UPDATE as of September 2023

• All federal leasing for oil shale development in Utah and Colorado have expired or have been relinquished.
• Activities for tar sand development in Utah have ceased.
• 2009 - What Every Westerner Should Know About Oil Shale. Hanson and Limerick.

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Oil shale and tar sands remains a speculative industry in the arid lands of the Colorado Plateau. A general lack of water is why the industry will never be viable. If the oil corporations buy the water from farmers, that would create food insecurity and increase dependance on transportation fuels to import food from other watersheds; ever-expanding metropolises covet that same water too.

Even if alternative chemical washes are used to separate bitumen from sand, for example, it still requires 2 barrels of water to refine a single barrel of synthetic crude. What this extraction will accomplish is physical damage to the Colorado River  watershed, which supplies culinary water to nearly 30 million people. It  will also create more CO2 in the atmosphere, which is the #1 killer of  the Rocky Mountain snowpack, which provides 85% of the Colorado River's  total annual water supply. Our watershed needs investors to create a  reliable energy supply that will heal the water supply of the Colorado  River, not destroy it.

CLICK HERE to read information about the Programmatic EIS for oil shale and tar sands in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah

CLICK HERE to watch the first documentary about Utah unconventional fuel called Last Rush for the Wild West: Tar Sands. Oil Shale and the American Frontier.

Independent Technical Memorandum: Greenhouse Gas & Water Footprints of Oil Shale & Tar Sands Resources & Projects in the Upper Colorado River Basin. 2018, EcoShift. The Executive Summary of this report is HERE.

• NOTE: there are no tar sands in Colorado or Wyoming.
• 2008 - Total identified is 430,686 acres
• 2012 - The proposed preferred alternative identifies 91,045 acres
• RECORD OF DECISION (Issued March 22, 2013)

• 141,020 State Trust acres on which tar sands are known or expected.
• 52,887 State Trust acres under lease for tar sands
• A typical lease lasts 10-years
• Only a very small part of the above acres could be surface mined
• US Oil Sands Lease with SITLA
• US Oil Sands Contract Report. SITLA.

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

• 1983 - Uinta Basin Synfuels Development, FInal Environmental Impact Statement. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMsynfuelsFEIS1983.pdf
• 1983 - Utah Combined Hydrocarbon, Regional Draft Environmental Impact Statement. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMregionalDEIS1983a.pdf
• 1984 - Utah Combined Hydrocarbon, Regional Final Environmental Impact Statement. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMregionalFEIS1984.pdf
• 1984 - Book Cliffs Resource Management Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMveranalRMP1984.pdf
• 1984 - Air quality assessment for the Environmental Impact Statement on the Federal Oil Shale Management Program.www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMAirQualityOSTS1984.pdf
• 1985 - PR Spring Combined Hydrocarbon Lease Conversion Draft Environmental Impact Statement. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMprSpringsDEIS1985.pdf
• 1985 - PR Spring Hydrocarbon Lease Conversion Final Environmental Impact Statement. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMprSpringsFEIS1985.pdf
• 1990 - Winter Ridge Wilderness Study Area. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMwinterRidgeWSA1990.pdf
• 1999 - Utah Wilderness Inventory. www.riversimulator.org/Pubs/OSTS/Ref/BLMwilderness1999.pdf
• 2013 - Oil Shale & Tar Sands, Programatic Environmental Impact Statement: Official web site. ostseis.anl.gov/documents/index.cfm
• RECORD OF DECISION (Issued March 22, 2013)

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DOCUMENTS for Oil Shale

• 1967 - Northcutt Ely's Water Budget for Oil Shale Production.
• 1967 - 4th symposium on oil shale. Colorado School of Mines.
• 1974 - Oil Shale Development. League of Women Voters.
• Oil shale library. Headwaters Institute.
• 2011 - Testimony of Bill Eikenberry (PIONEERS Act)
• 2010- Oil Shale in the West: 14 Unanswered Questions. Headwater Economics.
• 2010 - Policy Analysis of Water Availibility and use Issues for Domestic Oil Shale and Oil Sands Development. Univ. or Utah.
• 2010 - Oil shale update. National Oil Shale Association.
• 2010 - CERES Report on Oil Shale/Water Nexus.
• 2010 - Energy-Water Nexus: Better Understanding of Water Resources. GAO.
• 2009 - What Every Westerner Should Know About Oil Shale. Hanson and Limerick.
• 2008 - Oil Shale Report. Congressional Research Service.
• 2008 - Water Rights and Oil Shale. Congressional Research Service.
• 2012 - Energy Water Nexus for Utah
• Oil Shale Politics in Utah: Holding Government Officials, Lobbyists, and Corporate Management Accountable to the Public

