WASHINGTON — The fight over energy and how to lower gas prices threw the Rocky Mountain West into the spotlight Wednesday when President Bush urged Congress to repeal a moratorium on the development of oil shale.

In a speech that spurred protests from Democratic leaders and environmentalists, Bush called for harvesting oil from shale rock found in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. The president also advocated drilling for oil in coastal waters and the Alaskan wilderness, saying the tight supply is pushing up gas prices.

“Every American who drives to work, purchases food or ships a product has felt the effect,” Bush said. “And families across our country are looking to Washington for a response.”

Bush’s words came as Republicans

President Bush favors opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. (The Associated Press)

sought to make gas prices a centerpiece of their November campaign effort. GOP leaders and candidates blame Democrats for $4-a-gallon fuel, saying they repeatedly have blocked oil production. Democrats and environmentalists call those claims a political stunt. New production efforts would take years, they said, and do little to lower current pump prices.”I suggest that if the president really wants to develop oil shale, that he first come to the Western Slope of Colorado and learn something about our experience with the economic crash in the 1980s,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo. “We can develop this resource, but we need to do it in a way that proves up the potential for jobs, economic stability and protects scarce water resources.”

Additional caution is needed on oil- shale development, said Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, because the technology is mostly untested.

“No one — not even the companies working on oil-shale development — can tell us with any certainty how much energy it will take to develop this resource, where that energy would come from, what the impacts on Colorado’s water supplies or quality would be, and what housing, transportation and other infrastructure needs will be,” he said.

Estimates

President Bush would like to allow drills in coastal waters to extract oil and gas. (The New York Times)

on how much oil is available in shale vary. There is potentially 500 billion barrels in Colorado’s shale, according to a 2005 Rand report. But the state Department of Natural Resources cautioned that no one knows for certain how much oil is there.Bush said 800 billion barrels total are available in the West, “more than three times larger than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia” and “equal to more than a century’s worth of currently projected oil imports.”

But extracting oil from rock is difficult, said Sen. Ken Salazar, the Colorado Democrat who, along with Udall, inserted a development ban into a spending bill last year.

“For the president and some of my colleagues here in the Senate to say it’s one of the cornerstones

Allowing more drilling on the Roan Plateau, shown above in 2005, is one of the issues in the nation’s energy debate. (Associated Press file photo)

of a panacea for the gas prices we’re facing . . . is absolutely misleading the American public,” Salazar said. “I am not going to let President Bush and the federal powers roll over the state of Colorado.”Extracting oil from shale has long been viewed as a potential new energy source, but thus far, it has not proved cost-effective. Proponents say that is changing, given the current price of oil.

In May testimony before the Senate Energy Committee, Interior Assistant Secretary Stephen Allred said that it would be 2015 before commercial oil- shale extraction could begin.

The development moratorium in place was enacted to ensure that oil shale is acquired in a responsible way, Salazar has said. The language bars the Interior Department from issuing regulations for oil-shale development.

Oil companies want to add new oil- shale leases primarily to drive up stock prices, Salazar said. Much of the federal land leased by oil and gas companies has yet to be developed, he added.

Shell Exploration & Production Co. is working an oil-shale research project on three 160-acre parcels in Colorado. Spokeswoman Darci Sinclair in Houston said that the company wants “commercial development as soon as feasible.”

She declined to answer whether Shell believes development is commercially viable. She said that the lack of regulatory framework on oil shale “creates additional uncertainty for companies trying to prove viability of new technologies.”

The moratorium backed by Salazar and Udall expires Sept. 30. Salazar is looking for a major bill where he can add wording that would extend the moratorium.

So far, there have been three failed attempts to repeal the existing moratorium.

Moratorium opponent Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said Wednesday that he has support from potentially 48 Senate Republicans and two Democrats, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

While that is still one vote short of a majority, Allard said Republicans will try to offer a package that would revoke the oil-shale ban, allow offshore drilling and increase nuclear production.

Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or [email protected]

http://www.denverpost.com/emailed/ci_9628639