Groups: Oil shale projects would eat up electricity

Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 26, 2007 at midnight

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Oil shale development in western Colorado would consume staggering levels of electricity — nearly three times that produced by the state in all of 2005 — according to a statement from a coalition of environmental groups.

Should the industry produce one million barrels a day, as some government analysts estimate, the electricity needs would "create enough pollution to roll back years of air quality gains and inject massive amounts of global warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere," the groups said.

The concerns were the second major salvo from green activists against oil shale. Earlier this month, the same groups warned that oil shale development on the Western Slope could require water equal to the amount consumed by two Denver-sized cities annually.

Environmentalists said the 12,000 megawatts of electricity needed to produce the oil shale probably would come from coal-fired power plants and inject an array of pollutants into the air, threatening the health of Western Slope residents.

Three companies are researching technology that would coax oil from underground rock in northwestern Colorado. But it's likely to be several years, if ever, before the companies are prepared to use the process on a commercial scale, as a variety of hurdles remain.

Industry officials were critical of the environmentalists' claims. One called the numbers guesswork: "It's an assertion based on a hypothetical that is akin to shadowboxing," said Greg Schnacke, executive vice president of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association.

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