Energy policy — oil shale: Secretary of Interior Salazar requests probe of 11th hour oil shale leases
October 21, 2009
From the Houston Chronicle (Jennifer A. Dlouhy):
Salazar, a former Democratic senator from Colorado, said there were “serious questions” surrounding the abrupt changes made to six oil shale research, demonstration and development leases on Jan. 15, five days before former President George W. Bush left office. The changes governed the terms of any future commercial oil shale production on six leased tracts of federal land. Salazar said the questionable changes included the locking in of a potentially “lucrative” 5 percent royalty rate that energy companies pay to the federal government. That rate is well below the double-digit percentage commanded on other public lands. Salazar formally asked Mary Kendall, the Interior Department’s inspector general, to launch an investigation.
The six existing leases that Salazar wants scrutinized include three held by Shell Oil Co. that are already being reviewed as part of a Justice Department probe of former Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Investigators are examining whether Norton illegally steered the oil shale leases to Shell while negotiating with the company for her current job there.
The secretary made his call for a probe public even as he moved to open up new public lands in the West for new oil shale development. Companies will have 60 days to apply for the second round of oil shale research, development and demonstration projects on new tracts in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. These projects will be limited initially to 160 acres. If energy companies prove they can commercially produce shale oil from the lands, the leases could eventually be expanded to 660 acres — a fraction of the 5,120 acres that would be allowed for commercial production under the initial six contracts.
More coverage from the Colorado Independent (David O. Williams):
But the process remains highly speculative, and environmentalists who have legally challenged the Bush rules say the current technology requires far too much water for arid western lands to support, too much electricity that would further exacerbate global warming and that the process degrades sensitive Rocky Mountain landscapes with adverse impacts on wildlife and tourism. “We want to avoid the booms and busts of the past,” said Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado, referring to a devastating oil shale bust on the Western Slope in the 1980s. “We want to ensure the potential development is done in a way that is environmentally appropriate, and we want to assure that the American taxpayers get a fair return for the potential development of America’s public lands.” The Bush rules called for a royalty rate starting at 5 percent to be paid by oil and gas companies to the federal government for the use of public lands. Critics claim that rate is far too low. “There is a question about how those royalty rates could actually be set when these very important fundamental questions [about technology, water and power] have not been answered,” Salazar said, adding the 11th-hour process was done without public scrutiny and was too favorable to a handful of companies currently holding leases.
From the Colorado Independent (David O. Williams):
The opposition has politicized the debate, Jeremy Boak, head of the Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research at the Colorado School of Mines, told the AP. Boak said Salazar’s decision to limit new RD&D leases and more closely monitor their progress will inhibit research. “I feel like the arguments are highly political arguments, not technical ones,” Boak said.
But Gov. Bill Ritter Tuesday issued a statement supporting Salazar’s new rules for the next round of RD&D leases, as well as his decision to pursue an Interior Department investigation of amendments made to previous leases during the waning days of the Bush administration.
From the Associated Press (Judith Kohler) via CBS4Denver.com:
Exxon Mobil’s projections suggest that all forms of energy, including oil shale, will be required to meet the demands, company executive Richard Lowe said during an oil shale symposium at the Colorado School of Mines. Mining the oil shale underlying eastern Utah is an important part of the state’s focus on the economy and energy, said Alan Walker, with the governor’s economic development office and the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative. He repeated former Gov. Jon Huntsman’s declaration made last year at the same symposium that Utah is open to commercial oil shale development. “I want to let you know that you’re very welcome in Utah,” Walker told the crowd, which included industry and government representatives.
A Colorado official took a more cautious approach, saying the state supports oil shale development. “We think everybody agrees that all options need to be on the table” in energy development, said Bob Randall of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. But Randall said the state wants more information about the technology, still in the experimental stages, as well as the costs and potential impacts on water supply and quality, environment, public health and communities…
…companies, including Exxon Mobil and Shell Oil, are still testing ways to squeeze the oil out of the rock. Federal and industry officials have said it likely will be at least a decade before commercial development starts. Five leases of 160 acres each were issued on federal land in Colorado and Utah in 2006 and 2007 for research, development and demonstration projects. Randall said nothing has happened on the parcels and Colorado wants the Interior Department to assess those leases before issuing a second round…
The 29th oil shale symposium, hosted by the Colorado School of Mines and the Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research, runs through Wednesday.
More oil shale coverage here.
