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Today, U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar released the results of their draft2012 Programmatic Environment Impact Statement (PEIS).  This is a reevaluation of the 2008 PEIS and, if approved, would only make available a mere 461,965 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in Utah and other western states for development of Oil Shale and Tar Sands.  This is in stark contrast to the 2 million acres that were previously made available.

The Obama Administration recently announced intentions to reevaluate the 2008 Record of Decision for the Programmatic EIS, which was conducted as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.  This 2008 PEIS made nearly 2,000,000 acres of the richest, most concentrated deposits of oils shale in the U.S. available for oil development.  These areas are located throughout the Rocky Mountain States of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. 

“This week, both Democrats and Republicans on the House Natural Resources committee joined together to approve bipartisan legislation that would increase domestic energy production, including oil shale, create jobs and fund essential roads and bridges throughout the country.  Just as we take steps to improve energy production in this country, the Administration throws up yet another energy roadblock, destroying hopes of new jobs, more education funding for our children, and a chance to obtain true energy independence,”said Congressman Bishop. “Today, Secretary Salazar further illustrated that this Administration doesn’t care about energy, jobs or the impact this will have on the West.  Utah has unduly suffered from this Administration’s anti-energy policies, and is still working to recover from the cancellation of 77 oil and gas leases.  It’s mind boggling that on the same day he announces this new roadblock, he would actually host a ‘live chat’ to boast about the damage this Administration is doing to country.  It’s increasingly apparent that this Administration simply cares more about their reelection campaign than they do the American people.”

The American Petroleum Institute estimates that oil shale resources in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are between 1.2 and 1.8 trillion barrels of oil equivalent in the ground.  As much as 500 billion to 1.1 trillion barrels of that are considered potentially recoverable. Close to two-thirds of global oil shale resources are located in the United States.