Mark Udall: “this amendment would bar the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management from issuing any final regulations for…”

“this amendment would bar the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management from issuing any final regulations for commercial-scale leasing of oil shale and from offering any commercial oil shale leases during fiscal year 2008. Current law requires BLM to issue those regulations, and to move to a full-scale commercial leasing program, on a crash basis and under a tight deadline. I think that is a mistake, so I want to make it clear I support Chairman Rahall's bill, H.R. 2337, that would change that and other parts of the 2005 Energy Act. The Natural Resources Committee has favorably reported the chairman's bill and it is headed toward this very floor. The purpose of this amendment is to slow the administration down in the meantime, in order to give Congress time to complete action on that legislation. Mr. Chairman, oil shale has great potential as an energy source, and therefore it is an important part of our energy policy. But it is also important to American taxpayers, because they own most of it. But it is particularly important for Colorado. Our State has some of the most large-scale deposits of oil shale, and Coloradans, particularly those on our Western Slope, will be directly affected by its development. Back in 2005, the RAND Corporation reported that the potential benefits of developing oil shale were significant.…”