vvEPA
                 United States
                 Environmental Protection
                 Agency
                 Office of Research
                 and Development
                 Washington, D.C. 20460
EPA (600/9-79-027)
August 1979
Energy, Minerals, Industry
 This document has not been
 submitted to NTIS, therefore it
 should be retained.
                 Energy from  the West

                 Summary  Report

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      The Energy/Environment
                    R&D
             Decision Series
    Some of the most basic problems facing our
 society today  involve  the use of  our  energy
 resources and the effects of  this  usage  on our
 environment.  These problems affect everyone,
 and everyone  has an interest  in their resolution.
 But the technical aspects of these problems make
 it difficult for  a major  portion of  the interested
 public  to  understand  and  participate  in  the
 decision-making process. This volume contributes
 to the bridging of this information gap.
    The Energy/Environment R&D Decision Series
 was inaugurated late in  1976. The series presents,
 in an easily understood and informative manner,
 selected key issues and findings of the  Federal
 Interagency Energy/Environment  Research  and
 Development  Program, which was initiated in
 fiscal year 1975. Planned and coordinated by the
 Environmental  Protection  Agency  (EPA),  the
 Interagency Program sponsors more than 1,000
 research projects ranging  from the analysis of
 health  and environmental effects of  energy
 systems to the development of pollution  control
 technologies.
    If you have any comments, please write to
 Editor,  RD-681,  US  EPA,  Washington,  D.C.
'20460.  This document is  available through the
 National Technical Information Service, Spring-
 field, Virginia 22161. Mention of trade names and
 commercial products herein does not constitute
 EPA endorsement or recommendation for use.
Design and Graphics:

          Virginia Newman

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  Energy  From  the West
                  Summary  Report
           By
           Science and Public Policy Program
           University of Oklahoma
           Irvin L. White
           Michael D. Devine
           Steven C. Ballard
           Michael A. Chartock
           Allyn R. Brosz
           Timothy A. Hall
           R. Leon Leonard
         Edward J. Malecki
         Gary D. Miller
         Edward B. Rappaport
         Frank J. Calzonetti
         MarkS. Eckert
         Robert W. Rycroft
fhergy
from
the
Prepared for:
Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460

Project Officer:
Steven E. Plotkin
Office of Energy, Minerals and Industry

Contract Number 68-01-1916
        U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
        Region 5 Library (PL-12J)
        77 West Jackson Blvd., 12th Floor
        Chicago, IL 60604-3590

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                                Foreword
  The development of energy resources inevitably impacts Man and his Environment.
The nature, magnitude and distribution of these impacts must be thoroughly understood
if balanced judgments concerning future energy development in the United States are to
be made. The Office of Energy, Minerals and Industry (OEMI), in its role as coordinator
of the Federal Energy/Environment Research and Development Program, is responsible
for  producing information on health and ecological  effects  and  on how to mitigate
adverse effects. This information is critical to developing the Nation's environmental
and energy policy. Within the OEMI, the Integrated Assessment Program combines the
results  of  Energy/Environment  Program  research  projects and analyses of the
socioeconomic and political/institutional  aspects  of energy development  in policy-
oriented studies. These studies are undertaken to identify the tradeoffs among alter-
native energy technologies, development patterns, and impact mitigation measures.

  This report summarizes the results of  a  three-year Technology Assessment  of
Western Energy Resource Development, a study which examined the development  of
coal, geothermal, natural gas, oil, oil shale, and uranium resources in an eight-state area
in the western United States (Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming). Three previously published project reports provide
detailed  background   information  on  the  six   energy  resources,  development
technologies, and laws and  regulations (Energy From  The  West: Energy Resource
Development Systems) and report the results of site-specific and regional impact
analysis (Energy From The West: Impact Analysis Report) and the analysis of nine ma-
jor policy problems and issues (Energy From the West: Policy Analysis Report).

  These project reports are being distributed at a time when western energy resources
and synfuels technologies figure prominently in national energy policy. The three major
Energy From The West reports  identified above  were designed  to provide both in-
terested citizens and professionals interested  in energy resource development a set of
planning handbooks for identifying and evaluating energy resource developments rang-
ing from a single facility to the large-scale regional production of a variety of resources
and fuel types. Our hope is that this summary report will whet your appetite and that you
will want to examine and use the other three reports.

 Your comments and suggestions concerning all four reports will be welcomed.