Estes Park: Alpine Anglers meeting October 15 to feature impacts of transmountain diversions
October 14, 2009
From the Estes Park Trail Gazette:
Ken Neubecker, president of Colorado Trout Unlimited, will speak Thursday on the impact of water diversions from the upper Colorado River. “More than half of the water of the upper Colorado is already diverted to the Front Range for agricultural and municipal use,” said Neubecker. “Now two new projects could take almost half of what remains.” But as conservation, government and business interests in Grand County geared up for a protracted fight, water developers Denver Water and Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District agreed to work with local agencies to find ways to meet the water needs of the Front Range while minimizing the impact on wildlife and recreation on the Colorado and Fraser Rivers. Neubecker will speak about the situation at the Alpine Anglers` monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15 in the Hondius Room of the Estes Park Public Library. The public is invited.
More transmountain/transbasin diversions coverage here.
Energy policy — oil shale: Environmental effects catalogued
October 4, 2009
Here’s a recap on Thursday night’s meeting of the Garfield County Energy Advisory Board, from Dennis Webb writing for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:
…the level of disturbance where any development might take place would be significant, said Jeremy Boak, director of the industry-funded Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research at the Colorado School of Mines. Boak said oil shale development would have less of a region-wide impact on the land than has been seen with local natural gas development. That’s thanks to the world-class richness and unmatched density of the region’s oil shale resource, which has underground concentrations of as much as a million barrels of oil per acre, he said. But where any oil shale development might occur, “you will for a time essentially have scraped off the surface if you’re doing a process like Shell’s,” Boak said…
Boak said the biggest environmental challenge for shale development is water — how much is used and how quality is affected.
More coverage from the Glenwood Springs Post Independent (John Colson). From the article:
He [Jeremy Boak, head of the Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research at the School of Mines] said one company, Red Leaf Resources in Utah, had recently completed tests on a shale-oil extraction process that involved heating up the rock in place, underground, and piping out the kerogen…
He noted that Shell, which is one of the corporate sponsors of his institute, is working on a process involving the stripping away of the surface, followed by the drilling of numerous bore holes to be used to heat the “extraction zone” to a temperature of some 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Other bores are drilled around the extraction zone, to be used to freeze the area around the zone to prevent the oil and other contaminants from flowing into nearby ground water. Once the oil has been extracted, he said, the process calls for the injection of water into the bore-holes that turns to steam and scours out the area once permeated by the kerogen. That water is then to be treated and recycled, he said…
“But it will be pretty disruptive of the surface,” he said of that technology, which would involve in-situ plants that would move from one zone to another, scraping topsoil and drilling holes. He said reclamation would be easily accomplished using the same topsoil that had been removed prior to the process. Boak indicated that some of the new technological processes are said to consume relatively little water, but conceded that studies are needed to determine how much water is available for such uses, and what might be the effects of oil shale extraction on area water supplies and water quality. In addition, he said, there are potential impacts to the general ecology of the area that must be identified, as well as the socio-economic effects on the region’s communities.
Flaming Gorge pipeline: Western Resource Advocates pushes needs assessment while southern Wyoming towns help with ‘evaluation’
October 4, 2009
Here’s a release from Western Resource Advocates:
At the urging of Western Resource Advocates and others, the US Army Corps of Engineers is requiring proponents of a controversial water pipeline to prove that it is needed. The proposed Million Project, a 560-mile pipeline that would move water from southwestern Wyoming to Colorado’s populous Front Range, is applying for a permit — yet there are no identified customers for the water.
At least six other major water projects that pre-date the Million Project are already in the planning stages. And although the Million Project claims it is needed to meet the Front Range’s future water demands, the proponents of these other projects have shown no indication that they’ll abandon their plans and rely on Million’s proposal instead. Thus, as a mechanism for solving anticipated regional water demands, the Million pipeline proposal is at least a decade too late.
The Million Project is vehemently opposed by residents of Wyoming and is under scrutiny in Colorado. As the largest proposed private water project in Colorado’s history, the Million Project raises concerns about speculation because it is against Colorado water law to acquire water without first identifying who will use it.
Demonstrating the need for the pipeline is but one troubling question confronting the Million Project. The movement of up to 250,000 acre-feet of water each year would require a vast amount of energy, adding to the ecological impacts of the pipeline. The pipeline could also jeopardize endangered fish, transport invasive species, and diminish recreation and wildlife habitat in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Green River that is already suffering from drought.
Meanwhile, from the Associated Press (Ben Neary) via The Denver Post:
U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming says local governments in southwestern Wyoming will help to evaluate a private developer’s proposal to build a pipeline to take water from the Green River.
Colorado entrepreneur Aaron Million has proposed building a multibillion dollar pipeline to carry water from the Green River in Wyoming to Colorado’s Front Range. Barrasso, a Republican, says he stepped in to allow Sweetwater County, the Sweetwater County Conservation District and the cities of Rock Springs and Green River to serve as participating agencies with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in reviewing the pipeline proposal.
