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Show DOE scoping meeting announced for oil shale plants Public scoping meetings will be conducted by the Department of Energy in Utah and Colorado to help identify significant environmental issues connected with the planned construction and operation of one or more demonstration plants to extract synthetic crude oil from oil shale deposits. Demonstration plants are called modules, and several modules would be used in commercial plants. Meetings were held August 5 in Vernal, August 6 in Grand Junction and will be held August 7 and 8 in Denver. Interested persons unable to attend may submit written comments. The purpose of public scoping meetings is to identify significant environmental issues to be analyzed in depth in the environmental impact statement, and to eliminate from detailed study those issues which are not significant or which have been covered by prior environmental review. Among the issues to be examined as part of the environmental impact statement are the possible effects of constructing and operating a plant on public health, on the social and economic life of nearby communities, on local air and water quality, on local plant and animal life, and on the aesthetic beauty and recreational use of the area. The United States has millions of barrels of synthetic crude oil contained in oil shale deposits throughout the western states. By developing an economic means of extracting the oil from these rock deposits, the nation would take an important step in easing its dependence on imported petroleum. A number of processes have been demonstrated on a small scale. The purpose of a demonstration plant is to show that the processes can be made economically feasible on a larger scale. The following firms will design demonstration plants for potential construction of a commercial-scale surface module. The Paraho Development Corporation Cor-poration has proposed a plant near Bonanza, Utah. Superior Oil Company has proposed a plant in Colorado. Cathedral Bluffs Shaie Oil Company has proposed a plant on the C-b lease tract in Colorado. Rio Blanco Oil Shale Company has proposed a plant on the C-a lease tract in Colorado. The environmental impact statement is part of the process of deciding which, if any, of the proposals will receive Federal funds. |
