energy will be needed to extract shale, and how many coal-fired plants will be needed to provide that electricity?
Given that oil from shale isn’t just around the corner, and given the vital questions of water and energy, shale development deserves the most careful – and lengthy, if necessary – study possible.
Developing oil shale has been a dream since the early 20th century. But careful planning is needed to make sure the dream doesn’t turn into a nightmare.
