The Bush Administration is pushing to begin development of oil shale in the Rocky Mountains, despite opposition from environmentalists and local leaders, who say the environmental costs are too high and the refining technology is unproven.
Yesterday the Interior Department proposed regulations for selling oil shale leases on federal lands, even though Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) last year included a measure in a spending bill forbidding the government from issuing final rules.
That measure will expire in October and some White House critics say the administration is attempting to take advantage of high oil prices to push the land leases through.
The vast oil shale deposits in the Rocky Mountains have not been developed in the past, because the oil is contained within rock, making it extremely difficult, expensive and environmentally destructive to remove. Like the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, these deposits are now considered more economically feasible, because of rising oil prices.
Read the full Associated Press story.
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