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Show Draff Environmental Statement Released on 01! Ste Development WASHINGTON A Draft Environmental Statement covering a proposal to make available lor private oil shale development as many as six 5,120-acre leases of Federal lands in the States of Colorado, Colo-rado, Utah ,and Wyoming was released today by the Department of the Interior "This is part of sn orderly order-ly process to provide information infor-mation concerning a possible new source of needed energy," ener-gy," Secretary of the Inter- ior Rogers C. B. Morton said. "It is another step forward for-ward under President Nixon's Nix-on's directive to accelerate development of 'clean energy' to meet pressing national needs." The proposed leases would be sold" by competitive bonus bon-us bidding and would require payment to the United States of royalities on production. Secretary Morton announced announc-ed a proposed prototype oil shale leasing program June 29, 1971. At that time he is- sued a preliminary environmental environ-mental statement, a program statement, and reports prepared pre-pared by the States of Colorado, Colo-rado, Utah, and Wyoming on the environmental costs and problems of oil shale development. devel-opment. Any written comments on the draft statement received within 45 days of issuance will be given careful consideration, consid-eration, Department officials said. Public hearings have been scheduled within the same 45-day review period in the three States where oil shale prototype development develop-ment is proposed. Hearings will be held beginning be-ginning at 9:30 a.m. on the dates indicated at the following follow-ing locations: OctoEer 10, 1972,' Denver, Colorrco. Bureau of Recla-. Recla-. mation Auditorium, Bldg,'56; Rock Springs, Wyoming, Outlaw Out-law Inn, 1630 Elk. October 12, 1972, Cheyenne, Wyoming, Little America Motel, West Lincoln Way; Vernal, Utah Junior High School Auditorium, 721 West First South. October 13, 1972, Salt Lakt City, Utah, State Office Bidg. Auditorium, Capitol Complex Grand Junction, Colorado, City Hall, 5th and Roods. ' Upon completion of the review re-view period, the Department of the Interior will weigh all information and comments received and, if the decision is made to proceed further, a Final Environmental Sta- tement will be prepared. A decision as to whether to proceed with an oil shale leasing program will not be made until after the Final Environmental Statement is completed and all requirements require-ments of the National Environmental En-vironmental Policy Act arc met. The draft environmental statement found that "oil shale development would produce pro-duce direct and indirect changes in the environmcft of the oil shale region in each of the three States where commercial quantities quanti-ties of oil shale resources exist." ex-ist." While many of the environmental en-vironmental changes would be of local significance, others oth-ers would be of an expanding expand-ing nature and have cumulative cumula-tive impact, the draft statement state-ment said. President Nixon, in his June 4, 1971 energy message to Congress, requested that the Secretary of the Interior inltate "a leasing program to develop our vast oil shale resources, provided that environmental en-vironmental questions can be satisfactorily resolved." In response to this request the Department of the Interior Inter-ior authorized informational core drilling at various sites. Sixteen core holes were completed com-pleted in Colorado and Utah. The Department requested nominations on proposed leasing tracts November 2, 1971, and a total of 20 individual indi-vidual tracts were nominated. nominat-ed. With concurrence of the three concerned States, the Department announced April 25, 1972, Selection of six of the nominated tracts two each in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The preliminary environmental environ-mental statement was . expanded ex-panded to consider the im-. im-. pact of a full-scale oil shale industry, as well as the impact im-pact of development of the six selected tracts and a comprehensive analysis of other energy alternatives. The draft" statement issued today is contained in three volumes. Volume I provides an assessment as-sessment of the current state of oil shale technology and describes the regional environmental en-vironmental impact of oil shale development in the form of production from public pub-lic and private lands. Volume II extends the study stu-dy with an examination of alternatives to shale oil production at the rate of 1 million barrels per day by 1985. Volume III examines the proposed specific action under un-der consideration, which is the issuance of not more than two prototype oil shale leases leas-es in each of the three states. The three-volume set may be purchased by mail or in person from the Map Information Infor-mation Office, Geological Survey, U. S. Department of Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. The set is priced at $7.00. Individual volumes are $3.00 for Volume I, $1.00 for Volume II, and $3.00 for Volume Vol-ume m. Copies may also be purchased pur-chased from Bureau of Land Management State Office Salt Lake City, Utah (Federal (Fed-eral Building, 125 South State, Sta-te, Salt Lake City). Inspection Inspec-tion copies are available at the office of the Oil ShaTe Coordinator, U. S. Department Depart-ment of the Interior, Room 7000, Interior Building, Washington, D.C, 20240 and in the following Bureau of Land Management district offices: Colorado; Canon City, Craig, Glenwood Springs, Spri-ngs, Grand Junction, Montrose; Mont-rose; Utah: Vernal,- Price, Monticello, Kanab, Richfield; Wyoming: Rock Springs, Rawlins, Ra-wlins, Casper, Lander, Pine-dale, Pine-dale, and Worland. Copies have also been sent to the following libraries: BYU Center for Environ- mental Studies, Brigham Young University, Provo; Environmentar Studies Center, Cen-ter, Weber College, jOgden; Ecology Center, Utah State . University, Logan, Ecology Center .University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Law Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Vernal Public Library, Vernal, Utah. |