Flaming Gorge pipeline: Reclamation estimates that 165,000 acre-feet per year is available for development
September 22, 2009
From the Associated Press (Ben Neary) via CBS4Denver.com:
The study found that up to 165,000 acre feet of water could be drawn from the reservoir each year through 2049 while still allowing enough water to generate hydropower and to meet the needs of endangered fish species downstream.
Drawing 165,000 acre feet a year over 40 years would draw the level of Flaming Gorge Reservoir down from its current elevation of 6,030 feet a bove sea level to just above 5,900 feet, the study found. According to bureau figures, the reservoir has a surface area of nearly 30,000 acres when its elevation is at 6,000 feet and its surface area would drop to just under 11,000 acres at the 5,900 foot level.
After 2050, as development in Wyoming increases, the bureau study projected Flaming Gorge Reservoir could sustain an annual diversion rate of 120,000 acre feet. The agency is updating that draft analysis, and agency officials say their projections of the amount of available water may well go lower.
Flaming Gorge pipeline: Size of diversion still up in the air
September 6, 2009
Here’s an update on Aaron Million’s plans to move water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Green River to Colorado’s Front Range, from Ben Neary writing for the Associated Press via The Durango Herald. From the article:
Million said he is re-evaluating what would be a reasonable size for the pipeline project. He said he doesn’t have a figure yet of how much water he may apply to take from the river if he reduces his application. Million hasn’t modified his original applications to divert water, still pending with the Wyoming State Engineer’s Office. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing a detailed environmental study of Million’s original proposal…
Million has said his planned pipeline would carry water more than 500 miles, east across Wyoming and then as far south as Pueblo. He has said that if the environmental review finds his project would harm the river ecosystem in ways that couldn’t be mitigated, he wouldn’t proceed…
Million said he wants to move all his planned water diversions downstream from the town of Green River. He said he’s now looking at a diversion point on the river below the town and another within Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
Brett Johnson, attorney for Sweetwater County, said Friday that county commissioners as well as city officials in Green River and Rock Springs openly oppose Million’s project. “The county is certainly concerned on the effects of taking the water out of the river and the effect that that will have on the Flaming Gorge and the uses that we have here – obviously fishing and recreation,” Johnson said. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freud-enthal also has come out against the pipeline project. He has said he opposes trans-basin diversions of water and also believes Million should disclose exactly where the water would be used. The Corps of Engineers announced recently that it will require Million to identify his potential customers in coming months. Million has said he has talked to municipalities and other possible water customers in Wyom-ing and Colorado, but has declined to name them so far…
Million said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has determined that there’s a surplus of water in the Green River even after the needs of endangered species and other water uses are met. He said the analysis found that there’s a minimum of 165,000 acre-feet of water left over that would be available for the pipeline project.
From the Vernal Express (Mary Bernard):
[David Allison, environmental consultant for Uintah County] opened his talk before the Vernal Chamber luncheon saying the comment period relates to the environmental impact statement being prepared for Million’s permit request. “He has submitted project plans to the Corps in order to receive a permit for the 400-mile long pipeline,” says Allison…
“It’s a no-brainer,” Allison says enumerating the county’s concerns. “In the first place, based on water availability the amount of water requested may be unsustainable.” Water withdrawal would include 85,000 acre feet out of the Green River and 165,000 acre feet to be piped from Flaming Gorge Reservoir. “Secondly, they’re not dealing with issues relating to water rights in this environmental impact statement,” the consultant said. “Federal process under the National Environmental Protection Act do not allow severalty. They need to address all the impacts.”
The strongest argument Allison says is that water flows will be changed on the Green River which will likely further endanger protected species of fish. “We’ve spent a lot of money on threatened and endangered species,” Allison says, noting the considerable cost that has gone into protected lands like the Ouray Refuge in Brown’s Park.
He sums up effects by saying “these withdrawals will degrade water quality, increase temperature, raise sediment levels and alter flows.” “Local business will be affected as the draw-down will impact the recreational use of Flaming Gorge and the Green below the dam,” Allison says. “But these impacts are not part of the current Corps document in preparation.”
USDA halts tamarisk leaf beetle releases in eight western states
August 21, 2009
From The Durango Telegraph:
A decades-old effort to bring a natural tamarisk predator into the region has started to yield strong results. Tamarisk stands along the Dolores, Colorado and San Juan rivers have taken hard hits in recent years thanks largely to the release of the beetles.
