Will oil shale turn into a boon or environmental mess?

"I haven't read anything to assure me that the technology exists to do it in an environmentally friendly manner that won't leave a mess," said Pam Miller, director of the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition.

Miller describes herself as an archaeologist who is concerned about nonrenewable cultural resources, like the ancient rock art found in Utah's Nine Mile Canyon. "I don't consider myself an environmentalist," she said.

Miller said that Hatch and Bennett make it sound like going after oil in shale and sands is a "do or die" thing. "These alarmists say we have to do it right now," she said.

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance's Stephen Bloch isn't ready for the "right now" approach, with questions about the impact on Utah's environment still in the balance.

"I don't think we know the answer to that yet," Bloch said. "These companies have leases and they have opportunities to show the public and investors that they can develop shale in an environmentally responsible manner and in a way that's economically feasible. We haven't seen that to date."

There are still too many unanswered questions, he said, about what the lasting footprint of shale and sands development will be and what impact it will have on water quality in the affected areas and air quality for Utah as a whole.

Utah Division of Air Quality director Cheryl Heying has been watching what's happening with research and development projects for shale and sands in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.

"We want to make sure there's not a race to the bottom," Heying said. That is, the race to Utah's oil reserves that, in some areas, can actually be seen sitting on the surface.

She describes the areas of eastern Utah where the reserves are located as clean. "And we want to keep it clean," Heying added.

She believes the Bureau of Land Management and the federal Environmental Protection Agency, both players in deciding where, when and how to go after some of the oil, are taking the same approach as her office.

"The key to all of this is trying to make sure you minimize any air-quality impact," Heying said. So far, she added, all of the players, including industry, have been cooperating in terms of how to handle environmental issues. "I think there's always going to be the concerns."

Franson said his company has a patent-pending method of oil extraction for shale that uses far less water — he's talking mere gallons — than the three barrels of water per one barrel of oil experts have predicted would be needed during the heating process to separate the oil from rock.