OCR Text |
Show F fjew federal oil shale lease sale tfo be offered -,1s is the first of a series of three bout the new policy on oil Mtlopment announced by the Department on May 27 by c. Monberg. unirton-It may take six months 'Zw more oil shale tracts this nder the Interior Department 'Zt oil snale leasin8 Program, to Under Secretary of Interior f A Joseph said the new leasing f start in three months. Joseph Sliced the new lease plans on May e reality of the situation is that it "take us six months rather than !, months to get the new prototype .urogram ginned up again," Craig -a assistant chief of the Bureau of j Management Division on On- Energy Resources at Interior, -his correspondent on May 30. "We J,, lot of consulting to do with the jes involved, the states, the "wmental groups, the oil shale panel, and the industry. We to get the process cranked up to 'nominations from industry and fthe leases," Hall stated. lisaid Interior officials working on plan are concerned that the ,vpe leases may be offered in ';jber, date of the Presidential .-on. They would prefer to make the S offerings before or after the ..on. "We want to do it right," Hall c That might mean that the leasing -3gs will not be offered until ."-mber. The only lease sales under Interior Department prototype 4 program were made in 1974, Colorado and two in Utah. There . been no production from any of pleases, and Joseph said on May 27 prototype program, at this point, is . "qualified success" at best. 't delay in implementing the cti prototype lease sale this year jilyoneof the surprises in the May anouncement by Interior. There it others. t:ho the Interior announcement ssed that the tracts would be bpersed' thruout the Green River liale-bearing formation of i::sdo, Utah and Wyoming, aides to cRep. Gunn McKay, D-Utah, and Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., told this respondent on May 30 they had been itaed by Interior that their states t!l not be involved. Earlier the same 5 Ball had told this correspondent t Department was hoping that it cbe able to make a sale of one sci Utah for "a true in situ-type f nstration." He said he understood Geokinetictf,'ar'California energy was interested in seeking such a ! Despite the importance of the .:y statement on oil shale made by irior on May 27, there was spread lack of knowledge on it by sessional offices for the affected B. Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., ap-:ed ap-:ed to be the only M.C. who received announcement prior to the public wncement on May 27. Jtho Interior plans a permanent oil le lease program on public lands in tuple of years, in addiditon to the imed prototype leasing of four more Us this year, it did so in the face of sition from environmental groups shhave been closely connected with Interior's top brass since 1977, with the advent of the Carter Administration Several sources at Interior said that Interior Secretary Cecil D. Andres approved of the action announced by Joseph, but was not directly involved Interior apparently felt forced to take such a position before it was ordered to do so by the new Energy Mobilization Board and the Energy Security Corp which are in the last process of Congressional authorization to push syn-fuels programs. "We felt we had to be a step ahead of these new agencies," agen-cies," Hall told this correspondent on May 30. Altho it had appeared that both Superior Oil Co. and Exxon Co. were going to be able to get land exchanges thru Interior to provide an efficient mining unit for oil shale development, Joseph announced an anti-exchange policy at Interior on May 27. All signs now indicate the proposed exchanges that Exxon and Superior had tried to effect Superior for several years-will years-will be turned down by Interior. There were two major reasons given for the new anti-exchange policy by Interior. Uncle Sam, the states, and local governments get no $$$ directly out of exchanges of land. And it is impossible for Interior to get assurance of a go-ahead go-ahead on oil shale development from a company which affects a land exchange ex-change with Interior for the purpose. "Exchanges are a bad deal," Hall volunteered. Because the Superior exchange is expected to be turned down, Interior is going to try to get a tract leased with deposits of both oil shale and sodium minerals, including dawsonite and nah-colite, nah-colite, so that all can be developed at once. Such a tract will undoubtedly be offered for lease in the Piceance Basin. The reactions of the members of Congress from affected states were surprising. Hart was the only member to issue a lengthy statement. He said, in sum, Interior's announcement on May 27 "moves us toward responsible development of our essential energy resources" on home turf. Hart has been moderately pro-energy development on home turf since he has seen at first hand on the Senate Armed Services Committee how much Middle East and other oil imports adversely affect U.S. defense readiness. Rep. James P. Johnson, R-Colo., whose district will be most directly affected, called Interior's decisions "Reasonable." Sen. William L. Armstrong, R-Colo., a pro-leasing advocate, said he was interested in the new Interior policy, and he would issue a full statement later after studying it and the back-up material. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called the announcement an-nouncement "eyewash." He said,'('We see a lot of that sort of activity in election years. I'll believe the federal government is moving on oil shale . when I see notice of intent to lease in the Federal Register," Hatch stated. |