Nick Snow
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 29 -- The US Bureau of Land Management took another step toward issuing commercial oil shale leases with an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on Aug. 25 to support such a program.
The ANPR seeks public comments on royalty rate and royalty determination points; fair market value for conversion of preference-right acreage and for commercial leasing; diligence; whether it is appropriate to lease small tracts, and other key components of commercial leasing, the Department of the Interior agency said.
"Comments on these key issues will help us propose a rule that ensures an economically and environmentally sound approach to unlocking this very promising domestic energy resource," said Tom Lonnie, BLM's assistant director for minerals, realty, and resource protection.
Comments on other aspects of commercial oil shale leasing also will be welcome, he added.
The ANPR is BLM's second step to develop oil shale on public land as directed by Congress under Section 369 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPA).
The agency previously solicited nominations for research, development, and demonstration oil shale recovery projects on federal acreage in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. It is currently analyzing environmental effects of six RD&D proposals it received.
US oil shale resources hold the equivalent of 2.6 trillion bbl of oil, with roughly 72% of the total underlying federal land. BLM also is preparing a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) analyzing environmental, social, and economic issues associated with various leasing alternatives.
BLM said that the PEIS will help it identify which public land in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming will be available for leasing and under what constraints. The 2005 EPA requires final commercial leasing regulations to be published within 180 days of the PEIS's completion, it said.
The agency will accept comments on the ANPR through Sept. 25.
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