The Debate Was Stirred First Major Oil Sands Mine U.S.

SALT LAKE CITY - Beneath the lush rolling hills, green eastern Utah Uinta Basin, where people are moose, bears and bison outnumbered, the soil is saturated with a sticky tar that could soon provide a new domestic source of oil for States together.

It would be a first of its kind project in the country that some fear could be a slippery slope to widespread destruction desert. With oil prices rising beyond $ 100 a barrel, and politicians preaching the need to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign supplies, companies are now looking for more local sources.

A Canadian company says is found in the tar sands of Utah Book Cliffs. Alberta-based Earth Energy Resources Inc. intends to begin a 62-acre mine near here to produce bitumen, a tar-like form of petroleum, oil-soaked sands. For decades, the other operators of Utah's oil sands have been used as asphalt a poor man, and Canada has drained the oil from the earth for years, but nobody has tried to produce oil from U.S. territory on the scale.

And it could be just the beginning. The company has more than 7,800 acres of Utah land on lease, with plans to acquire more, and estimates of its current holdings contain over 250 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

"This is not just a 62-acre project that will last seven years. We are looking for one 30. 000 hectares that destroy the environment in this area for many years, "said John Weisheit, Colorado River guide and founder of the Moab, Rivers environmental group based in Utah life.

Weisheit concerns that myopia and the rush to feed the insatiable appetite of U.S. oil could overcome reason at the expense of other precious natural resources. The Bureau of Land Management says that Utah has an estimated 12 to 19 billion barrels of oil buried in its tar sands, especially in the eastern part of the state, although not all that accessible.

Weisheit said that if the Earth's energy is allowed to mine the land, fearing that others can not be far behind. "We used to hear that it is not profitable to extract oil from tar sands unless oil prices were above $ 60 a barrel," he said. "But now that prices have risen, we are definitely seeing companies take advantage of the situation."

Living Rivers is challenging the approval of this project and argues that it would dig the fragile topsoil, destroy limestone plateaus formed during thousands of years and pollute downstream groundwater flows into the Colorado River. The group says the Utah Division of Water Quality does not accurately assess the potential for widespread environmental damage the mine PR Springs. A hearing is scheduled for May 25.

While tar sands projects are relatively new in the U.S., Canada has been a major producer for years, and in doing so has become the No. 1 foreign supplier of oil to the U.S.. extensive Alberta oil sands deposits are second largest reserves of oil in the world outside Saudi Arabia. The region produces about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, with approximately 174 billion barrels in reserve. But it has a cost. Oil sands, including extraction and processing, are responsible for up to 4 percent of emissions of greenhouse gases in Canada, and is expected to triple to 12 percent in 2020.

Unconventional oil - petroleum in any other form of liquid - has been targeted by the industry for years, but largely not considered economically viable until recently. The main source of unconventional oil in the U.S. Slate is a rock with all the necessary ingredients that it was buried under the right conditions for oil production.

But everything is getting a fresh look now and untapped reserves are being seen as part of future domestic supplies. And while companies are still determining if the production of slate makes economic sense, at the height of the oil sands of Canada has raised eyebrows and open folders.

In general, oil from oil sand costs about $ 20 a barrel to produce, a few dollars more than pumping liquid oil. The first mine in Utah, would be the first commercial effort Tierra Energy in extracting oil from the sands. It is unclear why the company chose Utah, instead of staying close to home, where oil sands are abundant. The company declined to say, but officials insist the project will not pollute anything and leave Utah oil sands as clean as the beach sand after transformation with a citrus-based solvent.

"We are ensuring that they are not contaminated with regulatory compliance as indicated in the draft be approved," the company said CFO Glen Snarr. Environmentalists are not buying and do not want to be part of it in this country. They have been fighting a proposed pipeline 1,900 miles by another Canadian company that will carry oil extracted from Alberta's oil sands to refineries in Texas.

The Keystone XL pipeline would double the capacity of an existing pipeline in Canada, delivering more than 500,000 barrels a day. According to a report commissioned by the Obama administration, the pipeline, along with a reduction in global oil demand in the U.S., "essentially could eliminate oil imports from the Middle East in the long term." Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, director of the International Program of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that the rewards just are not worth the risks. "Refining oil (from tar sands) generates more greenhouse gases than conventional oil,"said Casey-Lefkowitz."

With projects like Keystone, we have concerns, such as plumbing leaks due to the corrosive nature of the bitumen and high temperatures which would be transported." Oil sand is black as tar mixed with sand and clay. The reserves are located in Utah and some other U.S. states, but the United States' neighbor to the north, with much larger deposits of the continent.

And while most of the oil sands are easily available for open pit mining similar to the excavation of coal, which separates the oil from the sand has a lot of water and energy. In Canada, there is even talk of building a nuclear power plant just to supply the industry, a move that conservationists have been fighting. Environmentalists in the U.S. they do not want to see a Canadian-style oil industry arenas crop here, and they worry that the water pollution generated in the process might poison ground water and wildlife in the region. In 2008, more than 1,600 ducks died after landing in a toxic tailings pond in northern Alberta that contained the pollution generated in the process of separating oil from sand. Dozens of such toxic pools have been building over 40 years in the region.

Earth Energy says it will deploy a "revolutionary" new extraction process in Utah with a citrus-based solvent that "leaves no toxic chemicals" or the need for retention ponds, making sure not to harm wildlife and other natural resources. But environmentalists believe that the fight against the proposed open pit mining could cause as much damage. Rob Dubuc, a lawyer working with the rivers of life, said the group is concerned about the pollution of groundwater and downstream. "... The rain washes the pollution of the sand in the soil more porous soil and contaminate groundwater," said Weisheit.

State Division of Water Quality has not yet responded to the call of the group. But Rob Herbert, manager of Unit Water Protection Agency, said the project qualifies for a permit, in large part because of the citrus-based solvents, the company says it will use. He said the area also lacks substantial groundwater, which means it would be little risk of contamination of the aquifer.

"They are still required to protect groundwater and the Earth does not relieve the energy resources of that responsibility," said Herbert. In the end, despite all the debate, experts say projects like the Utah mine project are an afterthought when it comes to meeting U.S. demand for oil.

"If this project produces only 2,000 barrels of oil a day, is irrelevant in terms of the 19 million barrels the U.S. consumes daily. It is not contributing anything to the national security," said Richard Fineberg, an analyst Ester pipe, based in Alaska Research Associates. "With the cost, energy and quantity of water used does not seem economically viable, while investment in alternative energy conservation and renewable every year."