Utah Politicians Want Oil Shale Development

None by Jeff Robinson

While Appropriations Committee Kills Bill That Would Lift Moratorium

The same day a federal amendment that would have allowed oil shale development to proceed in the Intermountain West died in the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch argued in favor of oil shale development before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Yesterday, Hatch plugged the economic incentives of extracting oil in Utah as the nation continues to rely on foreign sources.

"Now let me be frank, Mr. Chairman," Hatch told the committee. "It's an offense to me that this decision is being withheld from Utah's governor and other elected officials in my state, and the fact that there are efforts to delay the decision even further only deepens the offense. On the low end, one acre of oil shale would produce about 100,000 barrels of oil. On the high end, one acre of oil shale would produce one million barrels of oil."

Hatch also presented a letter from Governor Jon Huntsman also in support of lifting the moratorium. Right now, federal land can't be leased for oil shale development because the 2008 federal appropriations bill doesn't allow the Department of Interior to create regulations for the process.

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