Don’t waste Eastern Utahns’ time talking about the potential of motor fuels from switch grass or hydrogen. They’re interested in energy alternatives that offer more immediate promise.
Uintah and Duchesne counties sit atop one of the largest US oil shale deposits. The hills just west of Vernal, the area’s largest community, contain tar sands and are known locally as Asphalt Ridge.
The Uinta basin has produced a lot of conventional oil and gas. But with crude prices passing $65/bbl, local petroleum resources previously uneconomic are getting a closer look.
That was why the Utah Rural Development Council held its annual Rural Development Conference Apr. 19-20 in Vernal. It was cohosted by one of the state’s US senators, Republican Robert F. Bennett, vice-chairman of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee.
“Vernal is dynamic, booming, and bustling,” Scott Truman, the council’s executive director, told me following the conference. “People are highly optimistic, but they’re wondering if the boom will continue or if there will be another bust.”
Community impacts
Two of the conference’s speakers-US Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke and Melissa Blake, mayor of Fort McMurray, Alta.-discussed opportunities for and impacts on communities.
Blake’s appearance was important since Fort McMurray experienced heavy growth as adjacent oil sands were developed. Vernal is “precisely where we were 40 or 50 years ago,” she said by phone from Fort McMurray. Her community has had to meet the challenges not only of providing more sewage treatment, water, and other essential services but also of meeting additional education, medical, and other social needs.
“Our infrastructure has had to expand quickly. If you know that you’re embarking on a substantial development opportunity, it’s very good to get all the players in and chart out what needs to be done,” Blake said.
Already growing
Eastern Utah’s local governments already face these challenges. “Uintah County leads the state in natural gas production, and we’re second in terms of oil production,” County Commissioner Mike McKee said.
He told me the oil and gas industry has lifted employment and demand for retail services. But local governments still face major financing questions. McKee said he raised these points with Bennett and with The Oil Shale Co. LLC, which won a nearby oil shale pilot lease from BLM.
“We have a nice upswing going on out in the basin, but it’s not anywhere near a boom,” said Bill Johnson, Uintah County’s economic development director. “An immense amount of drilling is planned, but it’s only beginning. If oil shale and tar sands come, it will be a boom.”
Bennett toured Duchesne and Uintah counties before the conference. “I sensed a spirit of optimism that was not here during my past visits. There was always a hope, but today people are optimistic about the potential energy development and what the economic future holds,” he said. ✦
