BLM proposes 90 percent cut in Colorado shale land availability

The Bureau of Land Management is proposing cutting acreage available for potential oil shale leasing to a tenth of the current amount in Colorado. The agency is proposing making 35,300 acres available, compared to about 360,000 acres under a plan issued during the Bush administration. In total, it proposes reducing available acres by more than 1.5 million acres in three western states. Under a 2008 decision during the Bush administration, the BLM allocated 2 million acres for possible oil shale development in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. The Obama administration agreed to reconsider that allocation as part of a settlement of a lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the 2008 action. The BLM is proposing reducing total acreage in the three states available for possible oil shale development to about 462,000 acres. In Utah, about 91,000 acres would be available for activities related to tar sands activities, down from about 431,000 acres in the 2008 plan...more