For Immediate Release: January 25, 2008
Contact: Heather Feeney (202) 452-5031, Steven Hall (303)239-3672

BLM Sets Public Meetings on Draft Oil Shale and Tar Sands Planning Document

The Bureau of Land Management has scheduled a series of open house public meetings to provide additional information on the Draft Resource Management Plan Amendments and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft PEIS) for oil shale and tar sands resources in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.  The Draft PEIS was published on December 21, 2007, and is open for public comment through March 20, 2008. 

Each open house meeting will feature stations staffed by resource specialists around the meeting room. Those attending the meeting will be able to visit stations of interest and get information on how particular analyses were developed, what impacts or potential impacts and mitigation were identified, and ask any questions of the resource specialists and agency representatives present.

Open houses will be held in the following locations:

February 11, 2008 Cheyenne, Wyoming   2-4 pm and 6:30-8:30 pm
   Holiday Inn – Big Horn Room
   204 West Fox Farm Road, Cheyenne

February 12, 2008 Denver, Colorado    2-4 pm and 6:30-8:30 pm
   Sheraton Denver-West Hotel and Conference Center
360 Union Boulevard, Lakewood

February 13, 2008 Rifle, Colorado    2-4 pm and 6:30-8:30 pm
   Garfield County Fairgrounds
1001 Railroad Avenue, Rifle

February 14, 2008 Meeker, Colorado   6:30-8:30 pm
   Mountain Valley Bank
400 Main Street, Meeker

February 25, 2008 Salt Lake City, Utah   2-4 pm and 6:30-8:30 pm
   BLM Salt Lake Field Office
   2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City

February 26, 2008 Price, Utah    6:30-8:30 pm
   Holiday Inn
   838 Westwood Boulevard, Price

February 27, 2008 Vernal, Utah    6:30-8:30 pm
   Western Park Convention Center
   302 East 200 South, Vernal

February 28, 2008 Rock Springs, Wyoming   6:30-8:30 pm
   BLM Rock Springs Field Office
   280 Highway 191-North, Rock Springs

The Preferred Alternative in the Draft PEIS would amend BLM land-use plans to allocate approximately 1.9 million acres of public lands in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming for potential commercial oil shale development and approximately 430,000 acres in Utah for tar sands.  Between 305,000 and 1.5 million acres of BLM-managed lands would be excluded from oil shale leasing under the alternatives presented in the Draft PEIS.

The complete Draft PEIS is available in electronic form (PDF) on the project Website, http://ostseis.anl.gov.  Paper and CD-ROM copies of the Draft are also available at the BLM State Offices in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; and BLM Field Offices in Vernal, Price, Richfield, and Monticello, Utah; Meeker, Glenwood Springs, and Grand Junction, Colorado; and Kemmerer, Rawlins, and Rock Springs, Wyoming.  The Website is enabled to take comments electronically, and written comments may be mailed to: BLM Oil Shale and Tar Sands Resources Draft Programmatic EIS Comments, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne IL 60439.
 
The BLM previously issued six 160-acre leases for oil shale projects on public lands in Colorado and Utah under its research development and demonstration (RD&D) program. Information available from these projects is included in the PEIS and was considered during development of the alternatives presented in the Draft.  For additional information on the BLM’s efforts to develop Federal oil shale and tar sands resources, visit http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/oilshale_2.html .

- BLM -