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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />have something over 100 cfs of water rights or more. I think the <br />article in this blue book details much more precisely what the <br />various rights are. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: I don't know whether this is a fair question, but <br />the question that comes to my mind is that the oil companies were <br />very active in bidding on leases in Colorado, but then did not express <br />much interest in the Wyoming bids. <br /> <br />Mr. Kilburn: That is probably a good question to ask the gentleman <br />this afternoon. Perhaps because the inflation in the last few months <br />has been so exhorbitant and unbelievable that everybody including us <br />really doesn't know what a shale plant is going to cost. Many of <br />these are being built for the first time. There is no real knowledge <br />and record of what they are going to cost. There are so many of these <br />unknown factors that may discourage further bidding. Our original <br />estimate was two"huridred fifty million to bui1d-a_plant. It-is now <br />well over five hundred million dollars. That capital investment <br />means either you have to get more for a barrel of oil or it soon <br />becomes borderline. I think perhaps inflation has taken a little bit <br />of the optimism from the shale operations. <br /> <br />The other thing is that Wyoming shale is of a relatively low grade <br />as compared to the Colorado deposits. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: What impact on your operation will a severance tax <br />by the state of Colorado have? <br /> <br />Mr. Kilburn: Well, I suppose I could quote President Hartley of <br />Union that it would end his shale development. Maybe, I shouldn't <br />quote it; he can quote it better than I can. But it would be a very <br />severe economic burden, indeed. <br /> <br />Mr. Staaleton: Larry, maybe you can give us some input as to where <br />we stan on the water resource inventory for the Colorado River. <br /> <br />Mr. Sparks: There is very little that is not known about the Colorado <br />River. It has been studied intensively by various agencies. There <br />are two studies being done at the present time on a sort of a crash <br />basis. One, by the Department of Interior, the other by the Water <br />Resources Council. Those two studies are being done rather somewhat <br />independently and are directed to coming up with how much uncommitted <br />water is available for the production of energy, and this includes <br />both coal and oil shale. They have come up with rather small amounts <br />of water that is uncommitted. <br /> <br />The trouble with those studies is that they are extIemely misleading. <br />They do not by any means portray the actual water picture. For <br />instance, as has already been stated by the gentleman from Colony, <br />they have purchased water rights from existing users. That has been <br />the trend by most companies. Those potential or actual purchases of <br />existing rights are not reflected in any of the federal studies. In <br /> <br />-8- <br />