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Show Action on oil shale legislation i Si 't j' !vvi? t- , ., ...... - . . .' -'" " -' cheduled in both House and Senate to' ..... lie " tciul to the Vernal Express) ByHeleneC. Monberg ashington The House Interior imittee is scheduled to report out a Moil shale bill on Aug. 27, and the st may take up the same bill on 1 Knsionof the rules as early as Sept. wnwhile, the Senate Energy I!' Subcommittee chaired by Sen. All Ford, D-Ky., is planning to I hearings on Sept. 9 on similar slation introduced in June by Sen. ? Hart, D-Colo. Special efforts will Mde to allow interested en- if'hental groups to testify if they II to, the offices of Hart and Rep. nca Schroeder, D-Colo., told this te. - respondent on Aug. 22, they were ! (f notified of the hearings on oil shale I the House Mining Subcommittee ale 11 "quickie" hearing and reported be?11 on July 3i. ' lrs. Schroeder complained to he-man Morris K. Udall, D-Ariz., of Buse Interior Committee about the I 'N. Udall replied to her on Aug. vKB that is would be impossible further hearings on the House v r,is ime as we are fagt running ; m 'me in this Congress" and "this T , Wecan 111 afford... I feel this Fl is vital to any future oil shale P' the Udall letter to her rCte MpnCy is-wrien all over the UWh Hart said in a weekend Oft u0 h"aw no such urgency in the Unsaid that he had agreed to in- te s.h'rt-tailed oil shale bill on iSVr' fol'owing discussion with T! of Interior James A! KUi, ;hllsophically I am in favor ' k ,sin8for hale disposal ajid '"Ise, h,,r,UCtlon for tne Prototype vN L am not in favor of a"y - WeraUon t0 Set it thru ' W;'year'"Hart stated in an JliL0ng' 22. Hart also stated CWnn0tuPlantodroP other work vCe g SUch leSislation thru tht bil1 introduced on June Nu "mittee-reported bill Ho,k1 y da" and a half dzen fl m.embers on Aug. 18 'K ttlglVmg the Secretary of f'Jnl leaL? L0riW t0 issue ad-A1 ad-A1 shale I, 0lders of Prototype-l Prototype-l of luv. fnta 1985 for "the Mrl shale lrlale waste" including F5ts' f0r the building of Cities neS", WOrks a,,d oLner 'ilshale lease " perations under $ asho 3 prottype lease must WSZ that the additional JV. wessary, and the Secretary's j authority to lease additional land is limited to the lessee making such a showing and on assurances that the prototype lessee will meet all environmental en-vironmental standards in the area. There are four prototype leases outstanding, two in Colorado and two in Utah, all issued in 1974, and four more may be issued by Interior under a new oil shale policy the Joseph announced in May and June. Interior is resuming prototype leasing. James Curlin, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior in testimony before the House Mining Subcommittee on July 31, pushed the panic button on getting such legislation thru the Congress this year. "Off-site disposal" thru authority to issue another lease to present holders of prototype leases and the prospective new prototype lessees "would have to be in place in 1981 to that we could be prepared for the 1982 lease sale of the additional four prototype leases" he testified. Both J. Blaine Miller, president of Rio Blanco Oil Shale Co., and John Kyi, speaking oh behalf of Cathedral Bluffs Shale Oil Co., told the House Mining Subcommittee they felt the could not go ahead with the development of the two Colorado tracts unless and until they got additional lands for spent shale disposal and plant construction. They have long held to this view. The new thing about the hearing was the urgency with which Interior underscored un-derscored the need for the legislation, only a small portion of a much larger bill that Interior wants enacted into law in the next few months (tho not necessarily this year). Chairman Jim Santini, D-Nev., of the House Mining Subcommittee urged that only the off -site lease provision be included in the urgent legislation. "I think you will be doggone lucky to get that thru Congress," Santini told the Interior representatives. Rep. Dan Marriott, R-Utah, told this correspondent on Aug. 22 that the Subcommittee "had an agreement with Hart's office that if we can get the bill thru the House, Hart will get it thru the Senate " Subsequently, Hart told this correspondent he had no such agreement. "They may have been talking to my staff," he went on and such talks were so interpreted, he observed. But Marriott persisted. He said as soon as the oil shale bill passes the House he plans personallly to go over to the Senate to get the two Colorado and Utah Senators to try to move the House-passed House-passed bill. Marriott expressed concern " that Sen Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, plans to introduce a bill to do the same thing by amending the 1976 BLM Organic Act. Both the House bill sponsored by Marriott and the Hart bill amend the 1920 Mineral Leasing Act. |