I, VVhite River Shale Project . seeks Dept. of Interior action we oil companies have filed I U S. District Court seeking to "the Interior Department's efforts title to oil shale tracts in Uiptah 'fty'threeSohio Shale Oil Co., 1 petroleum Co. and Sunico Development Co., all Delaware nies-have formed the White Shale Project to develop the two which have 5,120 acres each. 'wets were leased in 1974 from the V in of Land Management, with ying a total $72,422,400 as e bids for the right to develop the ' i addition, payments of about $40 L are still pending but may be 'ijied to costs of development, said 'af the lawyers who filed the action, "tchell Melich, who was a solicitor for "e Interior Department in 1969-1973. '1 Tke bonus bids were impounded by late Chief U.S. District Judge Willis i Hitter pending solution to a dispute j, the state over ownership of the .;se tracts. jitb interest, that fund now amounts A -more than $101 million. J suit is a state claim that Utah f '5 right to the title of many thousands acres of oil shale land, including the i -tah County tracts, because they I jje chosen by the state in exchange f!, land locked up in federal reser-Vions, reser-Vions, such as military ranges. ' He state's title has been upheld in S District Court and the federal 10th out Court of Appeals. However, the .'trior Department again appealed', 3 time to the U.S. Supreme Court, re the case is pending. The suit filed last week said other 'clouds" upon the title are in the form of unpatented mining claims filed before 1920 and claims by the Ute Indian In-dian Tribe. The suit asks that the Interior Department be ordered to clear title as quickly as possible and that if the title cannot be turned over to the oil companies com-panies that the impounded money be refunded. Melich said one reason the suit has been filed now is that there is a six-year statues of limitations on starting actions ac-tions to get money back if a purchased lease cannot be obtained. The bonus bids were accepted by the Interior Department six years ago this June. "The companies want to proceed with the development of these two tracts and develop an oil shale industry." in-dustry." Melich said. The companies are not trying to get out of oil shale development but are seeking to protect their investments, he said.