                                                                      L
                                                                 o
                                              Steven R. Reznek
                                              Deputy Assistant Administrator
                                               for Energy, Minerals and Industry

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                                 Preface
   This summary report has been prepared as a part of "A Technology Assessment of
Western Energy Resource Development" conducted by an interdisciplinary research
team from the Science and Public Policy Program of the University of Oklahoma for the
Office of Energy, Minerals and Industry (OEMI), Office of Research  and Development,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This study was conducted under the In-
tegrated Assessment Program established by OEMI in 1975. Recommended by an in-
teragency task force, the purpose of  the Program  is to identify  economically, en-
vironmentally, and  socially acceptable  energy development alternatives.  The overall
purposes of this  particular study are to identify and analyze a broad range of conse-
quences of energy resource development in the western U.S. and to evaluate and com-
pare alternative courses of action for dealing with the problems and issues either raised
or likely to be raised by development of these resources.

   Radian Corporation, Austin, Texas,  and Martha Gilliland of Energy Policy Studies,
Inc., El Paso, Texas, have been major contributors to this study, especially in terms of
the environmental impact analyses. Other major contributors include Water Purification
Associates, Cambridge, Massachusetts, who conducted studies of water requirements
for energy facilities; and the Center for Advanced Computation, the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign,  who  conducted a  study  of the  costs of  alternative energy
transportation modes. Don E. Kash, former Director of the Science and Public Policy
Program and now serving as Chief of the Conservation Division of the U.S. Geological
Survey, assisted the team  in a number of ways.

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                                           Natural Gas

                                               Coal

                                             Uranium
                                                                         Capita!
                                                                         Availability
Growth Management,, .^
and Housing   ,,*-""****
                                                                         Transportation
                Water
                Availability
                                                                                      Energy
                                                                                      Facility
                                                                                      Siting

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   Significantly  increased  domestic  energy
 production will  almost  certainly  include  the
 large-scale development of energy  resources
 located in the western  U.S. Recognizing that
 the development of these resources will pro-
 duce a broad range of economic, environmen-
 tal, social, and other impacts, this technology
 assessment was initiated by the Environmental
 Protection Agency (EPA). Its purpose is to iden-
 tify the problems and issues that need to be ad-
 dressed if western  energy  development is to
 proceed in a manner in which  beneficial  op-
 portunities are maximized and negative conse-
 quences minimized.

   The primary objective is  to produce results
 that will help EPA to revise and/or initiate and
 implement appropriate environmental  control
 policies and programs. Study results are also
 intended to be useful to other federal agencies
and officials, the Congress,  state  and  local
governments, energy  developers,  labor, en-
vironmentalists, Indians, and a broad range of
other parties  whose interests and values are
likely to be  affected by the  development  of
western energy resources.

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      Eight-State Study Area and
      Six Site-Specific Scenarios
found in  Colorado,  Utah,  North Dakota, and
Montana. Areas of geothermal resources are
still being discovered, but have been primarily
identified in the western half of the region.

   Energy development and  the resulting im-
pacts  were  studied   for  two  region-wide
scenarios and for local  scenarios at six sites.
Each of the six site-specific scenarios combin-
ed  representative local conditions (such as
topography, meteorology, population, and com-
munity services and  facilities) with  a variety  of
energy development technologies.
            Scope and Approach
                                                 Resources
   The study' includes eight  Northern  Great
Plains  and Rocky  Mountain  States and  six
energy resources.  Coal  is found in all eight
states with the  largest concentrations  occur-
ring in the Northern Great Plains. The highest
grade oil shale  deposits occur  in the  Green
River Formation  in Colorado, Utah, and Wyom-
ing. New  Mexico and  Wyoming contain  the
largest deposits of uranium,  although  some
uranium may be found in  each  of the eight
states. Crude oil and natural gas  reserves  are
largest in New Mexico and Wyoming, although
significant amounts of these resources are also
 Coal '
 OH
 Urantem
 OneQ= 172 million bbls of oil. or 60 million tons
         of coal, or 1 trillion cubic feet of natural
         gas.

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        Solutional   • -.  t
        Uranium Mining
      1 Oil/Gas Wells
                                  Natural Gas or Oil
                 ixtractton
Conversion
                     Energy Resource Development Alternatives
   These  alternative  technologies were  as-
sessed:

    •  Surface and underground mining

    •  Exporting of raw coal

    •  Coal-fired steam electric power generation

    •  Liquefaction and gasification of coal
           •   Surface and modified in situ retorting of oil shale


           •   Mining and milling of uranium ore


           •   Conventional and enhanced crude oil production


           •   Geothermal electricity production

           •   Energy transportation by rail, pipeline, and high
              voltage transmission lines

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For a description of these extraction, conver-
sion, and transportation technologies, as well
as  the  laws and  regulations  affecting  the
development of each resource, see our  report
on  Energy Resource  Development Systems
(complete  citations  are  at  the  end of this
report).

