Andrea Joy Campbell: “trapped beneath the naval oil shale reserves, two of which are located in Garfield County, CO, are billions of cubic…”

“trapped beneath the naval oil shale reserves, two of which are located in Garfield County, CO, are billions of cubic feet of natural gas. I am sending legislation to the desk that will: Allow the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy to work cooperatively to establish a program to competitively lease or sell this resource; Allow the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management, to manage the surface of these lands pursuant to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; and to require that a royalty be paid to the Federal treasury. Two Executive orders, in 1916 and 1924, withdrew public lands for the purpose of establishing three naval oil shale reserves. The purpose of the reserves was to ensure the military sufficient oil from the oil shale in the event of a cutoff of oil supplies during a war. Naval Oil Shale Reserve Nos. 1, 40,760 acres, and 3, 14,130 acres, are located in northwest Colorado near Rifle, and Naval Oil Shale Reserve No. 2, 90,400 acres, is in eastern Utah. Profitable development of shale oil currently is considered to be decades away.”