Show Federal oil oiB il shale tracts sought by firms The Interior Department said Tuesday of last week that five companies have nominated tracts for next years year's proposed federal leasing for oil shale development A SPOKESMAN for Interiors Interior's Bureau of f Land Management said the names of the companies companies com and details of their nominations would not be revealed until a department team completes reviewing and selecting tracts for the proposed sale a process that may take another two months He said U this s secrecy was necessary so that the selection team would not know which companies might stand to benefit from alternative tract selections TIIE THE OIL shale lease sale proposed for the autumn of 1976 would offer two tracts for development of the in situ process in which oil would be extracted from shale without removing the shale itself from the ground Oil shale found on federal lands in Wyoming Colorado and Utah is a kind of rock containing an organic substance substance substance sub sub- stance called When heated is transformed into oil Procedures already being tested for the extraction of oil from shale Involve mining the shale then then crushing it and heating it above ground SUCH PROCESSES pose serious environmental problems in the eventual disposal of spent shale and the restoration of the land These problems may be alleviated if in situ literally in place processing can be successfully demon demon- TilE THE DEADLINE for submission submission submission sub sub- mission of tract nominations was last Thursday but the last of the five nominations postmarked postmarked postmarked post post- marked by the deadline was not received until this week The companies nominating tracts were required to propose at the same time procedures to minimize environmental Impacts impacts impacts im Im- pacts and demands for water and power and to maximize the health and safety protection of oil shale workers A spokesman said that after two specific tracts have been selected by the departments departments department's departments department's depart depart- ments ment's review team a draft impact statement would be prepared d as required by law probably by this November or December A FINAL environmental statement would be issued a final decision reached and the lease sale could be held by autumn of 1976 the spokesman said |