Oil shale may be tempting, but not worth sacrificing our water supply

"But the temptations are not based on clear thinking. Really, oil shale is just another carbon-based fossil fuel. It would pollute the air, change the climate, tear up scenic landscapes and leave behind all manner of environmental and social damage.

The GAO study focused on just one of the big problems associated with oil shale extraction: water. We don’t really know what methods would be used to get all that oil out of the shale rock that’s holding it. But the technologies being explored are very thirsty processes. GAO says it would take maybe an average of 5 barrels of water, maybe up to 14 barrels in extreme cases, to recover one barrel of shale oil."  Editorial – The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah wilderness/climate activists complete a 350 mile journey

"On Sunday, when Ryan and Jamie Pleune finished their 350-mile pilgrimage to raise awareness of climate change, fog had so mingled with the inversion that you couldn’t see much more than about 50 feet. Worse, you could not only smell but taste the air.

Far different from the Pluenes’ long walk through eastern Utah, where they descended Desolation Canyon, traversed part of Canyonlands and looped through Grand Gulch in the Cedar Mesa. That journey was inspired by a movement to designate the number 350 as the target for maximum safe amount of parts per million (ppms) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."  Read more – The Salt Lake Tribune

Also see:  ksl.com

 

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

 

Dispelling the blame game in the Uintah basin

"The economists and experts agree: Low energy prices effectively combined to bring about the downturn in the Uintah County economy in late 2008 and early 2009. I don’t care what the politicians, local or national, insinuate. That is what happened. Do the research."  Editorial – Vernal Express