WSP10521

• File Number: 8040.200
• Description: Section D General Studies-Energy
• Date: 7/11/1974
• Author: Helene C Monberg
• Title: Energy-Oil Shale-Western Resources Wrap Up-Series X No 28-Accelerating Oil Shale Development
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Reservoir ,and the West Divide project would deliver water to the southi
end of the Piceance Basin in Western COlorado, while most of the mines
and plants would be at the northern end of the Basin, the report said.
UTAH STORAGE ed ...
In Utah some water for oil shale development and relat mun1c1paJ
use could be obtained from the Jensen, Upalco and Uintah units in the
Central utah project, and the construction of the yellow Jacket and 'l1<Ul
pa projec~ in Colorado could provide additional water for use in oil
shale development in utah, it said. In any event, both utah and wyo-
ming will have enough water to use under an accelerated oil shale devel
opment program until 1990, it pointed out, adding that more development
might take place in utah and Wyoming oil shale than would other\1ise be
the case if Colorado water supplies weren't so tight. Of course, con-
struction has just started on the Jensen unit, and Upalco and Uintah are
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only in the planning stage, so the utah projects are a long ways from
completion too.
'''. Nahcolite and dawsonite development would, of course, reduce the
" . ,,' amount of water available, in Colorado'for' oil sha1e development, ,Sa ,'" ,-:, ,.
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would coal development elsewhere, and there are a number of new coal f,
developments already underway and planned in northwestern Colorado. ." ~

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water constraints are not so binding as Colorado's. I
Colorado could, of course, shelve other project authorizations in '1
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favor of Yellow Jacket and the Yampa project. Water now being used for
irrigation could be used for oil shale development. but industry has no:
bought much water in Colorado to date, the task force said. Also chang
ing from an irrigation to an industrial use can be a long legal process:
the report observed. The Bureau of Reclamation cloud-seeding ~rogram,
which might provide an additional 2 million acre-feet of water annually
in the COlorado River Basin, "could go operational by 1980," Assistant
Reclamation Commissioner James J. O'Brien told Western Re8OUrces'Wrap-u
on July 9. But there are a number of problems, including legal problem:
bhat make cloud-seeding "iffy" at this point. Finally, the task force
noted. technology might find ways to reduce use of water for oil shale
development. ~

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