Oil shale is nothing new, and not the answer

One-hundred thirty-one years ago, the following article was published in the Deseret News:

"Oil shale — We have seen a specimen of oil shale, from a large deposit discovered in Spanish Fork Canon(sic). Judges say it is an excellent article, and well adapted for the manufacture of burning gas, petroleum, &c.(sic)

We understand some steps are being taken by some capitalists of this city to develop the claim, which is said to be valuable." — Sept. 5, 1877

Here we are, more than a century later, and oil shale has yet to deliver on its promise.

But we keep hearing about its potential, don't we? Why, there's more oil locked up in that rock than the entire Middle East. Some estimates say there are 800 billion barrels of shale oil in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, largely on public lands. With crude-oil futures rising to $120.92 a barrel on Monday, it's time to open up the shale fields, right?

Not if you ask Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal. In a recent letter to the Bureau of Reclamation, Gov. Freudenthal referred to oil shale as an "unproven and unknown resource." He urged caution in developing a commercial leasing program. This is interesting, considering that Wyoming is one of the leading energy-producing states in the nation.

In Utah, every member of the congressional delegation is on the oil shale bandwagon. Last week, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, pushed an energy bill through the House, which included a provision to allow Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to decide whether to open up oil-shale fields in their states for development.

After earlier stating their expressed desire to move ahead with oil-shale exploration activities, Republican Reps. Rob Bishop and Chris Cannon opposed the measure, which now goes to the Senate for its consideration. Both Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett favor opening up public lands for oil-shale activities.

I suspect that House Republicans don't want anything to do with a Democratic-backed measure passed in September because there's an election in six weeks. Congress has a full plate in attempting to figure out a financial bailout for Wall Street, so this matter may well be shelved. However, a federal moratorium on oil-shale development in the region is set to expire next month, which suggests something needs to happen fairly soon. On Monday, Matheson convinced Democratic House leaders to include language to lift the ban.