Proceedings of the environmental oil shale symposium

Abstract

From the foreword: The technical aspects of oil shale development have been studied and discussed for over 50 years, but it has been only recently that the environ mental aspects of development have received the attention they deserve. Topics of papers presented at this special environmental symposium range from pioneer revegetation studies conducted in the 1950s to preliminary data being taken two decades later to establish the base levels of potential environmental pollutants in the oil shale areas. This information will establish a source of data useful to everyone planning the development of oil shale operations. One common theme present in the papers on collection of base data is the unnecessary amount of replication and "overkill" required by the present environmental impact study requirements. The results are the collection and reporting of large quantities of data whose cost/benefit ratio is extremely high. Hopefully their reporting will give a basis for determining guidelines for revision of the present laws to require the collection of necessary data with increased efficiency so a minimum of replication and a substantial reduction of incidence of "below minimum detectable level" data are achieved. As always the success of the symposium is due to the interest and dedication of the authors of the papers and the support of their employers which permits and encourages them to make the results public. Special thanks are due to Dr. Fred N. Kissell, U. S. Bureau of Mines, who submitted his paper for publication in these proceedings even though he was unable to attend the meeting and to Jon Raese who provided prompt and efficient publication of the proceedings. Finally, the presentation by Burman Lorenson, oil shale coordinator for Colorado, was not available for publication since Mr. Lorenson spoke informally from notes. James H. Gary Vice President for Academic Affairs Colorado School of Mines