Utah Regulators Approve 'Fracking' Disclosure Rule

Utah has joined a growing list of states that require energy companies to disclose which chemicals they employ in a controversial process used to stimulate oil and natural gas production.

The state Oil, Gas and Mining Board, by a unanimous vote, approved a new rule Wednesday that requires companies to use www.fracfocus.org to report the amount and type of chemicals used to hydraulically fracture any Utah oil and gas well.

FracFocus is managed by the Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Hydraulic fracturing— known commonly as "fracking" — involves introducing explosive charges deep underground to perforate a completed well casing. A mixture of sand, water and chemicals is then pumped down the steel casing under high pressure to fracture the shale rock around it. The sand holds the new cracks open to allow previously inaccessible reserves of oil and natural gas to flow to the wellhead.
The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are currently studying hydraulic fracturing, with an eye toward possible federal regulation of the practice. Any such regulation would be "redundant," said John Baza, director of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

"Utah geology is unique. It can't compare with Texas, Oklahoma or the states back East," Baza said. "We think that fracking rules, as they're implemented and developed, should be unique to state programs."
Hydraulic fracturing has been blamed by landowners and environmental groups for groundwater contamination. The practice has even been highlighted in an Oscar-nominated documentary that included footage of a man lighting his tap water on fire.

Utah has seen a rise in drilling permit applications this year. As of Wednesday, the state had already received 141 more permit applications in 2012 than it did the prior year, and 471 more permits than the year before that.

The increased workload has environmentalists worried that state regulators won't be able to keep pace, even with the new disclosure rule.

Baza acknowledged that his agency hasn't added any new positions for nearly a decade. That's something he expects will change. Deseret News

Navajo energy firm partners with Provo’s Humless

Big Navajo Energy, a Navajo owned renewable energy company, said it is partnering with Provo-based Humless to bring solar-battery based power systems to more than 18,000 families on the Navajo reservation that do not have electricity.

Humless, a division of Food for Health International produces a lithium battery-based "generator" that can be used as a primary or secondary source of electricity. The battery can be recharged using solar panels.
The Navajo Nation is located in southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. Salt Lake Tribune

International experts explore rad-waste sites in Utah

Norwegian Malgorzata Sneve was among the throngs of foreign sightseers touring Utah’s redrock country recently.

Only for her and the other foreign travelers in her group, the hot spots on their itinerary were, well, hot —nuclear facilities including a uranium mill and an assortment of radioactive cleanup sites left over from the Cold War and the uranium boom.

"It was great to come here to see practical applications [and how to] work with the community and to deal with radiation," said Sneve, a regulator who oversees cooperative programs at the Norwegian Radiation Protection Program and is part of a technology exchange group organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Norway has its own issues with radioactive waste but also offers expertise to neighboring countries struggling with Cold War legacy sites much like those in southern Utah. Salt Lake Tribune

Federal government, conservation groups reach settlement in energy corridor lawsuit

Some provisions of a federal plan to designate thousands of miles of energy corridors across public lands in 11 western U.S. states will be revised under a settlement reached last month between federal land managers and environmental groups and San Miguel County Colorado. Under the settlement, approved July 11 by U.S. District Court judges in San Francisco, federal officials must do more analysis of the environmental impacts to the land in areas where some trails, historical sites and sensitive wildlife habitat could be affected by the planned energy corridors.

SUWA, The Wilderness Society, and the National Park Conservation Association sued the Interior Department and other federal agencies, over the Jan. 14, 2009 designation of 6,000 linear miles of energy corridors on Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands throughout the West.


Under the settlement, the BLM, Forest Service, and DOE will be required to create an agreement that outlines procedures to periodically review the corridors to assess the need for corridor revisions, deletions, and additions, said Blake Androff, deputy director of communications for the DOI.

The settlement also requires analysis of environmentally sensitive areas, the impact on landscape and the inclusion of renewable energy projects when appropriate, all issues Thomas says were not a major priority in the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Studies performed by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and Western Governor’s Association, must also be included in the analysis, and public input is now a mandatory element in deciding where a corridor should be located, Thomas said.

