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DENVER — Royal Dutch Shell has been buying water rights in western Colorado for possible use in getting petroleum out of oil shale, and that has some water officials and conservation groups concerned.
Shell won’t say how much water the company has purchased, and state and local governments say they don’t have complete ownership records.
Energy companies are still experimenting on ways to extract oil from shale. Shell says it doesn’t yet know how much water it will need.
Officials of the Colorado River Water Conservation District and the environmental group Western Resource Advocates say it could take more water than the region has available.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