   Two regional levels of development were
assumed for the eight-state  study area  based
on low and nominal national energy demand
levels.

   Site-specific and regional impacts resulting
from  the   development  of  these  energy
resources  from the present to the year 2000
have been analyzed.  Eight categories of im-
pacts have been identified:

   • Air

   ' • Water

   • Socioeconomic

   • Ecological

   • Health

   • Transportation

   • Noise

   • Aesthetics
                 Energy  Production Levels in the Eight States
        
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                                 Study Approach
Findings  are  reported in the Impact Analysis
Report."

   Following the impact analysis, we identified
problems and issues that need to be addressed
if western energy development is to proceed so
that benefits are realized while negative conse-
quences  are minimized. Eight categories of
problems and issues were analyzed:

   •  Wa ter ava ila bilify

   •  Air quality

   •  Water qualify
   •  Growth management and housing

   •  Land use

   •  Capital a vaila bility

   •  Transportation

   •  Energy facility siting

For each  category,  policy alternatives were
identified, evaluated, and compared according
to several criteria. The results of this work are
reported  in  detail  in  our  Policy Analysis
Report" and are summarized below.
  •Complete references for this and other publications from the study can be found on the final page.

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                               Annual Precipitation
                                                                       Precipitation (inches)
                                                                                     D
                        The Context
                          of Western
            Energy Development
   Several factors will be important influences
on  western  energy  resource  development.
Among the most important of these are  the
following:  international  factors  such as  the
world price of  oil; public attitudes about  the
energy crisis and the public's willingness to
modify behavior and lifestyles; institutional ar-
rangements for policymaking, particularly in-
tergovernmental and public/private sector rela-
tionships;  and the  inadequacy of  existing
knowledge regarding the performance of new
energy technologies and the impact of energy
resource development.
   While each of these factors will be important
to energy  policymaking,  perhaps the most
critical is the fact that  energy  problems  are
directly linked with economic and environmen-
tal problems and that policies intended to solve
problems in one area will affect problems in the
other two. Because  of this interdependence,
energy, economic, and environmental conflicts
have arisen which have increased the uncer-
tainties about how much, where, and in what
manner  domestic energy resources  will  be
developed.  As a  result of these interrelation-
ships and uncertainties, policymakers often
find that attempts to deal with a problem at one
point in  the  system  produce  problems
somewhere else. Thus, policies and programs
are often contradictory and are  often chal-
lenged  by  other   participants   in  energy
policymaking.

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   Within this overall national context, western
energy  resource development  is affected by
regional factors. Among these considerations,
none is more important than the general nature
and  character  of  the region,  including  the
following elements:

• Although  rich  in  natural resources,  the
  region  is  water-short.  Precipitation  levels
  range from less than 10 inches in the desert
  Southwest to 10-20  inches in the Northern
  Great Plains region.

• With   the  exception  of  several  large
  metropolitan  areas  (Albuquerque,  Denver,
  Phoenix, Salt Lake  City, and Tucson),  it  is
  sparsely populated.

• Approximately 45 percent of the total land  in
  the eight-state study  area is owned by the
  federal government and Indian  tribes.  The
  federal government owns about half  of the
  coal, geothermal, and uranium and  about  80
  percent of the oil shale resources in the area.
  Indian tribes own an estimated 40 percent  of
  the nation's uranium  and 30 percent of all
  strippable western coal.

• Agriculture,  mining,  tourism, and govern-
  ment  service are  the  major  sectors  of
  economic activity.  Manufacturing  employs
  more than 10 percent of the labor force in on-
  ly three states: Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.

• Rugged  individualism is still highly valued
  and  government intervention  is  generally
  strongly opposed.

• Attitudes toward  energy resource  develop-
  ment range widely from being strongly sup-
  portive to strongly opposed. Much of the op-
  position  by  environmental  groups comes
  from  residents outside the region who wish
  to see the natural beauty protected.
   These characteristics will continue to be im-
portant influences  on  national  and  state
policies  toward  energy  development,  par-
ticularly in the area of intergovernmental rela-
tionships.  The western states have  strongly
stated their intentions to have a major voice in
the development of their region, and  several
areas  of  state-federal   conflict  have  arisen.
Questions about the extent of state authority in
the allocation  of water resources, implementa-
tion of federal air quality regulations, and con-
trol over   reclamation  on  federal  lands  are
among the most important areas of conflict.
         , Rancher Fearful of Development