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DOCUMENTS for Tar Sands

• 2007 - Analysis of Utah Tar Sands. Baxter.
• 2008 - History of Tar Sands in North America. Congressional Research Service.
• 2010 - Energy-Water Nexus: Better Understanding of Water Resources. GAO.
• 2010 - American Tar Sands. Willliams.
• 2010 - Water Availability for Tar Sands and Oil Shale. Keiter.
• 2012 - Energy Water Nexus for Utah
• Oil Shale Politics in Utah: Holding Government Officials, Lobbyists, and Corporate Management Accountable to the Public

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ECONOMIC VIABILITY

• 2014 - Updated: Energy Initiatives & Imperatives for Utah's 10-Year Strategic Energy Plan 2.0. Governor Herbert.
• 2014 - Drilling Deeper: A Reality Check on US Government Forecasts for a Lasting Tight Oil & Shale Gas Boom. Hughes.
• 2013 - Executive Summary: Tar Sands Oil Shale Market Assessment. U of U.
• 2013 - Oil Shale Market Assessment. U of U.
• 2012 - Investor Oil Shale Risks. CERES.
• 2011 - Economic Impact of Marcellus Shale Gas. Cornell.
• 2011 - Marcellus Shale: What Are The Limitations? Cornell.
• 2010 - Oil Shale: 14 Unanswered Questions. Headwater Economics.
• 2008 - North American Oil Sands History Development Prospects. Congressional Research Service.
• 2008 - Developments In Oil Shale. Congressional Research Service.
• 2007 - Testimonies Oil Shale. RAND.
• 2006 - Oil Shale History Incentives Policy. Congressional Research Service
• 2005 - Oil Shale Development USA. RAND.

WATER

• 2015 - Potential Impacts to Perennial Springs from Tar Sand Mining in the Tavaputs Plateau, Utah. Johnson et al.
• 2013 - Hydrochemical Data from Perrennial Springs in the PR Spring Area. Johnson.
• 2012 - Energy Water Nexus for Utah
• 1983 - Potential Impacts on Hydrology from Tar Sands Industry. USGS.
• 1975 - Hydrologic Reconnaisance of Southern Uinta Basin, Utah and Colorado. Price & Miller.

• 2012- Exxon: Environmental Assessment & FONSI
• 2012 - Natural Soda Holdings: Environmental Assessment & FONSI
• 2006 - Chevron: Environmental Assesment and FONSI.
• 2006 - EGL Resources: Environmental Assessment.
• 2006 - Shell Frontier Oil ande Gas: Environmental Assessment .
• Plan of Operations. BLM Website.

• 2006 - Preliminary EA. 
• 2006 - EA & FONSI.
• 2006 - Plan of Operations.

EGL Resources

• 2006 - Preliminary EA. 
• 2006 - EA & FONSI.
• Plan of Operations.

Exxon Mobil RD&D

• 2014 - Determination of NEPA Adequacy.
• 2012 - Preliminary EA.
• 2012 - Exxon: Environmental Assessment.
• 2012 - FONSI.
• 2012 - Decision Record.
• Plan of Operations.
• Plan of Development.

Natural Soda RD&D

• 2012 - Preliminary EA.
• 2012 - Environmental Assessment.
• 2012 - FONSI.
• 2012 - Decision of Record. 
• 2013 - Plan of Development.
• 2014 - Determination of NEPA Adequacy.

Shell Frontier RD&D

• 2006 - Preliminary EA.
• 2006 - EA & FONSI.
• Plan of Operations.

Maps: Piceance Basin RD&D

• RD&D locations for Shell, Exxon & Natural Soda.
• RD&D location for EGL Resources.
• RD&D location for Chevron.
• Google Map kmz file.

Uinta Basin (Eastern Utah)

Wyoming  (Upper Green River Basin)

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