In 2004, beetles were transported to Moab and the Horsethief bench outside of Fruita. Not only have those local transplants thrived at the expense of tamarisk, they have started to spread through the region and chewed through many of the invasive trees in their wake. The beetles have spread up the Dolores drainage, along the Mancos River and could already be eating salt cedar in the Animas River drainage. The State of Colorado also recently got on the beetle bandwagon and sowed the bugs along the Arkansas River
However, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials recently revoked Colorado’s permits to move the beetles across state borders. The USDA also banned any release of the beetles in eight other Western states.
The orders were the result of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society. The suit charged that the tamarisk leaf beetle is contributing to the decline of the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher.
Flycatchers nest in the invasive tamarisk because the species of native riparian trees in which they previously nested have been replaced by tamarisk and are no longer available. The Endangered Species Act requires that federal agencies not harm endangered species or their habitat and that they consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to formulate plans to avoid such harm.
Following the moratorium, the Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon Society killed their legal challenge. “We are relieved that the program has decided to obey the law and will now consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent any further jeopardy to a federally protected species. Our case will now be dismissed,” said attorney Matt Kenna of the Durango-based Western Environmental Law Center.
From the Casper Start Tribune (Jeff Gearino) via Billings Gazette:
The scoping comment period for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental impact statement will now close Sept. 28, Corps project leader Rena Brand said Tuesday in a media release.
She said the extended comment period will allow the Corps additional time to respond to more than 40 requests for cooperating agency status from a variety of agencies and organizations, including Green River and Sweetwater County.
“The Corps intends to communicate with some entities on consolidating participation by appointing a single point of contact to represent multiple entities,” Brand said…locals contended the project would hurt local businesses in the area, would curtail future growth in Green River and neighboring Rock Springs and could threaten the world-class fisheries on the river and in the gorge. Last week, Rock Springs council members voted to join a coalition with Green River and the county that aims to fight Million’s proposal. The three governmental entities allocated a combined $450,000 to the Communities Protecting the Green River coalition for the effort, which officials said may include litigation. Additionally, the county and Green River are seeking cooperating agency status as part of the Corps’ environmental impact statement process. Corps officials predicted the draft EIS could be released as early as 2012, with a final permit decision taking up to five years.
In written comments submitted to the Corps last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it was opposed to the Million project plan. Service officials said the agency’s concerns focused on how the pipeline would affect threatened or endangered species, migratory birds and habitats, and the overall ecosystem balance.
The Colorado Department of Natural Resources is looking at four pipeline concepts and two agricultural fallowing and dry up concepts as possible solutions to watering the unbridled growth along the Front Range. Here’s a report, from Bruce Finley writing for The Denver Post, about the pipeline plans from Flaming Gorge and the Green River proposed by the Colorado-Wyoming Coalition and the Million Resource Group. From the article:
Colorado municipal water suppliers are in discussions with their Wyoming counterparts exploring the feasibility. Separately, a private entrepreneur’s proposal to build a pipeline is under federal review. Colorado government officials — who have met with both contingents and are talking with Wyoming officials — recently included the “Flaming Gorge concept” among four options for diverting Western Slope water to the Front Range…
Huge hurdles remain, including financing and Colorado’s and Wyoming’s obligations to downriver states under an interstate compact. Conservationists object to the potential environmental impact of withdrawing the water…
The pipeline concept originated with entrepreneur Aaron Million and his Million Conservation Resource Group. In 2008, the group applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which regulates construction in waterways and wetlands. An environmental review has begun, and engineers are sifting through a deluge of public comments, said Rena Brand, regulatory specialist for the agency. “The majority of letters are against it” and “push for the idea of conserving more along the Front Range,” Brand said. Federal wildlife officials are among those questioning possible impacts on endangered species and migratory birds…
Million must provide a list of likely customers by January to establish a need for the pipeline, Brand said. Last week, Million said that “ongoing negotiations with 20-plus” potential customers in Wyoming and Colorado “are going well.” He declined to name them. The project could be done in five years, he said. He wasn’t invited to the municipal suppliers’ discussions at a country club, a slight he calls unfortunate. “The lack of collaboration is problematic. It was the private sector that developed the water in the West” before federal agencies got involved, he said. “This is a return to the historical development of water resources, using the efficiency of the private sector to get things accomplished.”
Meanwhile, the municipal suppliers’ group was to continue discussions in Wyoming this week. They are close to formalizing a coalition, Jaeger said. He declined to name participants.
