Tag: Shell

Thirty years ago, Herb Bacon was working in the old U.S. Bank of Grand Junction when a man operating Exxon's local oil shale project walked into the lobby with his usual pep in his step. Little did either man know it then, but two days later--on what is now known as "Black Sunday"--Exxon pulled the plug.

A campaign reform group skewered U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton on Thursday for continuing to rake in big bucks from special interest groups and voting for oil and gas projects that could financially benefit him.

BOULDER — Pursuing oil shale production in the face of increasing water demands and climate change concerns is ill-advised, a new report from an environmental group here warns.

Residents of Routt County in northern Colorado – an area not known for its oil and gas development -- are gearing up for a major natural gas boom in the Niobrara Shale Formation. Activists are seeking guidance from more heavily drilled parts of the state as Shell and other companies eye gas extraction in the scenic Yampa River Valley.

Opponents of ending tax breaks for big oil companies argue that closing tax loopholes will result in higher prices at the pump, but a report from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service finds that ending the tax breaks is unlikely to cause a rise in prices.

Observers of the century-long quest to extract oil from the shale rocks of Colorado’s Western Slope are fond of saying “oil shale is the fuel of the future … and always will be.” Never commercially viable because of the costs and resources needed to heat and extract the kerogen trapped in the rocks, an estimated 2 trillion barrels of shale oil remains locked up – perhaps forever.

In the absence of meaningful legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Washington, the fight surrounding California’s ballot measure, Proposition 23, is rapidly becoming...

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday called on his department’s inspector general to investigate so-called midnight oil shale leasing regulations issued in the waning days of the Bush administration. “We want to avoid the booms and busts of the past,” said Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado, referring to a devastating oil shale bust on the Western Slope in the 1980s. “We want to ensure the potential development is done in a way that is environmentally appropriate."

Shell Exploration and Production will be conducting a series of community briefings this week concerning their oil shale project between Rifle and Meeker in...