Many of the corridors included in the 2009 plan crossed areas in southeast Utah and through national parks, such as Arches National Park and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Thomas said the regard for Utah’s iconic lands was not a priority under the Bush energy plan. She said little to no benefit would have come to Utahns as a result of energy corridor development. The Times-Independent

Protesters gather to thwart Green River nuclear plans

More than 100 demonstrators gathered on the sun-baked desert just south of a proposed nuclear power plant here Saturday evening, protesting both the envisioned reactors and the big gulp of disputed river water needed to cool them.

A "No Green River Nuke Coalition" that included Uranium Watch, HEAL Utah, Living Rivers and residents of southeastern Utah chanted along with an American Indian blessing of the land, and some donned costumes including mushroom clouds and foam fish heads honoring endangered species of the Green and Colorado rivers.

The water, upward of 50,000 acre-feet per year, or enough to supply a moderately sized Utah city, is the subject of a lawsuit that these groups and some Moab river guides have filed. Their aim is to reverse the state engineer’s approval of a withdrawal of water that they say the river — either for fish or for recreation — can’t afford.

Uranium Watch program director Sarah Fields, of Moab, said she believes the nuclear promoters are speculating, without the means to build a plant, and may end up leasing the water for other energy projects in eastern Utah. Salt Lake Tribune

State offers webcast on tar sands project hearing

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality will provide a live webcast of a hearing on the PR Springs tar sands mining project in Uintah County Wednesday and Thursday.

An administrative law judge will hear evidence from the state Division of Water Quality, which has granted a permit for the project, and an environmental group appealing the permit, Moab-based Living Rivers. 

The DEQ has said the hearing involves only those officially involved in the dispute and is not a public meeting subject to the state Open and Public Meetings Act.

So, while the hearing itself will take place in an upstairs conference room at the Multi-Agency State Office Building, 1950 West 195 North, Salt Lake City, the public will be free to observe the broadcast in the DEQ Board Room on the first floor.

"The public is expected to be respectful to other members of the public and the facility during the hearing," says the state’s web page on the hearing. "DEQ reserves the right to remove individuals who are unable to respect these requirements."

The hearing takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. For a link to the webcast, go to: http://www.deq.utah.gov/Online_Services/deqwebcasts.htm. Salt Lake Tribune

Calif. company again requests permit for hydroelectric dam project in Long Canyon

Calif company again requests permit for hydroelectric dam project in Long Canyon

A proposed project to construct two reservoir pools for hydroelectric power in Grand County has been resurrected. On March 23, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) received a preliminary permit application from Sonoma, Calif.-based Utah Independent Power for the Long Canyon Pumped Storage Project.   

Public comments, motions to intervene, competing applications, and notices of intent to file a competing application will be accepted through May 22, according to information from FERC.

Moab Times-Independent

Grand County hydroelectric project proposed once again

A California power company has resurrected its proposal for a pumped-storage hydroelectric project outside Moab that would draw water from the Colorado River.

Frank Mazzone, president of Sonoma-based Utah Independent Power Inc., said Friday the increasing amount of interest being directed at the development of solar and wind power generation in Utah signals it's a good time to explore hydropower — which can help shore up those other intermittent sources.

Mazzone has submitted a preliminary permit application for the 800-megawatt project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is accepting public comment on the proposal through May 22.

Utah Independent Power had entertained putting in two hydroelectric projects using Colorado River water in 2008 at Bull Canyon and Long Canyon, but the proposals were put on hold given the uncertainty of the economy and questions about demand. Deseret News

Utah refuses to block plans for nuke plant near Green River

State Engineer Kent Jones is sticking with his decision to funnel Colorado River Basin water to what would be Utah’s first nuclear power plant. And, in doing so, he clears the way for a court to consider if his original decision was right.

Jones said Tuesday he would not revisit his decision last month to give Blue Castle Holdings the right to develop 53,600 acre-feet of water to cool its proposed two-unit nuclear plant despite "mischaracterized information" that he incorporated into that decision.

