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<br />(10D~:q? <br /> <br />PRELIMINARY PROJECTIONS OF COLORADO ENERGY <br /> <br />RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSOCIATED IMPACTS <br /> <br />OVERVIEW AND SCOPE <br /> <br />On July 15, 1979, President Carter injected a new sense of urgency into <br /> <br />Colorado's energy future. His proposal to produce the equivalent of 2.5 <br /> <br />million barrels of o~l per day from synthetic fuel sources strikes to the very <br /> <br />heart of Colorado's energy resources; most of the oil shale development <br /> <br />contributing to this announced goal would come from Colorado, while significant <br /> <br />amounts of new coal development would also fall within the borders of the state. <br /> <br />The implications of this presidential proposal have yet to be fully comprehended <br /> <br />either in Colorado or in Washington, D. C. The following chart shows the <br /> <br />projected implications for Colorado of a "high" level of energy resource develop- <br /> <br />ment, assuming that each major energy resource were to be developed at the <br /> <br />maximum rate. <br /> <br />The reaction of Congress and many of the states to the president's <br /> <br />proposal indicates that the synthetic fuels proposal will be considerably scaled <br /> <br />down and approached in quite a different manner than that originally proposed. <br /> <br />However, there could be a very rapid resurgence of a massive synthetic fuels <br /> <br />production goal, in the event that there occurred a change in political climate <br /> <br />either abroad, in relation to those countries which supply the United States <br /> <br />with petroleum, or at home, in the heat of the up-coming presidential election <br /> <br />or its aftermath. Thus, a national emergency situation could well find the <br /> <br />United States pursuing a domestic energy production goal from synthetic fuels <br /> <br />in the range of that proposed by the President in July, 1979. Even in the event <br /> <br />.------- <br />- - <br />