Colorado’s top natural resources officials say they’ve talked with Million and Jaeger. The state’s emerging strategies for meeting projected demand — which include conservation, the re-use of water and rethinking low-density versus high-density growth — assume that importing some water between river basins will be necessary, said Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “Whether it is a public or a private project, it must incorporate public benefits,” Sherman said. “Sometimes it’s easier to incorporate public benefits with a public project, because the sponsoring entity is the public, and it will be focussed on public benefits. But it’s not impossible for a private project to incorporate a wide variety of public benefits. “
More Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here. Colorado-Wyoming Coalition coverage here.
It’s a good thing the Aaron Million is a young man. He may age a bit before he sees his dream of a pipeline from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the Front Range bear fruit. Here’s a report from the Associated Press via CBS4Denver.com. From the article:
The agency submitted written comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is conducting an environmental study of the proposal. The Fish and Wildlife comments focused concern on how the pipeline would affect threatened or endangered species, migratory birds and habitats and ecosystem balances.
Colorado water law includes an anti-speculation doctrine. Here’s a short explanation from a Coyote Gulch reader:
The doctrine basically says water may not be held for future sale. The Colorado Constitution says no water right will be denied, if the water is put to beneficial use. The one exception to this is referred to as the Great and Growing Cities Doctrine (c. 1916) that says cities can appropriate (or purchase water rights in a change case) water for future needs.
An individual or corporation cannot claim or buy water without an immediate or historic beneficial use.
So that is the conundrum that Aaron Million is in: He hasn’t named any customers for the water that he plans to deliver from the Green River so many are pointing the speculator finger at him and his proposed project. He has frightened off some potential customers by also being secretive about the eventual cost of the water.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of completing an environmental impact statement for the project but needs to know where the water will be put to beneficial use in order to evaluate the impacts. Million has said that he will provide the names of users in Wyoming and Colorado, “…but is not in a position to provide them yet,” according to this report from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. More from the article:
“I think the Corps is trying to shore up its information and narrow down the focus of the project so it can develop alternatives,” Million said. “Obviously, we’re going to do everything we can to cooperate. The project’s on a positive path.” Rena Brand, regulatory specialist for the Corps, had a similar comment.
“In order to define the need, the Corps must understand who the water users are and verify their specific needs for water,” Brand said. “Water users could be cities, irrigation districts or industries.”[...]
The Colorado Water Conservation Board estimates the state has 440,000-1.4 million acre-feet of water to develop under the [Colorado River Compact and Upper Colorado River Compact], but is investigating things like the location and timing of flows. Million’s project would minimize elevation changes as it bypasses the Colorado Rockies and moves water along existing utility corridors.
There is strong opposition to the project in Wyoming. “I’m not sure they have adequate definition of the need for the project to even do the analysis,” Gov. Dave Freudenthal said last week. “I think this is just a rich guy who just wants to move water.”
Million countered that Freudenthal’s opposition was not expected, and said he is ignoring possible benefits to the state.
There is also interest by others in the state in the concept. The CWCB has included it in a study of possible water supply alternatives, and the South Metro Water Supply Authority has been looking at a similar alternative [Colorado-Wyoming Coalition] in its long-range planning.
More Coyote Gulch Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here and here.
Flaming Gorge pipeline: Wyoming Governor Freudenthal urges slow going to protect state water supplies
July 28, 2009
From the Associated Press via LocalNews8.com (Idaho Falls):
Freudenthal submitted written comments Monday to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, urging the agency to carefully scrutinize the proposal by Aaron Million. He wrote that he remains opposed to the project…The Wyoming governor says federal review of the proposal should include potential impacts on wildlife and endangered species.
More Coyote Gulch Flaming Gorge pipeline coverage here.
Green River: New release regime from Flaming Gorge will supplement winter flows for endangered fish
July 25, 2009
From The Salt Lake Tribune (Mike Stark):
Matt Lindon, Utah’s assistant state engineer, said a new policy expected to be signed Sept. 21 will help guarantee year-round flows for the fish — and means any new requests for water in that area won’t be granted at the expense of the endangered species. The change is part of ongoing efforts to protect four endangered species: the humpback chub, the Colorado pikeminnow, the razorback sucker and the bonytail…
Although there isn’t much development along that stretch of the Green River now, Lindon said the new policy will safeguard the fish against future water requests and still allow the river to provide water that’s already spoken for. “We’re just making sure there’s water for fish and water for water rights,” he said.
Jana Mohrman, a hydrologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, said the new policy will become especially important in years of low water, when the strain on the river is at its greatest. The fish would retain a “senior” water right and others who sought water in a new application after Sept. 21 would be subordinate to that.
More Coyote Gulch endangered species coverage here.
