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Show Supreme Court decision on oil shale lands hurts energy efforts Unless changed through administrative ad-ministrative or legislative action, a Supreme Court decision to deny the state of Utah title to 157,000 acres of oil shale lands will significantly damage the country's efforts to reduce the consumption of imported fuel produces, Sen. Orrin Hatch said. Hatch said the court's 5-4 decision in Andrus vs. Utah, announced May 19, leaves the oil shale lands under management of the federal government, govern-ment, which has not yet announced plans to lease the valuable energy resources for development. Utah, by contrast, has environmentally cori- scionable" leasing plans in operation for oil shale and other alternative fuel sources, such as tar sands, according to Hatch. "Federal control of these vast energy resources is inherently political control. con-trol. The on-again, off-again availability of oil shale resources has hampered development in the past and no change is visible in the future," Hatch said. "Investors simply aren't willing to risk the millions it will take to provide energy-starved consumers with oil shale products when the Interior In-terior Department isn't even sure it's going to lease the necessary lands." "Even in these energy-short periods we have been unable to start these critical programs," Hatch said. "It seems contradictory to me that on the one hand the federal government does not consider the oil shale to be of sufficient suf-ficient value to be made available to the economy, while on the other hand the oil shale makes the lands of 'grossly disparate value' when compared to the lands in general." "This is yet another example where state control of the lands would benefit the whole country," Hatch said. "Utah manages the lands in an economic context, not a political one. Utah stands ready to lease a portion of the massive oil. reserves contained in the shale, while the federal government does not." "I am hopeful the Secretary of Interior In-terior will see his way clear to give title to Utah in spite of the decision that would certainly reduce some of the anger the states feel at the lack of federal leasing action. Barring that administrative good sense that we don't really expect, I would support some kind of legislative relief for the state," Hatch said. Hatch is the chief sponsor of a bill (S. 1680) that would give the states the right to claim title to much of the public land in the West, after establishing agencies to prudently manage the lands. "The states are ready to move on oil shale; the federal government is not. The states have sound, careful plans in the mill for leasing tar sands the federal government hasn't even decided on a definition for tar sands," he said. " Environmentally, the states have a more sound program for this alternative alter-native fuel. The federal answer in the Energy Mobilization Board, which will develop the fuel at any cost economic or environmental when the need becomes overwhelming," the senator said. "We should develop these resources now, while there is still time to protect the environment, while there is still time to contribute significantly to our energy future," Hatch concluded. |