U.S. energy plans may spur Utah development
C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of the Interior for land and minerals management, approved reopening an oil shale project in Uintah County on Monday. Allred then unveiled the final regulations for geothermal leases Tuesday, making Utah's land resources key in the administration's plan for future energy production.
The department completed its analysis on an oil shale research, development and demonstration project on public lands in Uintah County and signed off on a project proposed by Oil-Shale Exploration Inc., which allows for a 160-acre lease that includes the former White River Mine, near Vernal, 130 miles east of Salt Lake City. The mine is an old oil shale facility that stopped operating in 1985, according to the department.
The Utah project, along with five others in Colorado, will help the department learn more about developing the resource. Utah has the only mining project in which oil shale will be brought to the surface, crushed into gravel and fed into a furnacelike retort.
"We ought to make sure that it is a serious component in our nation's energy resources," Allred said, although he doubted there would be any commercial oil shale production until 2012 or 2013 — and federal regulations would not be ready at least for another year.
Allred said Tuesday, at a meeting with reporters organized by the U.S. Energy Association, that oil shale probably has the "largest single potential" of the volume of oil it could produce, at almost 800 billion barrels. That is almost more than double the resources of the Middle East, but how much can be developed and at what cost remains to be seen.
"Re-starting operations at the White River Mine will give us a better understanding of how to produce oil from shale rock in a manner that is both economically promising and environmentally sound," Selma Sierra, Bureau of Land Management Utah state director, said in a statement. "With the continuing cooperation of the state and local communities in Uintah County, this project will advance development of our nation's tremendous oil shale resources."
Allred also signed a geothermal policy creating new incentives to develop the renewable energy resource.
The BLM and Mineral Management Service will publish rules in today's Federal Register that will require "more competitive leasing, offer simplified royalty calculations and share $4 million per year in current royalties with counties where production occurs."
The Interior Department says about half of geothermal energy — which uses steam and hot water found underground to produce heat or electricity — is found in California and Nevada, but Utah and other Western states have potential resources as well.
The rules had gone through public comment after Congress required the department to change lease rules in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com
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