DENVER—Colorado’s lawmakers were working to include Colorado-specific provisions in the federal energy bill, which could go before the U.S. House for a vote as early as Wednesday.
An earlier version of the House energy bill included provisions that would have restricted oil and gas leases on top of the Roan Plateau in western Colorado and slowed down moves toward commercial-scale oil shale development.
It was unclear Tuesday whether those measures were dropped from the compromise.
“We are waiting to see the final text of the energy bill, which will soon be on the House floor,” said Tara Trujillo, spokeswoman for Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo.
In the other chamber, Colorado Sens. Ken Salazar, a Democrat, and Wayne Allard, a Republican, were drafting proposals on the Roan Plateau and oil shale.
The Senate is expected to vote on the energy bill next week. The bill has been held up by differences between the House and the Senate and among House Democrats.
The compromise announced last week centers on proposals requiring increases in vehicle fuel efficiency, the amount of power coming from renewable energy sources and use of ethanol for motor fuel.
Udall and Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., sponsored a measure in the House energy bill passed this summer to prohibit any ground disturbance on oil and gas leases on public land on top of the Roan Plateau. Drilling and other activities would have to be done offsite.
The bill included a measure by Udall saying that commercial oil shale development must occur in an orderly way.
“There are multiple pieces of legislation working through Congress,” said Eric Wortman, John Salazar’s spokesman. “We’re still hopeful that something can be done.”
Ken Salazar was working on Roan Plateau and oil shale provisions to keep them in the energy bill, spokesman Cody Wertz said.
“Sen. Salazar has been in negotiations the last two days,” Wertz said. “We don’t know what we’re going to win or get in the next 24 hours.”
Salazar wants to insert a provision requiring “a thoughtful and deliberative approach” to commercial-scale oil shale development, Wertz said.
Shale reserves in Colorado, Utah and southwest Wyoming are believed to contain at least 1 trillion barrels of oil—three times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia, or enough to theoretically supply the United States for a century. But the oil, or kerogen, is locked in layers of hard rock, and the technology for affordably heating and extracting the liquid is still evolving.
Salazar also has been fighting for a one-year moratorium on oil and gas leases on the Roan Plateau because of ongoing debate over drilling on federal land on the landmark.
The Bureau of Land Management has approved a plan that projects 193 well pads and 1,570 wells over 20 years, including 13 pads and 210 wells on top of the Roan Plateau. Final approval of a management plan for areas designated as environmentally sensitive is pending.
Proponents of drilling on the plateau say the plan has been analyzed and developed over seven years and has included much public input.
Opponents say the area encompasses environmentally sensitive spots, rare plants and wildlife and is important to the western Colorado economy as a recreation and hunting destination.
Leasing is on hold while Gov. Bill Ritter finishes reviewing the management plan, issued by the BLM in June.
Ritter, who took office in January, sought an extra 120 days to study the plan.
Allard supports drilling on the Roan Plateau but is working with Salazar on a measure to ensure cleanup of an old oil shale research site on the plateau because the state won’t receive its 50 percent share of mineral royalties from leasing federal land until the work is fully funded and certified.
Allard previously sponsored similar legislation.
Proponents of development say the state would reap billions of dollars in mineral royalties and other fees on production on the Roan Plateau, once waste from the research site is cleaned up. Critics dispute those numbers.
