Interior to give oil shale a ‘fresh look’

The Interior Department pledged Tuesday to take a “fresh look” at oil shale regulations in the Intermountain West, though officials signaled that any new proposal could include far less land than approved under the previous administration. The review comes as part of a settlement by the Interior Department and environmental groups, which sued in the waning days of George W. Bush’s presidency against rules governing commercial leasing of public lands to extract the synthetic oil from sedimentary rock in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey said his agency may do further analysis of environmental effects, consider changing the Bush-era 5 percent royalty rate, and review how to dole out leases for commercial ventures seeking to unlock the oil...more