     'A rancher outside Colstrip, Montana articulate-
    ly expressed his fear of new energy facilities. "To _
    me, I |ust don't think you can put a material value
    on what we have rig ht here . I thi nk it 's our respon-
    sibility to do with it what we can and turn it over to '
    our children In good shape. .. Then you get con-
    version plants, and you think, okay, what's this go-
    Ing to do with titrwaitrt rMei»(rtwii»t.iwlif -tenowif
    to come out  of the Yellowstone? Chat's a 200 or
    1,000 percent increase -of the population of my
    hometown f ojfi to «te? . , ,. ' To ttf «• IKK hw»rf ; « ,r, -
    To the sociological undercurrent?. . . To my com-
    munity?.. . "
    —Johnson,  ttaynsf,  "The uwt
    Washington Post, August 3, 1975, p. C-5. Quotes
    from Willie MacRae.                       !
                                               10

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                  Water Availability

   Energy development in the western states,
particularly  electric  power  generation  using
wet-cooling  technologies, will  add to current
water availability problems  and  intensify  ex-
isting  political  conflicts  regarding   water
resource  management.  The  most  important
water availability issues appear to be the follow-
ing:

• Water  Shortages  in  the  Colorado  River
  Basin: When energy requirements for  water
  are added to nonenergy requirements for the
  year  2000,   the  total  exceeds  minimum
  availability estimates by  as much  as one
  million acre-feet  per year.  Even using  the
  most  optimistic   combination  of   these
  estimates   of water  requirements   and
  availability,  energy  resource  development
  will consume a large percentage of  unap-
  propriated surface water.
                                                        "". --~,  Yellowstone Moratorium *  *   - ',

                                                       The State of Montana placed a four-year (March
               demands. Requests for
  have included 8.8 million acre-feet by coal related
  industrial users, 8.6 million acre-feet by the State
  Health Department, and 8.2 million acre-feet by •
  the State Fish and Game Commission. •', ';'   ' •

  —Montana Department of Natural Resources and
  Conservation, Water Resources Division. FlnatEn-
  vironmental Impact Statement for Water Reserva-
  tion Applications to the Yellowstone River Basin.
  Helena, Mont.: Department of Natural Resources
  and Conservation, 1975.
Increased Conflicts in  the Upper  Missouri
River Basin: Water rights in the Yellowstone
River have never been judicially settled  to
determine  how  much  water  is  actually
available. Increased demands from Indian,
energy, agricultural, and  environmental in-
terests have created considerable uncertain-
ty over how remaining supplies will be used.

Damage  to  Environmental Resources:
As stream flows are increasingly depleted to
meet the needs  of industrial, agricultural,
and municipal uses, damage could result, in-
cluding loss  of recreational  uses, habitat
damage  from reduced  flows  and wetlands
removal, and  damage to scenic and aesthetic
values.
                                              11

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      Projections of Water Requirements and Availability
                     in Colorado River - Year 2000
                20'
                15-
        0)
        Q.
        2
        O
        c
        O
                10-
                   Availability(Minimum Estimate),
                                —*
                   Nominal Demand
                   Low Demand
                   Future Nonenergy Uses

                   Current Upper Basin Use
                                                              Lower Basin Entitlement
                 1975
                         1980
                                  1985
                                           1990
        1995
                                                            2000
Conflicts with Indian Values: Indian values
and culture could be threatened depending
on how issues such  as  Indians' reserved
water rights are resolved.  This could reduce
overall  energy development by impeding
development  of  the extensive  energy
resources located on Indian land and would
furthercomplicate the legal and political prob-
lems.
• Restriction   or  Elimination  of  Irrigated
  Agriculture: If existing water resources are
  diverted for use in energy resource develop-
  ment,  it  will  often  be  at  the  cost of
  agricultural lands.  Since this could change
  the basic economic structure and threaten
  many  western  values,   political  conflicts
  would almost certainly increase between the
  federal  and  state  governments,  among
  regions, and among states in the West.
                                        12

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Policy Alternatives
   If policymakers try to meet the  expanded
needs of water users, two general categories of
policy alternatives can be considered: (1) in-
crease water supply  (augmentation); or (2) in-
crease the use of existing supplies (conserva-
tion). Several specific alternatives exist in each
of these  general categories. Policymakers
could take a very different approach by explicit-
ly reducing or eliminating water-intensive uses
in some areas, including energy development
and  irrigated  agriculture. One of  the  most
critical issues raised by these choices is where
the political authority will rest.  Our findings in-
clude the following:
Water Augmentation:  Several augmentation
options can  provide needed water supplies,
particularly during the short term. Measured
in terms of millions of acre-feet which can be
added  per year, the most effective  choices
appear to be  interbasin  transfers,  ground-
water  mining,  and  weather  modification.
However,  several  disadvantages  of these
choices emerge:
 ,'
 .
                                            JF/' • --X
                                             13

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Wet Cooling Towers for Coal-Fired Power Plant
      Interbasin  and intrabasm transfers, groundwater
      mining, and groundwater storage will each cost in
      excess of $30per acre-foot of water.