In the second phase of the NRC’s review, for what is called a "combined operating license," the company will have to provide a detailed plan for how it hopes to raise the entire sum needed to construct the plant, which is estimated at between $13 billion and $16 billion. But the company is still a year away from the first stage of NRC’s licensing review, the early site permit. Salt Lake Tribune

Moab UMTRA Project Impact Analysis

Economist John Krantz has put together an economic impact analysis, specifically examining the job creation associated with ARRA funding for the acceleration of the Department of Energy's Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA).

For a direct link to the study:

http://jobs.utah.gov/wi/pubs/specialreports/utaharraimpactanalysis.pdf

The study can be found with other Workforce Research & Analysis publications at:

http://jobs.utah.gov/wi/pubs/publicat.html

Environmentalists appeal state approval of tar sands mine

An environmental group opposing a tar sands mine planned for eastern Utah’s Book Cliffs on Monday filed an appeal based on water quality fears and asked the state to rescind its approval. The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining approved the permit two weeks ago, allowing Calgary, Alberta-based Earth Energy Resources to dig up bitumen-laced rock and soil near the boundary between Uintah and Grand counties. At first just 62 acres in Uintah, the project is meant to expand and operate in both counties.

The Moab-based group Living Rivers had until Monday to appeal Oil, Gas and Mining Division Director John Baza’s decision to the division’s board, and it did so with help from attorneys at Western Resource Advocates. Division spokesman Jim Springer said board appeals can take six months to a year to yield a decision. The Salt Lake Tribune

Tar sands development given go-ahead by Utah regulators

The state mining division director said adequate protections are in place for a tar sands project to proceed on the borders of Uintah and Grand counties, despite objections by environmental groups. The decision issued late Monday by John Baza follows a July 27 informal hearing in which he and other members of the regulatory agency took comments from opponents like Living Rivers and Peaceful Uprising, which argued the long-term impacts to air and water would be significantly detrimental.Specifically, the groups argued that the operation had the potential to contaminate tributaries that feed into the Colorado River and generate dust pollution to extract a fuel that contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional crude oil.

The PR Springs Mine is being proposed by Canada-based Earth Energy Resources. It would occupy a 213-acre site and involve the open-pit mining of tar sands to extract 2,000 barrels of bitumen a day over a seven-year period. The Deseret News

Report: Abandon Utah's oil shale, tar sands

As Gov. Gary Herbert prepares today to stage the first of four statewide forums on Utah’s energy future, a Rocky Mountain environmental group has some advice: Forget oil shale and tar sands. Western Resource Advocates issued a 38-page report Tuesday on the energy and water inefficiency of either potential fuel source. The title: Fossil Foolishness: Utah’s Pursuit of Tar Sands and Oil Shale. The Boulder, Colo.-based legal and policy group commissioned a Boston University geographer to analyze the energy return on investment for oil shale. He determined that most research indicates that, at best, making fuel from the rock would generate twice the energy content of what it takes to produce. That compares to a 20-to-1 ratio or better for petroleum.

Additionally, the advocates insist, these potential fuel sources are too polluting and water intensive to win a place in Herbert’s vision for a clean-energy economy. They argue they also would require too many public subsidies to meet his test for market solutions. The Western Resource Advocates report cites state and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation estimates that Utah will exhaust its remaining share of Colorado River water by about 2020 — even without giving over any of it to new energy development. Utah’s potential for developing 634,000 barrels of oil a day by mining and then cooking oil shale would require somewhere between 90,000 and 150,000 acre-feet of water. An acre-foot, roughly 326,000 gallons, is about enough to supply two households for a year. While not armed with as much research about Utah’s tar sands, the environmental group believes that potential energy source faces similar efficiency issues. Salt Lake Tribune

Energy startup defends oil-sands project in Utah

An energy startup from Canada on Tuesday defended its plan to launch the first significant U.S. oil sands project in eastern Utah, after opponents argued it would dig up fragile topsoil and pollute groundwater. The criticism against the Earth Energy Resources Inc. project came during an informal hearing before the head of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, who is considering whether to uphold his staff's approval of the company's operating permit. The Calgary, Alberta-based company insisted it won't pollute anything and will leave Utah's oil sands as clean as beach sand after processing with a citrus-based solvent.

