Bituminous sands and some legal aspects of leasing

A brief description of the more important bituminous sand deposits of Utah at Asphalt Ridge, Sunnyside, Whiterocks River, and other localities. Discussion of their probable origin and present physical qualities with comparison to liquid oil and natural solid bitumen deposits in Utah. Capsule history of developments in acquiring rights to petroleum, semisolid bitumen.and solid bitumen deposits with a more detailed discussion of the current separate leasing arrangements for acquiring rights to such deposits on Federal, State and private lands. Review of the physical characteristics which differentiate semi-solid bitumen from liquid oil, solid bitumen, and oil shale, with a discussion of the legal implications of current leasing laws and recent interpretations. Other papers at this symposium cover the technical aspects of finding and producing useful petroleum products from oil shale, bituminous or tar sands, and viscous crude oils. My portion of this discussion relates to some recent problems which have resulted from federal legislation (1) involving the separate leasing of asphalt and bituminous sand deposits on federal lands.