      Vegetation  management  and  phreatophyte
      removal present the greatest environmental risks of
      these  alternatives,  in  the  sense of  damaging
      wetlands, wilderness areas, or scenic areas.

      Most of  these alternatives  are inflexible, either
      because  they  are capital-intensive  (eg,  water
      transfer, impoundments, groundwater storage) and
      therefore require long-term resource commitments,
      or because they can cause relatively irreversible or
      long-term impacts to streams and forest lands
            States Rights Stressed

President Carter's proposal for comprehensive
water policy reform has met stiff resistance in the
western states. The National Governors* Associa-
tion  Subcommittee  on Water  Management  has
supported a comprehensive national water policy
which addresses state water problems. However,
the subcommittee concludes that such a policy
must recognize ". . .the state's primary  role in
water management. . ." and that the policy must
be flexible in response to the states.

—U.S., Congress, Senate, Committee on Environ-
ment and  Public Works.  Water Research  and
Development. Hearings  Before the  Subcom-
mittee on Water Resources, 95th Cong., 2d sess.,
April 7,1978, pp. 297-311.
                                                       14

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Coal Power
Plant (Th)
Synthane
Gasification
Lurgi
Gasification
Synthoil
Liquefaction
TOSCO II
Oil Shale
Retort


In Situ
Oil Shale


Slurry
Pipeline

                                    Wet

                                    Intermediate Wet

                                    Minimum Wet

                                    Site-Specific
                                    Variation
                          10
20
30
40
 i
50
 I
60
                                                                        Gallons/million Btu in Product
        Water Requirements for Energy Conversion Facilities
  Water  Conservation:   Although   potential
  water-savings   from  irrigation   and  from
  municipal  conservation are uncertain,  sav-
  ings from energy conservation can be signifi-
  cant. The most basic option in this regard is
  to  avoid  siting water-intensive conversion
  technologies in water-short areas.
                If wet cooling is used, electric power generation will
                require more water than gasification, liquefaction,
                and oil shale development.


                Among  coal synthetic fuel  technologies. Lurgi
                gasification requires from 25  to 45 percent more
                water than Synthoil liquefaction to produce an
                equivalent amount of energy
                                              15

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Water requirements for energy conversion
facilities  may also be  reduced  by using a
combination of wet and dry cooling.

    Intermediate wet cooling can reduce the total plant
    requirements by as much as 32 pecent for Lurgi
    gasification  and  77  percent for  electric  power
    generation.   This  could  save  about 96,000 to
    106,000 gallons per  million British thermal units
    (Btu's)  depending on where the plant would be
    located By using minimum wet cooling, as much
    as 42 percent of the water requirements of the
    Lurgi process could be saved.
                     For synthetic fuel facilities, intermediate wet cool
                     ing is economical if water costs more than 25 cents
                     per 1,000gallons ($81 per acre-foot) and minimum
                     wet cooling is economical if water costs more than
                     $ 1.50 per 1,000 gallons ($490 per acre-foot).

                     For power plants intermediate wet cooling does
                     not become economical until water costs $3 65 to
                     $5 87per 1,000 gallons ($1,190 to 1,910per acre-
                     foot)

                     The economic cost of using water-saving  cooling
                     techniques is much lower for synthetic fuel facilities
                     than for power plants  For Lurgi,  minimum  wet
                     cooling costs about 1.5 cents per million Btu's of
                     gas, representing about 0.5 percent cost increase.
                     However, for power plants, intermediate wet cool-
                     ing would increase costs about 8percent
                          Wet

                          Intermediate Wet

                          Minimum Wet
      Coal
      Power
      Plants
0-13.65
$3,65-15.8?
     Synthetic
     Fuels
                                                                    Dollars/thousand Gallons
             Breakeven Water Costs of Cooling Alternatives
                                                 16

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   Along with water availability,  air quality
issues  have  a  major influence on  western
energy  development. Conflicts  between the
goals of increasing energy  development and
protecting the West's  generally pristine air will
directly affect which resources are  developed,
the technologies used, and costs of the energy
products. In addition to conflicts among goals
and values, decisions about energy  develop-
ment are made more  difficult by the complex,
ambiguous, and  constantly  changing set of
federal and state air quality regulations. These
appear to  be the most  important  air quality
issues:
Separation Distance Between 3,000 MWe
      Power Plants and Class I Areas
             (80% SC-2 Removal)
                                           17

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           PSD Reclassif ication Conflict

      The Northern Cheyenne tribal chairman, Allen
    Rowland, has stated that "we are not requesting
    this redesignation because we are against prog-
    ress. For us progress means developing our en-
    vironmental resources in renewable and compati-
    ble manners such as timber and agricultural prod-
    ucts. They are the cores of our value systems as
    people."

