By Art Mass

Colorado’s water supplies, from the Western Slope to the Front Range, could be put in jeopardy if full scale development of oil shale takes place in the state. This dire prediction is the conclusion of a report released this week by Boulder-based Western Resource Advocates. 

The study says energy companies have already bought up the rights to nearly 2 million acre-feet of stored water in Colorado, as well as the right to divert more H20 from the state’s western rivers.

Test research up to now points to copious amounts of water being used during the extraction of crude from rock — something on the order of four barrels of water needed to produce one barrel of oil – but that is an estimate. Things could change since commercialization of the process is years away, as companies like Shell continue to test the best methods to extract the huge reserves buried below Western Colorado, Northeastern Utah and Southwestern Wyoming.

The report — “Water on the Rocks: Oil Shale Water Rights in Colorado” - goes on to say that if those rights are put to use, shifting water from agriculture and other uses to oil shale development, the affects would reach from local communities to Denver and other Front Range cities.

We’ve been reporting on the oil shale-water issue  at Colorado Energy News, and this latest round adds to an already festering issue that, for obvious reasons, concerns many stakeholders in our state. Here are some of the major conclusions of the report from Western Resource Advocates:

• Commercial oil shale development would transform western Colorado. Oil shale development would transfer water presently used for agriculture to oil shale production. Agricultural lands would be dried up and thousands of
acres would be transformed into industrial landscapes.

• Oil shale development in western Colorado would affect
Colorado’s Front Range communities. Front Range water utilities
and the Colorado River Water Conservation District, which
oversees the Colorado River, agree that oil shale development
may challenge existing water projects and compromise
development of future supplies.

• Oil shale will accelerate climate change, further stressing
water availability. Huge quantities of greenhouse gas emissions
caused by oil shale extraction would pose a serious threat to
the climate of an already dry region.

• Total water demands must be clearly understood before
committing to commercial oil shale development. Estimates point
out that it will require 1 to 4 barrels of water to produce one
barrel of oil from shale.

• The sources and quantity of the energy required to extract
oil shale must be identified before development is pursued.
Initial estimates indicate that it will require 10 new power
plants and 5 new coal mines to produce one million barrels of
shale oil per day

David Abelson, Western Resource Advocates oil shale policy advisor, said this:
“Despite a significant investment, industry remains years away from establishing the economic viability, technical efficiency, and environmental performance of the technologies. It is vital that policy makers understand the water, economic, and environmental impacts before committing to a commercial development program.”

Stay tuned as the great water debate is bound to grow.