"It will be a good project for Utah," company vice president Barclay Cuthbert testified. "We'll be providing energy that will be used in the state." The private company with 411 shareholders says it will turn out 2,000 barrels of oil a day after raising $35 million from private equity groups for the plant. Opponents said an oil-sands operation that produces so little petroleum isn't worth doing, given the potential damage to public lands. State officials responded that their job was simply to ensure Earth Energy follows environmental rules. Forbes

Huge electrical construction project beginning in Monticello

One of the biggest construction projects in San Juan County in years has started just east of Monticello at what is known as Rocky Mountain Power Company’s Pinto Substation. Easily visible just south of U. S. 491 as motorists exit Monticello headed east, this huge humming 345,000 volt behemoth which looks like a space station from another planet is being added upon to the tune of “many millions of dollars.” How much, the company would not officially say. But those in the know, estimate the addition to be in the neighborhood of $25 million. When completed in the spring of 2011, the addition will make the substation complex almost twice as big as it is now. The Pinto Substation east of Monticello is one of the ten largest in the state and handles all of southeastern Utah. San Juan Record

Russell Industries Increases Interest in Payday Mine Claims

Russell Industries, Inc.'s legal action against US Minerals, et al., to recover and perfect full title to all outstanding interests in its 60 Payday Uranium and Vanadium Unpatented Mining Claims was successfully completed last week. The claims are all situated in San Juan County, Utah. "The successful resolution of this matter will now enable us to seek the necessary strategic alliances needed to maximize the economic potential of these mining rights," said Rick Berman, CEO. Russell Industries is a developing alternative and renewable energy company. The Company is the majority owner of 255 unpatented Uranium mining claims in San Juan County in Southern Utah. MarketWatch

Solar/wind project gets conditional use permit

San Juan County has given its blessing to a combination wind and solar power project proposed in the TARB area northeast of Monticello. The REDCO (Rural Energy Delivery Companies Alliance) project could result in the construction of a 50-megawatt wind power plant. A recent study by Utah State University indicated that the project could result in a $1.3 million increase in property taxes, including $800,000 a year for local schools. The study added that the construction phase would result in the creation of more than 50 jobs. Ongoing operations would generate approximately $150,000 per year in land lease payments. San Juan Record

County concerned over tar sands mining; discusses possible potash mining venture

The mining industry in Grand County is slated to experience an upsurge if a proposal for a tar sands mining operation, and possible plans for a new potash mining development become reality. Officials with American Potash Company told county officials this week that a new mining operation, although not imminent, could create an economic boon for the county if that operation comes to fruition. The Grand County Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to send a letter of concerns to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining regarding a large mining operation designed to recover oil from tar sands deposits in Uintah and Grand County. That operation has been conditionally approved by UDOGM, which will require the company to make payment of a reclamation surety bond in the amount of $1.7 million in order to begin operations. Moab Times-Independent

State issues conditional permit for tar sands development

The quest to become the first to develop tar sands for oil extraction in the United States may begin in Moab’s backyard. The state Division of Oil, Gas and Mining has conditionally approved an application from Earth Energy Resources, of Alberta, Canada, to develop a tar sands mining operation in Uintah and Grand counties.

The state agency will require Earth Energy Resources to post a $1.7 million reclamation surety bond, and told the company that it must comply with the regulations of “all local, state and federal agencies with jurisdiction over any aspect of the operator’s mining operations,” according to a letter from UDOGM to the Grand County Council.

Council members did not discuss the environmental impacts of the proposed development, which straddles the Grand and Uintah County border. On its website, Earth Energy states that its process “is a revolutionary and swift extraction process that uses little water and leaves behind no toxic chemicals or tailing ponds.” Moab Times-Independent