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Show Administration endorses off-site leasing, but has no oil shale program By Helene C. Monberg Washington- The Administration has informed Congress that it endorses the off-site leasing bills of Sen. William L. Armstgrong, R-Colo., and Rep. Dan Marriott, R-Utah, but it has no oil shale program of its own. In a letter ot Chairman James A. McClure, R-Idaho, of the Senate Energy Committee, Under Secretary of Interior Donald P. Hodel on May 22 urged that the off-site leasing bills be passed " as expeditiously as possible... Either the Armstrong bill or the Marrott bill would be acceptable to the Administration," the letter stated. It was written in Hodel's capacity as acting secretary with Interior Secretary James G. Watt being out of town. "After House-Senate consideration of this first most pressing issue, we would appreciate your counsel on other legislative needs to foster other oil shale publicly held resources. To further demonstate our commitment to promote timely and orderly development develop-ment of oil shale resources we intend administratively to expedite actions by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to aid oil shale development on private or state lands, move the department to more rapid examination of oil shale claims, and develop an oil shale leasing program beyond (he existing prototype program." Hodel's letter to McClure stated. Hearings on the Armstong bill and other legislation on oil shale will be held in the Resources Subcommittee of the Senate Energy Committee headed by Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va. Both the Armstrong bill, introduced on April 30, and the Marriott bill, introduced in-troduced on Jan. 28, authorize a second lease to holders of oil shale leases to provide space for facilities and waste from the lease tract being mined. It is regarded as absolutely essential to the development of the CA tract in the Piceance Creek Basin in Northwestern Colorado, where the leasees want to extract the shale by open-pit mining. There is not enough room on 5.120 acres of land now under lease to put up a retort, provide for a waste area to dispose of spent shale and carry on open-pit mining too. So the leasing of an adjacent area is essential to be used for siting the retorting plant, other equipment and facilities, and provide space for spent shale, which expands after it is taken out of the ground. A hearing on the various oil shale bills before the House Interior Committee Com-mittee was held in Vernal, on May 29. They include not only the Marriott off-site off-site leasing bill but also comprehensive oil shale bills by Marriott and Chairman Chair-man Jim Santini, D-Nev., of the House Mining Subcommittee providing for larger lease tracts, the holding of more oil shale tracts under certian con- ditions, authorizing multi-mineral leasing and allowing for leasing small acreages of federal land to avoid bypass of federal oil shale resources. The Hodel letter to McClure reads as follows: "The Secretary of Interior must facilitate the development of America's abundant energy and mineral resources to lessen this nation's excessive ex-cessive dependence upon foreign sources of energy. Insuring the availability of the huge federally controlled reserves of oil shale represents an important, if partial, step toward fulfilling that responsibility. "Efforts now underway on federal lands to demonstrate the commercial viability of shale oil development are essential. They must be permitted to continue in the most efficient manner. Unfortunately, a major impediment to oil shale development in federal lands has threatened the future of the resouce. At least one oil shale lease issued by the Department in 1974 contemplated use of processing plants. However, the Interior Department doesn't currently have the statutory authority to issue such disposal permits or leases. In the absence of off-site disposal and siting authority, oil shale development on public lands will continue at a slowed pace, utilizing more costly mining methods. The efficiency . of shale oil extraction w ill be deminished from 80-90 percent possible using surface extration mining -techniques to 25-30 percent with in situ methods. Moreover, the Department's inability to offer such sites will limit development develop-ment to the richest oil shale lands. We are requesting that you consider as a top legislative priority providing off-site off-site leasing authority prior to other oil shale leasing legislation. "During the last session of Congress the House passed under suspension HR 7941. and were it not for the pressures of the final days of the Congress, we ttclieve that the Senate would have adopted the House-passed bill without change. We propose, therefore, that legislation similar to HR 7941 as passed by the House in the 9iUh Congress be passed 'as expeditiously as possible. Sen. Armstrong has introduced a bill, S 1073. oriioffsite leasing which is identical iden-tical to last year's legislation (HR 1409) in the House. Either of these bills would be acceptable to the Administration." "After House-Senate consideration of this first most pressing issue, we would appreciate your counsel on other legislative needs to foster other oil shale publicly held resources. To further demonstrate our commitment to promote timely and orderly development of federal oil shale Resources, we intend administratively to expedite actions by the Bureau of Land Management to aid oil shale development on private or state lands, move the department to more rapid examination of oil shale claims', and develop an oil shale leasing program beyond tho existing prototype program. "In the interim, however, we must act without delay to establish offtract deposit and facility siting authority. We Respectfully urge that Congress adopt such authority before proceeding with additional and very likely more controversial con-troversial shale leasing legislation. The office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this proposal from the standpoint of the Administration's program." |
