Legislation would slow oil shale leasing
Rocky Mountain News
Published December 18, 2007 at 12:30 a.m.
A move to slow oil shale development in northwestern Colorado appeared successful as the U.S. House was expected to vote on a spending bill that removed a 2008 deadline for the federal government to issue commercial leasing rules.
U.S. Sen Ken Salazar and Reps. John Salazar and Mark Udall, all Colorado Democrats, placed language in the bill that prohibits the Bureau of Land Management from issuing any final regulations for oil shale leasing or offering any leases during fiscal year 2008.
Under current law, BLM must issue leasing rules and move to a commercial leasing program before the end of 2008.
Oil shale amounts to petroleum locked inside rocks. Though northwestern Colorado is considered a massive repository for the mineral, extracting it poses major environmental and energy challenges.
A statement from the House Appropriations Committee said that shale oil technology is immature and the full impacts are not yet known.
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