      When the State of Wyoming objected to the
    redesignation  citing  possible  restrictions on
    development in some parts of the state, Eric Met-
    calf, a Cheyenne spokesman, replied, "They're
    saying: 'We want to make decisions in our area,
    but you can't make those decisions for yours.' "

    —"The Cheyenne  Drive for Clean Air  Rights."
    Business Week, April 4,1977, p. 29.
• Effects  of  Prevention  of  Significant  De-
  terioration (PSD) Regulations:  Restricted
  resource development and continued con-
  flicts over where development occurs are
  likely because of the large number of man-
  dated and potential Class I PSD areas in the
  eight-state study area  and because of the
  complexity  and  uncertainty  of  the  PSD
  regulations. Calculation of estimated "buffer
  zones"  required for large  power plants to
  meet Class I sulfur dioxide (S02) increments
  in  the   six  site-specific scenarios  shows
  distances ranging from 14 to 75 miles.

• Emissions Offset Policies: EPA's emissions
  offset policy  allows  development  in areas
  already violating National Ambient Air Quality
  Standards while  PSD policies may constrain
  economic development in  the West. Many
  westerners   view  these   policies  as
  discriminating against their region.
• Ambient  Air  Impacts  in  Growth Commu-
  nities:  Concentrations of pollution  due to
  population increases  associated with new
  energy facilities usually exceed those from
  the energy facilities themselves even though
  urban  emissions are usually only about 10
  percent  of those  produced  by  the  energy
  facility.  This  occurs   because  population
  emissions, primarily from automobiles, are
  released close to the ground. Yet, state and
  local  officials have  very little  control over
  emissions from mobile sources.

• Background  Pollution  Levels:  Background
  levels   of total   suspended   particulates,
  hydrocarbons, and  oxidants  (ozone),  ap-
  parently from  natural  sources, have been
  measured near or  above federal  ambient
  standards in some areas of the West. Energy
  development  could  be  restricted  unless
  regulations take these naturally occurring
  conditions into account.

• Effects on Visibility: Visibility considerations
  have   an  uncertain,  but potentially  very
  significant,  effect   on  western   energy
  development. Visibility standards for Class I
  PSD areas are required under the 1977 Clean
  Air Act (CAA) Amendments;  however, these
  have not yet been promulgated and scientific
  understanding of  the  relationship between
  emissions and visibility is incomplete.
                                               18

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           Complexity of Air Quality
                 Regulations

    "The  fatal  weakness  of  our  national
 energy/environmental policy is its failure to come
 to grips with the complexities of the required pro-
 cedures through which  decisions  must come
  . .. .The PSD  and  nonattainment  provisions
 taken in  combination  create major  procedural
 obstacles. .. .1 think we focus too much on the
 substance of whether the technology would make
 it possible  to solve these  problems  and not
 enough on the process and procedure."

 —Quarles, John. Comments at Sixth Government
 Affairs Seminar, Air Pollution Control Association,
 March 22-23,1978.

   Future air quality policies will need to recon-
cile  the  conflicts  between   energy  and  en-
vironmental values in the West. In this regard,
three  categories  of  policy  alternatives  have
been identified: modify standards and regula-
tions;  alter technological and siting choices;
and  improve the  procedural mechanisms  for
siting.  Although a  variety  of specific  policy
alternatives are identified,   four  have  been
evaluated in this study.
                                     Air Quality Alternatives
          Category of Alternative
                   Specific Alternative
Modification of standards and regulations
; of feett
                                       control
Alteration of technological and siting
        ''  '
                     n jaf  smaller,  dispersed
                           '
                                                                       .
                                                                      fof  toss  f»*rflWfe>9
Improved procedural mechanisms for siting
          Establishment of task forces for identi-
          fying future sites
                                                19

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     S02 Removal Necessary to Meet all Standards Except BACT
Site and Binding Regulation
     for Power Plants
Percent SO2 Removal
     Colorado (1 DOOM We)
     State Category II Ambient

     Utah (3000 MWe)
     Federal 24 hr. Class II PSD

     North Dakota (3000 MWe)
     Federal 24 hr. Class II PSD

     Wyoming (3000 MWe)
     State NSPS

     Montana (3000 MWe)
     Federal Class II PSD
     State NSPS

     New Mexico (3000 MWe)
     Federal 24 hr. Class II PSD

                                 94.0

                             85.0
                           82.0

                       S*SBfi!S^mmSiii!fKBMr
                         80.0
                        78.0

   Best Available Control Technology (BACT):
   As required  by the 1977 CAA Amendments,
   this policy alternative would regulate emis-
   sions for SO2 by requiring a set percentage
   sulfur removal rate (for our analysis 90 per-
   cent was chosen), regardless of the original
   sulfur content of the coal. This contrasts with
   the  previous New Source Performance Stan-
   dards (NSPS) which set S02 emission limits
   at 1.2 pounds of SO2 per million Btu's input.

