|
An Estonian state-owned oil company wants to mine, rather than drill, for oil in Utah—and it's locked up billions of gallons of Colorado River water to do it.
Grist senior writer Naveena Sadasivam reports on the proposal by Enefit American Oil to strip mine 28 million tons of oil shale rock near Dinosaur National Monument. By heating the rock to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit—a process that is 75 percent more carbon-intensive than traditional fossil fuel extraction—the company says it can produce 50,000 barrels of oil a day.
In addition to the energy needed to produce the oil, the shale operation would also require millions of gallons of water a day. In 2011, Enefit purchased the rights to 10,000 acre-feet, or 3.2 billion gallons, of water from the White River, which eventually flows into the drought-stricken and oversubscribed Colorado River.
But that water right was due to expire in 2021 if the company didn't put it to use, so it found a loophole: selling all 3.2 billion gallons to an electricity cooperative for $10. The electric company then leased the water back to Enefit. That arrangement, Enefit claims, gave it a 10-year extension on the water right.
The Grand Canyon Trust and other conservation groups are challenging that sale in court, saying the water right should have returned to the state last year. If the oil shale operation succeeds, Grand Canyon Trust attorney Michael Toll warns that “this project would be one of—if not the—most harmful single industrial project in the history of industrial development on the Colorado Plateau.”
|
We have wildfire pollution, dust pollution, particulate pollution, high volatile organic compounds, and high ozone. Approving the Enefit project would be like pouring gasoline on the fire of an existing pollution nightmare.”
