Oil shale drive has risks for the West

Washington hopes to accelerate the development of oil shale deposits in the West, but there are concerns about water use, pollution and vegetation.

Congress and the Bush administration want to jump-start the oil shale industry, but it’s the Mountain West that could get jolted. Unless great care is taken, our waters could be depleted, our air polluted and public lands traded off and scraped down to dirt.

Coloradans are skeptical of claims that oil shale can any day soon be made into synthetic liquid fuel to replace gasoline and diesel. We’ve seen the hype and crash many times before.

Denver Post