       SO2 emissions from power plants are estimated to
       be about one-half as much by 1995 under this stan-
       dard compared to a continuation of the previous
       NSPS.
  However, even without BACT large power plants
  in the West will require strict SOz controls to meet
  other applicable standards; estimates range from
  78 to 96 percent

  Removing the advantages of utilizing low sulfur
  coal would cause Northern Great Plains coal pro-
  duction to grow  much  less rapidly. However,
  estimates are that 1990 production would still be
  175 percent higher than 1975 levels.

  The same emission levels could be achieved at
  lower costs by providing incentives for low sulfur
  control.

  Monitoring costs will be higher in order to measure
  both sulfur removal percentages and emission
  rates.
                                               20

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Coal-Fired Power Plant in Four Corners Area of New Mexico
                Smaller Power Plants

      "It has been  conventional system planning
    wisdom for a long time that construction of plants
    of ever-increasing capacity is  desirable  (1) to
    achieve scale  economies, and (2) to reduce the
    environmental impact associated with siting  a
    number of smaller generating plants. We believe
    these arguments must now be reexamined in light
    of current conditions and future prospects."

    —New York Public Service Commission, Opinion
    No. 78-3, March 6,1978.
Smaller,  Dispersed  Facilities:  Under  this
alternative,  industry  would,  for  example,
build  three  500  megawatt-electric  (MWe)
plants at dispersed  sites instead of one 1,500
MWe plant.

     While overall emissions would not necessarily be
     affected, pollutants  would be dispersed  over a
     wider area. Dispersion effects would be similar to
     using "tall stacks."

     Other negative impacts, such as water consump-
     tion and boomtown effects, would also be  dispers-
     ed; another advantage would be that tax and other
     economic benefits for local governments would be
     more uniformly distributed.

     Land requirements may be two to  three times
     larger; other costs are also likely to  be  higher
     depending on many site-specific factors.

     Although each plant should face less difficult siting
     requirements, this may be offset by the increased
     number of plants that would be sited.
                                                     21

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               Air Emissions on an Equivalent Energy  Basis
Modified
In Situ
Oil Shale

Lurgi
Gasification

TOSCO II
Oil Shale
Retort
Geothermal

Synthoil
Liquefaction

Enchanced
Crude Oil
(Steam Injection)

Coal Power
Plant (Th)

                       Participates

                             SO2

                             NOx

                             H2S
                                   .2
                                             .3
                                                     .4
                                                              .5
                                                                        .6
                                                                                 .7
                                                                                     Pounds/million Btu
•  Commercialization  Programs  for   New
   Technologies:  Technologies  such  as coal
   gasification, in situ oil shale production, and
   geothermal power production would allow in-
   creased energy production with less impact
   on air quality than is created by power plants.

       Most of the new technologies examined produce
       considerably fewer air emissions per unit of energy
       produced than power plants

       Economic costs and risks for such a program would
       be large: commercial scale synthetic fuel plants can
       cost at least $0.5-1.0 billion.

       Implementation would be difficult, since risks are
       high and close cooperation would be required
       among federal agencies, western states, and  in-
       dustry
Siting  Task Force: The goal of a task  force
representing various parties-at-interest (e.g.,
state and  federal  agencies,  environmental
groups, farmers and ranchers, etc.) would be
to agree on future energy facility sites (for
example, in areas less environmentally sen-
sitive)  in order to reduce siting delays at the
time the facilities are needed.

    This approach has been tried in Utah, apparently
    successfully.

    Economic costs for the task force would generally
    be  small, unless extensive environmental studies
    are undertaken.