Flaming Gorge pipeline: Wyoming opposition building
July 25, 2009
There isn’t much new news about Aaron Million’s pipeline but here’s a report about opposition up in the Green River Basin in Wyoming from Kirk Siegler reporting for New West. From the article:
Even around the arid West, a 550 mile water pipeline is not unheard of. But a two to three billion dollar project that’s privately financed would be unprecedented, at least for this region. But Million sees the project as a private-public partnership. He plans to sell the water to growing towns and cities…
That’s something you hear a lot in this part of the state. Downstream, the Green does briefly flow into Colorado. Locals also note that water in this basin is already scarce, and possibly already over-allocated to downstream farmers and cities. A few miles away in Rock Springs, local chamber of commerce director Dave Hanks points to another factor, climate change. Hanks says it’s already rearing its head here. There’s less snow, and less snowpack, the storage mechanism for water in the west. “We will definitely be opposed to this. It’s not no, it’s hell no,” he says…
Million promises to pull the plug on his proposal, if federal regulators conclude it will stress the system, and hurt the environment. But he says the whole reason he’s chosen to go through Wyoming and not the fragile, high mountains of Colorado, is because of the environment. Much of the I-80 corridor is designated for pipelines already. It’s also mostly downhill to the Front Range. Not so in his home state.
Here’s a roundup of the current state of oil shale recovery technologies and leasing pressure from industry from Dennis Webb writing for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. From the article:
As oil shale enthusiasts hope for another chance to try out new ideas on federal lands, environmental groups question the need for a new round of RD&D leases. There are plenty of private oil shale holdings where research and development can occur, said Mike Chiropolos of Western Resource Advocates. Meanwhile, for environmentalists and policymakers pondering the potential impacts of oil shale development, recent patent activity gives them some things to think about.
For example, Chevron’s concept involves injecting carbon dioxide into underground shale formations, along with possible combinations of ammonia, acids, hydrocarbons and other substances. Critics worry about protecting groundwater in these and other oil shale approaches, and they fear how much water oil shale development will require. But Chevron has said it will pursue only a process that’s environmentally sound, and it contends its method actually could produce excess water and result in sequestration of carbon dioxide, thus helping combat global warming.
John Dorgan of Golden filed a 2007 patent application involving a concept to produce potable and nonpotable water from oil shale development, with the option of using the nonpotable water to sequester carbon dioxide. Such ideas may hold promise for reducing oil shale development’s environmental impacts. But Chiropolos said that particularly where federal land is involved, any ideas that are pursued, including any incorporating solar, would require a hard look at potential impacts, such as how many acres of land would be affected.
Here’s an update on Parker’s Rueter-Hess Reservoir — currently under construction — and the water they hope to store there, from Chris Michlewicz writing for the Parker Chronicle. From the article:
District officials have secured water in the South Platte River and Cherry Creek and remain active in pursuing new resources to wean themselves off deep underground aquifers that are being depleted at a mind-numbing pace. New water resources will eventually help fill the 72,000-acre-foot Rueter-Hess Reservoir, which is being built in Newlin Gulch southwest of Parker. It is scheduled to be completed in less than three years, and decision-makers are grappling with the immense task and astronomical cost of piping the water back to Parker…
Instead of throwing money at high-dollar water rights, officials purchased more moderately priced farms near Sterling that came with certain rights to South Platte water. Now the district owns 9,000 acre-feet of consumptive-use water that could be moved back through the water courts. “We’re looking at that water as a relatively inexpensive insurance policy,” Jaeger said. “If everything else goes sideways, that’s our least favorite alternative, but that’s an alternative we own.”
