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<br />~I <br /> <br />060096 <br /> <br />-4-WRW washn x x x on <br />Dup1and surfaces ratlber than in valleys and canyons II would help mitigate <br />air pollution problems resulting from temperature inversions in the <br />area, the report said. Some wildlife habitat and grazing land for live- <br />stock would be lost where the oil shale facilities were located. <br />The major impact of the new industry would be on the Colorado River <br />Basin's limited water supply. "F-!lch year from 116,000 to 164,000 acre- <br />feet of water would be consumed for industrial and domestic use" by'the <br />46,738 persons employed in the shale oil industry and their families <br />arter shale oil production reached the one-million-barrel-a-day level, <br />the report stated. This is a moderate use of water for a big extrac- <br />tive industry. By comparison, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, <br />a 1 mi1lion-harrel-a-day coal li~efaction indust~ would use 250.000 <br />acre-feet of water annually. Also, the oil shale environmental report <br />said, water pumped out of the mines could be used for compacting spent <br />shale even if it is poor-quality water. To the extent such water would <br />be available, it \-,ould reduce the amount of 'water needed from rivers <br />and reservoirs. And, of course, the water used in the mining-processing <br />operation would be recycled for reuse as 1$ now the cozmnon practice in <br />~ew mining operations. <br />Even so, the report indicated, the "consumptive use of \<Tater for <br />oil shale development could increase the salinity by 1.4-1.6 per cent" <br />at Hoover dam. "In addition," it said, "small but yet unquantifiable <br />effects on salinity could result from ground-water depletion and from <br />accidental releases of poor quality "later." <br />Not cove~ed by the report is the prObabiJ.it0.:hat no further in- <br />crease of salinity in the Colorado River. is likel~ to be countenanced <br />as a result of the crisis that arose in June with Mexico over this prob- <br />lem and the President's subsequent appointment of former Attorney Gen- <br />eral Herbert Brownell Jr. on Aug. 16 "to find a permanent, definitive <br />and just solution" to Colorado River '<Tater salinity by the end of the <br />year. (See WRW, Series VIII, Nos. 34 & 35, dated 8-24-72 and 8-31-72) <br />Thus nrownell's recommendations on Colorado River salinity will~rucial <br />to determining whether an oil shale industry ge~ underway next year fHCM <br />(more-hem] <br />