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Show UPDATING THE HOOVER DAM DOCUMENTS XII-37 hydroelectrical installations. The siting of several nuclear powerplants in the area is under active consideration. Downstream from Davis Dam more than three-fourths of the area bordering the river is in Federal ownership or Indian trust. As most of the remaining lands suitable for potential resort and community use are federally administered, there are increasing demands, supported by the States, that public lands be released for development. The long list of the lower river's attributes, uses, and problems - several of which are competing or conflicting - calls strongly for a total water and related land-management plan. These uses, attributes, and problems include: natural scenic values; heavy and growing water-based recreational use; urban and community growth including attendant waste disposal problems; major existing and potential hydroelectric developments; potential nuclear plant siting; important fish and wildlife habitat and resources; endangered species; extensive irrigation development; illegal trespass and occupancy; important Indian reservations; water salvage potentials through channelization and vegetation control; extensive Federal land ownership; and water quality improvement. There is a long history of Federal actions dealing with water and related land management problems along the lower Colorado River which have not always been consistent or had common objectives. Several Federal agencies have been involved, including the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, and, more recently, the Environmental Protection Agency. Land use and management plans and proposals have been made by the Bureau of Land Management and by the Bureau of Reclamation within the past decade and the Bureau of Land Management is presently preparing a Management Framework Plan for lands which it administers. Even though a multiplicity of research, investigation, management, and implementation programs are underway by various Federal agencies, there is an urgent need to organize a multiagency, multidisciplinary group with sufficient authority to formulate a comprehensive long-range plan for the lower river and to establish the means for coordinating the various Federal, State, and local programs and activities in the area. Such a group should be basically a Federal-State group with opportunity for active public involvement and should include representatives of all State and Federal agencies having designated responsibilities in the area as well as representatives of other public interests. Oil Shale Development in the Upper Colorado Region. - The recent energy crisis, with its widespread shortages of gasoline and fuel oil, has focused national attention on the extensive reserves of oil locked in the oil shales of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The higher grade deposits cover about 16,000 to 17,000 square miles and contain about 600 billion barrels of extractable oil, enough to meet oil requirements of the United States for 100 years at present rates of consumption. These reserves are approximately 17 times the present U.S. (including Alaska) proved crude petroleum reserves. By States, 80 percent of the high-grade reserves are in Colorado, 15 percent in Utah, and 5 percent in Wyoming. Most of the reserves are on public lands, but there are also significant reserves on private lands. To adequately assess the water problems associated with oil shale development, it is necessary to determine when development will start and the rate and ultimate level of development. Several projections have been made by various authorities and they range in production capacity by 1985 of from 450,000 bpd to 1,200,000 bpd. Water requirements for oil shale production and processing vary with the production rate, mining techniques, and methods adopted for spent shale disposal. Municipal water for the increased population to support the oil shale activity would also be needed but would be relatively minor compared with other requirements. Total estimated water requirements vary between 5,000 and 20,000 acre-feet per 47 |
