Shell Wants to Divert Yampa River Water for Oil Shale Development

In a bid to divert almost 10 percent of the Colorado’s Yampa river water for oil shale development, Shell Oil is meeting fierce opposition.

At the same time that Shell is requesting water from the last unclaimed river in Colorado, communities throughout the front range are seeking more water and national parks like Dinosaur National Monument are stating that Shells water diversion may hurt the park.

“There is a big target on the Yampa. Everyone is looking to tap into it,” said Glenn Porzak, a water lawyer for the city of Steamboat Springs. “Water-rights applications usually generate no more than seven protest letters. This Yampa case is big,” he added.

Shell is seeking a conditional water right to take up to 375 cubic feet per second, about 8 percent of the Yampa’s average April-to-June flow.

Shell would pump the water into a new reservoir covering 1,000 acres and holding 45,000 acre-feet of water, or about 15 billion gallons.

“If we tie up all the available water on the West Slope, what will happen to us on the east slope?” asked Jim Nikkel, assistant manager of the Parker Water and Sewer District.

Among the other filers and the issues they raise are:

• The federal Bureau of Land Management, which says Shell has not yet applied for rights of way through public land needed for its plan.
• The state Division of Wildlife, which is seeking more information on the potential impact of the water right on recovery plans for endangered fish species in the Yampa and Colorado rivers.
• The Colorado River Conservation District, which wants more detail on the impact of the proposed right on the state’s obligation to interstate water compacts.

The environmental groups filing include the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Trout Unlimited and the Colorado Environmental Coalition.

According to Environment Colorado,  “Developing Colorado’s oil shale resource would have profound impacts on the northwestern part of the state, especially on the areas water resource. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, mature oil shale production of 2 million barrels of oil per day would require between 2 million and 6 million gallons of water per day for mining and processing. In addition, continuing our dependence on oil will raise global warming pollution for years to come.”

If you are a regular reader here at Twilight Earth, you know how we feel about fossil fuels. Of course we need fuel and of course we need energy, but we need to develop industries that provide those needs on a sustainable basis.

Fossil fuels always come  as a detriment to our environment and create unhealthy living conditions for everyone. Clean water is one of three basic things that we all have a right to, and those are clean water, clean air and clean soil.

Any fuel or energy source that causes damage to our basic human rights should not be encouraged.

What are your thoughts?

Source: Denver Post

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