Shell withdraws Yampa water application

RBC I In a sign of the times, at least economically, Shell has withdrawn its application to obtain water rights on the Yampa River.
“We’ve decided to withdraw,” said Shell spokeswoman Carolyn Tucker. “There were a number of factors, including changing with the economic times. We have finite resources, and we’re trying to allocate those the best way we can with a changing economy.”
However, Tucker said the withdrawal was not a signal the company was backing off of its commitment to develop commercial production of oil shale in the Piceance Basin.
“We’re not pulling out of oil shale,” Tucker said. “We’re here. We’re still working on our freeze wall test, and the initial results are encouraging. It may not look like there’s a lot going on, but there is. Rumors are rampant we’re pulling out, but we’re not.
“We do have other water rights in northwest Colorado, and we’ll continue developing those,” Tucker added. “We’re still developing what a commercial project will look like, and we’re working with moving factors, such as economic conditions, but we’re still continuing our research.”