Because of heavy industrial uses along the South Platte, the water must be treated with a costly process called reverse osmosis, which strips the water of all pollutants and minerals. The treated water would then be sent through a pump station and piped back to Parker. It would take several partners to pay for a pipeline, and Parker water would be forced to raise rates or ask customers to approve a major bond issue to fund such an intensive project. If all options were exhausted, customers essentially would not have a choice but to go along with the “last resort” project, Jaeger said…
Parker Water and Sanitation hopes it will never reach a critical stage that would require it to make those tough decisions. Leaders are heading efforts to explore some promising new resources, including a new project that has created a buzz in both Colorado and its neighbor to the north. A coalition of Front Range water entities has opened a dialogue with Wyoming’s top brass to find out how much water is is Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, an expanse of wilderness on the Wyoming-Utah border. Preliminary estimates put Colorado’s portion alone at 165,000 acre-feet…
Water providers, including members of the South Metro Water Supply Authority, have high hopes for Flaming Gorge because Wyoming would share the costs to build a pipeline to distribute the water and because the clean resource would not require reverse osmosis. Additionally, there would be no need to establish a massive evaporative pond to remove the brine left by lawn fertilizers and other pollutants in the South Platte. Although Flaming Gorge would require more miles of pipeline, the large number of partners sharing the cost would lower the price tag for end users, or customers. One considerable obstacle for Flaming Gorge is the need for local, state and federal dollars to back the project. However, a tentative cooperative agreement is already in place to conduct due diligence in determining the possible benefits to both states. Agreements are in draft form, and the Parker water district is a founding member of the Colorado-Wyoming Water Coalition. A meeting with representatives from Wyoming’s western slope in late April went “better than expected,” Jaeger said…
Parker water approached Wyoming’s leadership, including the division of natural resources, with a suggestion that the water authorities and conservation districts dictate where the water ends up instead of allowing private companies and speculators to get there first and set a price. Depending on how much Parker would get from the deal, water from the multi-billion dollar project could essentially become an infinite resource for Parker because the water can be reclaimed at the district’s water treatment plants, which remove waste and other pollutants before the water is dumped back into Cherry Creek, as required by the Endangered Species Act. A study showed that Parker needs roughly 31,000 acre-feet of water to sustain all homes and businesses at full build-out, Jaeger said. The Statewide Water Initiative Study from 2007 identified a need for 600,000 acre-feet of water for long term municipal and industrial uses across Colorado.
More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
Flaming Gorge pipeline (Regional Watershed Supply Project): Wyoming commenters still overwhelmingly against the project
June 11, 2009
From KRDO.com:
Sweetwater County residents and local municipal officials emphasized once again to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that they believe the privately funded water diversion project will have no real benefits for southwest Wyoming. About 80 area residents attended the second, added Army Corps scoping meeting on the proposed pipeline project Tuesday night in Rock Springs. That was less than the 300 who showed up for the first meeting in April in the county, but their opposition was just as strident. Residents said diverting the water could hurt local industry, could curtail future growth and could threaten a world-class fishery.
Energy policy — oil shale: Center of the American West — ‘What Every Westerner Should Know About Oil Shale’
June 10, 2009
The University of Colorado Center for the New American West has just published a new online book titled What Every Westerner Should Know About Oil Shale. I personally can’t wait to curl up with my laptop and a good book. Here’s the release.
Wyoming: Cowboy State look at the Flaming Gorge pipeline (Regional Watershed Supply Project)
June 8, 2009
Here’s a long report about the pipeline project, from Derek Farr writing for the Sublette Examiner. From the article:
In a house editorial by the Denver Post, the newspaper concluded RWSP was “an innovative notion that might bring a cease-fire in our water wars.” In other words, under the RWSP Colorado’s east slope can develop west-slope water without rankling western water users. For Colorado, that’s due to some fortuitous geography.
The Green River starts deep in Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains before meandering 180 miles south and entering Utah at Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Below the Flaming Gorge dam, the river takes a left turn and loops through Colorado for 41 miles. Because the Green eventually flows into the Colorado River, the state of Colorado has a right to its water no matter how briefly the two coalesce. And because the Green’s sojourn into Colorado takes it through the remote regions of Browns Park and Dinosaur National Monument, few western Colorado water users are directly affected by a diversion. As western Colorado resistance has cooled, RWSP is garnering support in parts of eastern Wyoming. That’s because RWSP promises the City of Laramie 25,000 af of water. That’s not the state’s only internal division over the project. Gov. Freudenthal’s brother Steve Freudenthal, a Cheyenne lawyer, is helping develop the RWSP.
The prospect of being isolated between pro-RWSP Wyoming communities and impassive western Colorado water users has Sweetwater County Commissioner Paula Wonnacott concerned. She worries that the state’s voice will fracture over 25,000 af of water.
“They may see it as a boon for them,” she said. “But at the same time in southwest Wyoming were we have industry and create tax revenue for the state, we want to make sure that we have access to our water resources and we don’t want to do something to hinder those opportunities in the future.”Accordingly, officials from Sweetwater County, Green River and Rock Springs are building a coalition against RWSP and opening dialog with the rest of the state. “I would really hate to not be able to engage the other elected groups in the eastern part of the state,” Wonnacott said. “We want to make sure we’re working with one voice.”
U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn has just introduced some dumb legislation. Here’s a report from David O. Williams writing for the Colorado Independent. From the article:
Besides winning the award for the most convoluted legislative acronym, Lamborn’s Protecting Investment in Oil shale the Next generation of Environment, Energy, and Resource security (PIONEER) Act, H.R. 2540, comes at a time when Colorado officials are skeptically asking for more accountability from current oil shale leases. Five research and development leases were issued for federal lands in Colorado in 2005 (and one in Utah), but now state officials want to see what kind of results oil and gas companies are getting on those parcels before recommending another round of research and development leases as laid out in the Bush administration regulations.
