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.-' m ugm 01 recent federal fiscal a, con.s:rrarn~Inleriorsaidthe f~ral government can dictale ti environmental controls Mder ~ Ihe lease terms becauSe public Ias:d is being leased, and that ~ p(l~aU' tel J~~St'es will be given n c-re or extraordinary costs" tl for l'nvirorunental controls if tl need be. n In~erior summarily rejf'C'll'd C the Idl'a ol an oil-shale demon.. stration program. however funded. by the government, ~ under a government-industry' Jomt venture, or otht'rwise. r t TOO Ul\"G r It said oU shale-retorting I technoloiO' alrt'ady has bet>n I earned through the I,OOO-ton- r ja-dd)' pilot plant Stage by sev- h eral compames in IhlS counlry I and through the 2.5OG-ton stag~ C in Brazil using U.S. teehnology. S Demonstration plants would not e provide "information on a large enough scale to allow informed deeision-making concermng the cumulative T'f'gional effects of long.term lulJ-!'.Cale commercial de\'elopment" of oil shale, IntI" rior said. And it said it simply would take too long-an eS- timated se\'t'n to 12 )'ears -to plan, design, construct and prove out a 7,OOO-barr;:ol'per-day demonstration plan!. The department also summa. rily releell'd dt'la)' in leasing public lands lor eitner a staled pt'riod-such as until studit's on v'arious aspecIs of shak--oil production T'f'latin' 10 the t'nvi- ronmpnt are compleled--or in- definitely, A Series of the most basic studirs. jointly funded b)' tht> rederal govemmpnl, the state or Colorado and industry, .....iII be comple-ted in 19i4 As detailed plans for devl'lopment under the lest.lease program will not be compleled until 19i6, th~ results of Ihe studies can be ractored into the de-\'I~lopment plans [or each lease. Interior said. As for dela)', it statl'd. "A program dcla)' . . . will not re sol ye the e-n...ironmt'ntal issllt's thai can only be an- 'swerrd bvrll'\"t'lonment il!'ot'll" l-'flVale ueu'IOVIIlt'lIl \J1l 1'11- va e 'olI.:snaVr~tlrt-t1rtrtim~ is not likely, Interior said. As IpriVate oil-shale lands are ooth smaller and inferior in grade to public lands, private dpl'elop- ment on private lands is only marg1nally attractive to risk capital, Interior slated, And the dt'partmt'flt further ob.sened. "In mineral-resource de,'elop- menl, s('{"ond-genpration opera- tions are often more successful than till' pioneer resource- M\'elopment company. Thus, it is usually more advantageous to wait and obsen'e develop- ment by the pioneer company berore makmg a commitmMlt to proceed with furthl"r de\'elop- menL" Interior use-d the experience of Sun Oil Co. in Canadian tar. sands tkveJopment m estimat. ing thaI a second company might wait for "a decade or lllOl'e" bE10re following an ini. tial privale-entt'rprise operation into oihhale development on private land. BEST OI'J>ORTli~lTY Even companies that hold good oil-shale lands are not likely to develop them if it ap- pears that the go\'ernmpnt may offer for lease the- richer public lands, Interior agreed with a re('pnt :\ational Pl'trolt'um Council ap- praisallhat '.public Iand's offer some of till' best opportunity for the de\'e1opml:'T1t of viable eCO- nomic proces..<:(>s_" A Iso pri,'ate de\'elopment would not gi,'e tl'M> federal gov- ernment the same opportumty to impose t'nvirol\ffiental <'On- trois that development of fedt'r. al lands through lea~jng will pro\'ide, Interior said. And p r i ,. a t I' developmt'nl mighl ha\"l' some ad\-erse {'n,'iron. mental effects that could be mmimizffl b\' the ~x-tract test I leasing pr~ramon public land, lnterioc added Tht' [)(>partmen! rrlected the ahernatiH of open lea~lnl!: on laU publici)' owned oil-shale lands b~' competltJn> biddlDg at thi~ tim"-' If that weft. dol\{' now, lntt'fior said It could ..not dictaletheinitialrateatl'l"hicl1 ! oil.shale can be de\'eloped,.' 's i is poSSIble under th~ test-le3,',{' program. 0009