Oil Shale News

From: The Daily Sentinel

By Mike Wiggins

Mesa County commissioners on Monday blistered the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal to slash the amount of land potentially available for oil shale and tar sands development in the Rocky Mountain West, alleging the federal agency is irrationally capitulating to environmental groups and ignoring the input of local governments and other stakeholders.

In a unanimously approved, strongly worded resolution similar to ones adopted by Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, the board called upon the BLM to cease all activities related to the current draft environmental impact statement and extend the public comment period on the draft statement beyond the current May 4 deadline.

From: Denver Business Journal

Mesa County commissioners are criticizing the federal Bureau of Land Management to reduce the amount of land that could be open for oil shale and tar sands development, The Daily Sentinel reports.

The commissioners unanimously approved a resolution that claims the BLM has been “encumbered by a host of anti-oil shale pro-wilderness groups steering BLM’s every move.”

The Bush administration in 2008 called for leasing 2 million acres in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming for possible oil share development and 431,000 for tar sands development. The BLM proposed in February to reduce that acreage to 462,000 for oil shale and 91,000 for tar sands.