New study reduces water use needed for oil shale

GLENWOOD SPRINGS I A new study has drastically reduced projections of water needs for oil shale development. The study, commissioned by the Colorado and Yampa Basin Roundtables, projects a maximum demand by the industry of 120,000 acre-feet/ year by 2050, compared to the approximately 400,000 acre-feet an earlier phase of the same study projected. The difference in this revised estimate stems primarily from refined assumptions about how the industry is likely to develop and evolve. According…