Energy from Oil Shale: Environmental Research

Abstract

Abstract The development of the vast energy resources of the oil shales of the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming requires the application of satisfactory environmental controls. Expected waste materials from processing oil shale are the shales from processing oil shale are the shales from which the organic materials have been removed, waters produced during retorting or mining, and gases produced during retorting. Present status of environmental research on oil shales at the Laramie Energy Research Center will be discussed. Introduction Environmental research associated with the future production of energy from oil shale is directed toward the identification of possible problems and the solution of those possible problems and the solution of those problems before any large-scale use is made problems before any large-scale use is made of the shale. In the words of Bureau of Mines Director Osborn, speaking at commencement exercises at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in May of this year, "… the truth is beginning to dawn: Most of American's environmental problems are related, in one way or another, to the production and use of minerals and fuels." production and use of minerals and fuels." The presently small, but growing, environmental research effort on oil shale has the mission of preventing environmental degradation when an oil-shale industry comes into being. Concern for the protection of the environment has resulted in several studies. The States of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming have each prepared reports on the environmental problems peculiar to their states. problems peculiar to their states. The Oil Shale Corporation (TOSCO) has an active research program investigating possibilities for revegetating retorted possibilities for revegetating retorted shale. Denver Research Institute and The Colorado State University have each studied some of the problems of disposal of retorted shale. The neighborhood effects, those that affect people and land areas adjacent to proposed operations, are being studied by the Bureau of Land Management. One study of such effects was made at the Utah State University at Logan, Utah. The latest proposal for the use of nuclear explosives in a recovery scheme for oil from shale, called Project Utah, will include environmental plans in the Project Definition.