From Deseret News archives:
Oil shale development gets boost from Bush
Bush pointed out that the administration has worked on alternative energy sources and gas savings technologies, such as a hydrogen fuel cell, but in the short term, the country needs more domestic production.
"Congress must face a hard reality: unless members are willing to accept gas prices at today's painful levels or even higher our nation must produce more oil," Bush said in a speech delivered in the White House Rose Garden. "And we must start now."
Bush said the equivalent of about 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil sits in the oil shale of the Green River Basin that crosses Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
"That's more than three times larger than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia," Bush said. "And it can be fully recovered and if it can be fully recovered it would be equal to more than a century's worth of currently projected oil imports."
Bush said that more companies have invested in technology to make oil shale production more affordable and efficient.
Bush urged Congress to remove a current ban on oil shale leasing on federal lands, which was inserted into a spending bill last year.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and former Utah Rep. Jim Hansen all told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in May that the ban should be lifted.
In a statement released Wednesday after the speech, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, also said that domestic production, from oil shale, offshore drilling, and other endeavors, needed to increase. He was glad to have the support of the president, and applauded the "leadership" shown by Bush on the issue.
"For too long, we have been on bended knee to foreign potentates, while this country's vast energy sources go undeveloped," he said in the statement. "We can be energy independent. The time for talk is over. It is time to act."
Bush also wants to increase access to the Outer Continental Shelf, which could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil, he estimated.
"Congressional restrictions on OCS exploration have become outdated and counterproductive," Bush said.
He also pushed again for permitting exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR, in Alaska.
Recent comments
We have the technology to develop alternative energy. And I think it...
Old Ms Rebel | Aug. 29, 2008 at 9:27 a.m.
This problem has been going on for 40 years. Renewables are a good 30...
Jim Maguffin | June 28, 2008 at 9:59 a.m.
We really don't need oilshale to take care of us while we develope...
Johnp | June 21, 2008 at 6:33 p.m.
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