oil shale

Offshore Drilling Plan to Go Ahead: Interior Dept

WASHINGTON - A proposal issued in the final days of the Bush administration to expand offshore drilling in previously banned areas will move forward under the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, an Interior Department spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Shortly after being sworn in on Tuesday, Obama ordered all federal agencies and departments to halt pending regulations until they can be reviewed by incoming staff.

Posted in Environment, oil, oil shale

Shell Oil's Pursuit of Local Waters Could Have Big Impacts

Steamboat Springs - When Shell Oil revealed last week it had filed for substantial water rights in the Yampa River west of Craig, the news marked another milestone on the road to fulfilling a prophecy made 2 1/2 years ago:

Powerful interests are coming after the water that originates from melting snow in the mountains of Northwest Colorado.

That was the message that Russell George, then executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, brought to a water symposium at Hayden High School on June 1, 2006.

Posted in oil shale, water

Shell Stakes Claim on Yampa River

The race to secure water for oil shale has moved to the Yampa River, one of the last few streams in the West with liquid to spare.

Shell Oil Co. has staked a new claim on the scenic waterway, seeking millions of gallons of H20 to support future plans for oil shale, said spokesman Tracy Boyd.

"This would be one of the more substantial water rights we're accumulating," Boyd said. The company has a wide array of water rights in the Colorado Basin, which includes the Yampa and White rivers.

Posted in oil shale, water

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 6, 2009
1:54 PM

CONTACT: Conservation Groups
Melissa Thrailkill, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682, ext. 313
mthrailkill@biologicaldiversity.org
Kristina Johnson, Sierra Club, (415) 977-5619
Kristina.johnson@sierraclub.org
Peter Nelson, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-0202
PNelson@defenders.org
Erik Molvar, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, (307) 742-7978
erik@voiceforthewild.org
Elise Jones, Colorado Environmental Coalition, 303-405-6704
elise@cecenviro.org

Groups Fight to Protect Fish, Wildlife, and Wilderness Areas From Last-Minute Bush Regs

Oil-shale Leasing Program Jeopardizes Existence of Threatened and Endangered Species

SAN FRANCISCO - January 6 - A coalition of conservation groups is fighting to protect millions of acres of western wildlife and habitat from midnight regulations finalized by the Bush administration that would open public lands to oil-shale exploration, leasing, and development.

Today the Center for Biological Diversity, The Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, Red Rock Forests, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Wilderness Workshop, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Native Ecosystems, Colorado Environmental Coalition, and Western Colorado Congress formally notified the Bus

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Posted in conservation, Environment, oil shale

Bush Tries to Kickstart U.S. Oil Shale Development

$Production of oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Oil shale has been labeled the \"dirtiest fuel on the planet\" by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which estimates that production will emit four times more greenhouse gases than conventional gasoline production. \"Cooking rocks and scorching the Earth is not a solution to our energy crisis,\" said Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst for NRDC. (Photo courtesy Suncor/ANL)$

WASHINGTON, DC - The Bush administration finalized regulations to govern the commercial development of oil shale on federal lands on Monday, rebuffing concerns that the rules are premature and ignoring the serious environmental concerns about tapping the resource.

Administration officials said investors keen to unlock the nation's vast oil shale resources need "rules of the road" even though the technology is still not commercially viable.

Posted in after bush, Environment, oil shale