From the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Bill McCarthy):
“There was a lot of hysteria and bad information,” Mike Purcell told a joint meeting of the Water Development Commission and the Legislature’s Select Committee on Water Development…
Purcell told the two boards that there likely will be people at today’s meeting who want to be heard on the issue. The Water Development Commission and the Legislature’s Select Committee on Water Development meet again at 8:30 a.m. today. “We like Colorado water flowing through our state” because it adds to things such as recreational activities and wildlife habitat, he said. But Colorado could call for the water it is entitled to under the seven-state compact.
The Army Corps of Engineers will host a public meeting Tuesday in Rock Springs about the proposal…Army Corps officials also extended the written public comment period for an environmental impact statement through July 27. The environmental study is expected to take at least three years.
Energy policy — oil shale: Anadarko and General Synfuels kick off pilot project near Rock Springs, Wyoming
June 3, 2009
From the Casper Star-Tribune:
…it’s going to require new, environmentally friendly technology to make it commercially viable to develop all that oil shale, they say. Some of that technology could come out of an oil shale research and development pilot project slated for Sweetwater County, officials involved in the effort said. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. — under an agreement with General Synfuels International — is launching Wyoming’s first oil shale research program in nearly three decades to determine the economic and environmental feasibility of developing oil shale in southwest Wyoming. General Synfuels, a wholly owned subsidiary of Earth Search Sciences Inc., secured the exploration agreement last month for a small parcel of private land south of Rock Springs, according to Anadarko spokesman Rick Robitaille…
The exploration agreement in Wyoming covers a 160-acre site about 35 miles south of Rock Springs on a Union Pacific Railroad section, said John Christiansen, a spokesman for Anadarko’s mineral programs, in a phone interview from Houston. The agreement will allow General Synfuels to test and develop the company’s patented technology to recover hydrocarbons from oil shale using a process that prioritizes “environmental sensitivity,” said Luis Lugo, CEO of Earth Sciences…
The Wyoming Wildlife Federation and other conservation groups are wary, however, of industry’s motives in oil shale development and how companies might actually use federal lands. WWF Executive Director Walt Gasson said many people hunt and fish on public lands in southwest Wyoming, and those recreational opportunities could be affected by any oil shale development. He said the pilot oil shale research projects could possibly result in hundreds of thousands of acres of vital wildlife habitat for big game and sage grouse being occupied by machinery at the exclusion of all other uses. “I realize we need some energy development, but they’ve already blanketed western Wyoming with roads and wells,” Gasson said. “Are we so desperate that we’ll sacrifice the places we’ve hunted for generations for something as uncertain as oil shale?” Steve Torbit, Rocky Mountain regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation, predicted the entire oil shale experiment will be “a colossal waste of water” for the region. He said extracting and producing oil from shale will require tremendous quantities of water that may not be readily available.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has scheduled another scoping session in Rock Springs, Wyoming for the Regional Watershed Supply Project. Here’s a report from Jeff Gearino writing for the Casper Star-Tribune. From the article:
Southwest Wyoming residents will get another chance to voice their concerns — or support — for Colorado entrepreneur Aaron Million’s controversial project to divert water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir to the Front Range around Denver, federal officials said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Tuesday a second meeting for Sweetwater County residents next month on Million’s proposed Regional Watershed Supply Project. Army Corps project manager Rena Brand said the agency will host the second public scoping meeting on the transbasin diversion project June 9 in Rock Springs…
A hostile crowd of around 300 people greeted Million and Army Corps officials at the first public scoping meeting April 14 in Green River. The handful of area residents who were allowed to speak at the meeting overwhelmingly opposed the unique, privately funded water diversion project. Residents said diverting much-needed water from the reservoir could hurt local industry, could curtail future growth in Green River and Rock Springs, would threaten a world-class fishery and would have no real benefits for southwest Wyoming.
But some officials attending the Laramie meeting said they would welcome the approximately 25,000 acre-feet of water that would be delivered annually to southeast Wyoming users in the Platte River Basin under Million’s pipeline proposal.
At a city workshop May 12, Green River, Rock Springs, Sweetwater County and other municipal officials agreed to form a coalition — and perhaps hire a public relations firm — to fight Million’s pipeline proposal. Officials decided the best way to oppose the project was to present some sort of “united front” that would include an aggressive, proactive campaign against the project. Officials also decided to press the Army Corps for another meeting in Sweetwater County and said they would consider litigation if necessary to try and kill the project.
