“I think it’s outrageous that Utah imports about one-fourth of its oil from Canadian tar sands, even though we have a very large resource in our own state sitting undeveloped,” Hatch said. “It’s clear that we need to increase domestic production, and we have a vast, untapped oil resource right here in the West that could produce more oil than the Middle East.”
Utah’s Congressional delegation and Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) joined Hatch to voice their support for the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Development Act of 2005, which will make developing this unconventional oil reserve economically viable for our country.
“We have seen a policy shift by the government of Alberta, Canada, that provides a good model for what could occur in the U.S,” Hatch said. “Alberta recognized the potential of its own tar sands deposits and has set forth a policy promote their development. Now, Canada has increased its oil reserves by more than a factor of 10, going from a reserve of about 14 billion barrels to its current reserve of 176 billion barrels in only a few years.”
This gigantic resource of our nation’s oil shale and tar sands reserves is well known by geologists and energy experts, but it has not been counted among our nation’s oil reserve because it is not yet being developed commercially. That is largely because efforts to develop oil shale in western Colorado during the 1970s went bust after a very large slump in gas prices. Hatch noted that today’s economics and advances in technology have combined to provide the right scenario to begin the development of the world’s largest untapped oil resource.
“The size of our nation’s energy challenge is enormous, but in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming we have an answer that more than meets the challenge,” Hatch said. “This bill moves us down that path.”
Hatch’s oil shale and tar sands bill only one part of his three-prong energy strategy designed to encourage more affordable sources of energy and greater energy security. Earlier, Hatch introduced the CLEAR ACT of 2005 (Clean Efficient Vehicles Resulting from Advanced Car Technologies), which would provide strong tax incentives for the purchase of alternative and hybrid vehicles, for new alternative fuel infrastructure, and for the retail sale of alternative fuels. He has also introduced legislation to provide tax incentives to increase the nation’s oil refining capacity, providing for accelerated depreciation for new refineries or for refineries that are increasing their capacity.