With the continuing debate in Congress over the best way to rein in high energy prices, proponents of a full-scale commercial federal oil shale leasing program are hoping that consumer concerns about prices will translate into a windfall for major oil companies.

They’ll declare that the answer to skyrocketing fuel pump costs lies in unlocking the vast oil shale deposits of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Unfortunately, such a declaration would be far from the truth because a viable technology to produce oil from oil shale remains at least a decade away.

Did you know that more than three million acres of oil shale lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are already in private hands—and have been so for decades? Companies such as ExxonMobil, Red Leaf Resources and Great Western Energy, LLC own more than 83,000 acres of prime oil shale lands while also each holding portions of the six 160-acre tracts the Bureau of Land Management leased for the expressed purpose of giving these companies space to develop viable oil shale technologies.

These companies possess all the land they need to begin a commercial oil shale program now but have not done so. Yet, despite the fact that oil shale and tar sands development relies on unproven, environmentally destructive and economically dubious technologies, the Bush administration wants to spend its last months in office handing over more of your public lands to international companies such as Royal Dutch Shell.

In fact: it’s in the best interest of the American people to slow down the pace on commercial oil shale development. The Governors of Colorado and Wyoming clearly think so. Find out what Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO) had to say about opening federal lands in Colorado to a commercial oil shale program at a recent Congressional hearing. Gov. Ritter is not alone. Find out what Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D-WY) thinks about slowing the pace of oil shale development.

Last year, Congress agreed with Governors Ritter and Freudenthal and placed a moratorium on funding a commercial oil shale program. But over the past several weeks, and over the next few months, proponents of a commercial leasing program will push to lift this moratorium. We urge you to support Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), John Salazar (D-CO) and Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) in their attempt to renew the funding moratorium on a commercial oil shale leasing program. Despite what is being said to the contrary, commercial oil shale development is many years, if not decades in the future, and allowing the issuance of commercial oil shale leases will not affect pump prices.

As this debate begins, please consider the realities of oil shale: 

• According to information assembled by the United State Geological Survey, hundreds of billions of barrels of oil equivalent locked in oil shale deposits are already owned or controlled by private companies like ExxonMobil, the Oil Exploration Company, Red Leaf Resources and Anadarko.  Most of these lands were previously transferred into private from federal ownership to encourage development during past oil shale booms. Nevertheless, none of these companies has ever developed a successful commercial oil shale project on these lands. 
• A host of technological and economic, not governmental, impediments prevent the commercial feasibility of oil shale development.  Shell is working on some promising new technologies, but says it will not know if its innovations are commercially viable for many, many years.  And the RAND Corporation testified to Congress last year that the technology for commercial exploitation of oil shale is years away from viability.
• Oil shale development would require enormous inputs of coal-fired electric power, and large supplies of water in an arid, almost desert-like climate.  The latter factor is why water users throughout Colorado have begun to voiced concerns about the impact of an oil shale industry on municipal and agricultural water users in Colorado.
• Although the federal government has embarked upon a robust oil shale research and development (R&D) leasing program, it will be many years before we have enough information from that program to make intelligent decisions about the scope, viability, and impacts of a commercial-scale oil shale development program.  To authorize a commercial leasing and development program now in the absence of the information the R&D program is designed to obtain would be putting the cart before the horse.
• Elected leaders like Sen. Salazar (D-CO), Gov. John Ritter (D-CO), Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D-WY) and Reps. Udall and John Salazar (D-CO) are perfectly reasonable in urging a cautious approach to federal policies on oil shale.  There are too many technological, economic and environmental questions that need to be resolved before we can count on oil shale development to make any contribution to our energy needs.
• The environmental dangers of rushing into a commercial oil shale program are real and dangerous. Find out what New West writer Joan McCarter had to say about the potential impacts of a commercial oil shale leasing program.

Best wishes,
Drew Bush