http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=93381.0
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25,
2009
Contact: Kristina
Johnson
415.977.5619
Interior to Scrap Bush Administration Oil Shale Plans
Washington, D.C. -
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced he will
toss out Bush
administration midnight regulations designed to rush oil
shale development in
Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Salazar said the oil shale
leasing proposal
issued by the Bush administration in January was flawed
and that royalties to
be paid by the oil industry were too low. The
Department of Interior will now
open a 90-day comment period allowing the
public to weigh in on what oil
shale research and development leases should
contain.
Producing a
liquid fuel from oil shale entails heating solid rock to
temperatures in
excess of 600°F. The large amounts of energy needed to
heat and process
oil shale would increase the global warming emissions that
contribute to
climate change.
Oil shale development also requires a great deal of
water, a limited
resource in the arid West. The BLM estimates that in
Colorado alone, oil
shale development could consume more water than the
Denver Metro area, home
to over 2 million people.
Sportsmen have also
expressed concern that unchecked oil shale development
would destroy key
wildlife habitat in places like Utah's Book Cliffs and
Colorado's Piceance
Basin.
Statement of Lawson LeGate, Director of Sierra Club
Hunter-Angler Program:
Oil shale threatens to destroy wildlife and fish
habitat, poison our air
and water, and dry up rivers in the West. This is one
of the dirtiest and
most wasteful forms of energy in the world.
The
Bush administration pushed these regulations through in its waning days
in an
effort to fast-track this destructive and unproven energy source. We
are
encouraged to see Secretary Salazar bringing science and public review
back
into this process. Before we rush to develop this unproven energy
source, we
need to know more about how it will impact our water, wildlife,
and
economy.
Instead of promoting this dirty fossil fuel, we should be
investing in the
West's abundant clean energy sources like wind and solar
power. By
investing in clean energy, we can keep our best wildlife habitat
intact and
pass on a wild legacy to future generations.
www.sierrasportsmen.org
The Sierra Sportsmen Network is a countrywide, thousands-strong group
of
conservation-minded anglers and hunters. Since the Sierra Club was
founded
in 1892, hunters and anglers have played a leadership role in our
work to
preserve the wild places and wildlife all Americans
enjoy.