Posted on 04/10/2011 4:35:16 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Beneath the lush, green hills of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin, where elk, bear and bison outnumber people, the soil is saturated with a sticky tar that may soon provide a new domestic source of petroleum for the United States. It would be a first-of-its kind project in the country that some fear could be a slippery slope toward widespread wilderness destruction.
-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 America. Alberta's sprawling oil sands deposits are the second largest oil reserves in the world outside of Saudi Arabia. The region produces about 1.2 million barrels of oil a day with an estimated 174 billion barrels in reserve.
(Excerpt) Read more at physorg.com ...
ONOZ! EEEEVIL corporations raping the pristine wilderness!!!!! Quick! call the EPA! forget congress! only the almighty EPA matters here!
/sarc
Technically, the sands contain bitumen; but they are processed to produce oil and gas (not tar). They should only be called “oil sands”.
They’ll find an endangered flea, and shut the whole thing down.
Get to it!
Drill it, mine it, frack it, whatever it takes, get the U.S. produced energy ASAP.
Modern mining requires “Restoration” of the habitat, typically leaving it more friendly to the critters than it was before being mined.
Some Elk may be temporarily displaced, they will adapt and thrive.
Same for any other species anyone can really care about.
Man, I sure do wish red clay and kudzu had a marketable value.
The first line tells you two things: a.) the reporter is promoting the enviro-wacko agenda and b.) Chi-Chi Zhang of the vaunted AP has never so much as seen the Uinta Basin.
To be honest, there are no "lush green hills"...and the elk, bear and bison out-number people only because there's virtually nobody there.
The Book Cliffs are one of the emptiest parts of the USA...and there sure as hell aren't any "lush green hills" in evidence. "Barren" would be the most apt adjective.
The Living River jerk doesn't even have a dog in the fight. The development isn't going to effect his river guide business in the least. In actuality, it might help it -- because it will create several hundred highly-paid jobs for a region that doesn't have many.
"Lush green hills", my ass...
My wife and I drove through the Uinta Basin on a vacation trip 16 months ago. We sure didn’t see any “lush, green hills” there - just barren desert.
I was just about to remark on the barrenness of that area. Thank you. Last time I saw it, I saw not just desert, but gray, ugly desert. Some brush. Lots of erosion. Just ugly country. No wonder nobody lives there. ick.
You are probably saying so in jest...........but, Kudzu has a great deal of marketable value..........just a few minutes searching on the internet reveals the potential worth.........
8:}
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.