The plan covers 1.3 million acres in northwestern Colorado and was released for public comment in Feb.
2007.

Following public and technical review of the draft document, BLM conducted an additional analysis looking at potential impacts actions on air quality. The analysis indicated that impacts would not exceed any air quality
standards in any of the four alternatives in the plan. BLM found very slight impacts to visibility in the Dinosaur National Monument and Mt. Zirkel Wilderness Area might be detectable on no more than five days, depending on the alternative selected.

The RMP will guide the overall management of the field office, including energy and mineral development, transportation and travel management, wildlife habitat and special management areas. The final environmental impact statement is scheduled to be released in May 2009.

The meeting is open to the public, with public comment periods scheduled for 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The meeting will include updates from BLM field offices in northwest Colorado, including work on the Grand Junction resource management plan, as well as information on planning for priority species and the use of beetles to control tamarisk.

The Northwest Resource Advisory Council is one of three advisory councils to the BLM in Colorado. Composed of 15 members appointed by the Interior Secretary, individuals serving in each council are supposed to represent a broad range of public land interests, including environmental, local government and commercial activity. The Northwest Resource Advisory Council advises the Grand Junction, White River, Little Snake, Kremmling and Glenwood Springs BLM field offices.

Opponents of plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site contend the EIS is an attempt to force the expansion because of increase use projected for the site.

Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter from which oil may be produced.

The regulations provide for a phased approach to oil shale development on public lands in the West, although commercial development is not expected for several years. BLM says the regulations will provide a basis for decisions, as “rules of the road” for the large investment that will be necessary for industry to develop technologies to extract the resource. Those investments could exceed $1 billion.

Before any oil shale leases are issued, additional site-specific National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis would be completed on the proposed development. Once a lease is issued, the lessee will also have to obtain all required permits from state and local authorities, under their respective permitting processes, before any operations can begin. Another round of NEPA analysis would be conducted before any site-specific plans of development are approved.

The rule also establishes a royalty rate based on a time-adjusted rate, beginning at 5 percent during the first 5 years of commercial production, and then rising 1 percent every year thereafter until the rate reaches 12.5 percent, the current rate for conventional oil and gas development. Forty-nine percent of the royalties are shared with the states within which the leases are found.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States holds more than half of the world’s oil shale resources. The largest known deposits of oil shale are located in a 16,000-square mile area in the Green River formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Federal lands comprise 72 percent of the total surface of oil shale acreage in the Green River formation.

The regulations are just one of several steps designed to harness these vast energy resources. The BLM has also issued research, development and demonstration leases for five oil shale projects in Colorado’s Piceance Basin and one in Utah.

In addition, C. Stephen Allred, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for land and minerals management, signed the record of decision today on a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) that would amend several resource management plans to open lands for application for potential oil shale leasing in the future. In the EIS, the BLM amended land-use plans in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming to set aside approximately 1.9 million acres of public lands for potential commercial oil shale development. Additional site-specific NEPA analysis would have to be completed before leasing or development occurs.

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) called the regulations “premature and flawed” in a statement today, noting that BLM has not addressed how much water and electricity would be needed for commercial development of oil shale or where it would come from. “A royalty rate of 5 percent, of which Colorado would receive half, is a pittance,” Salazar added. “The administration is setting up Colorado to be sold short.”