    Implementation should be straightforward; it could
    be  convened at the request of the governor; no
    new institutions or laws would be required.
                                                 22

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                                                               Clean Water Compromise
                                                                 -.  Views Differ   '

                                                        Environmentalists have charged that the 1977 '
                                                      Clean Water Aef will slow the pace of water pollu-
                                                      tion clean-up. A spokesman for the Clean Water
                                                      Action project said the  changes were a step
                                                      backward.  Especially troublesome to some en-
                                                      vironmentalists were delays in requiring industry
                                                      to Install pollution control equipment and permit
                                                      jects  specifically authorized by Congress, In-
                                                      dustry spokesmen, concerned over the cost of
                                                                                           "


   Water  quality is  closely  related  to  water
availability and will become an increasing con-
cern as energy resources are developed in the
eight-state  study   area.  Energy   resource
development  will  require  large  quantities of
unappropriated  water,  which  in  conjunction
with increased  demands from  other  water
users,  can degrade  water quality by concen-
trating  pollution. Water quality can be affected
more directly  as a consequence of solid  and
liquid wastes produced by energy facilities and
wastewaters  from   municipalities,   whose
populations  are  likely to increase dramatically
due to construction  and  operation of energy
facilities.  The most  important  water  quality
issues  associated with energy development ap-
pear to be the following:
• Pollution  From  Holding  Ponds:  Effluents
  discharged  to on-site  evaporative holding
  ponds can pollute surface water and ground-
  water  because   of  berm  failure  and/pr
  seepage, and are a long-term waste disposal
  problem.  Current federal  and  state  regula-
  tions appear inadequate to deal with these
  potential problems.

• Effects of  Mining and In Situ  Resource
  Recovery: Mining and  in  situ  oil shale or
  uranium   recovery can disrupt  and  con-
  taminate aquifers which can, depending on
  hydrological connections, then  affect  sur-
  face flow or other groundwater users.

• Municipal  Wastewater  Treatment:  Inade-
  quate treatment is already a problem in many
  areas, resulting in pollution of surface water
  and  groundwater,  community  health prob-
  lems, and restricted municipal growth. Few
  communities impacted by resource develop-
  ment will be able to  afford the  costs of
  upgrading capacities to meet new  demands
  or installing secondary and tertiary treatment
  required by  the Federal Water Pollution Con-
  trol Act and Clean Water Act.
                                              23

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                                                                                                  •If
Waste Holding Ponds at Coal-Fired Power Plant
  Control of Salinity: Agricultural, environmen-
  tal,  industrial,  and  municipal  damage  is
  already caused by salinity. Salinity  control
  problems, which will be increased by energy
  development,  will continue  to  strain  in-
  tergovernmental  relations,   particularly
  among states of the Colorado River Basin.

  Economic Costs: Prices for energy products
  will almost certainly increase because of the
  need  for improved  effluent   control  and
  holding pond design and maintenance. Costs
  of agricultural  products may also increase
  because of the need to improve irrigation ef-
  ficiencies to  reduce  runoff, particularly if
  reduction of irrigation runoff is used to offset
  salinity concentration due to energy develop-
  ment in a river basin.
              Salinity Rights

  The Environmental Defense Fund (EOF) has
sued EPA to require stricter control of salinity in
the Colorado River Basin. EOF has estimated the
salinity cost for agricultural,  municipal, and in-
dustrial users to be over $50 million annually. EOF
supports the creation of salinity rights, similar to
current water rights, in order to regulate the quali-
ty of water returned to surface waters,

—See Gill, Douglas. "Man, Nature Share Blame
for Colorado River's Salinity." Denver Post, April
24,1977; and "EOF to Sue for Water Salinity Con-
trol." 0emwPosf,Aprlt15,1i77.
                                                 24

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                                      Water Quality Alternatives
                                                                        Specific Alternative
                                                              Improved control of effluents from energy
                                                                                        "'  *
                                                             Unproved eoatrol of nonpotnl poBwiew
   Trealm en t of su rf ace water
    * Desalination

    * Saline ftow diversion and containment

   Two general categories of policy responses
are  considered  in order to deal  with  these
problems  and  issues:   improve  the   effec-
tiveness  of  controls  on  pollution  sources;
and/or treat the pollution in surface water.

• Pollution   From   Energy   Facilities:   One
  strategy for dealing  with water quality is to
  avoid those technologies which produce the
  most effluents.

       TOSCO II and modified in situ oil shale processes
      generate more effluents than any coal conversion
      technology studied

       Valued on a thermal basis, electric power genera-
      tion produces fewer effluents than the three syn-
      thetic fuel processes studied.
Improved design, maintenance, and monitor-
ing of holding ponds will also be  necessary
to control the inadvertent release of effluents
produced  by  energy production  facilities.
Given current knowledge and experience,  it
is uncertain   how  effective  this  response
would be.

    // is certain  that these ponds contain  large quan-
    tities of effluents: over a 25-year period, about 1.5
    million (Lurgi) to 3.5 million (Synthoil) tons of ef-
    fluents (dry basis) per plant can accumulate in
    holding ponds.

    These  effluents contain  heavy  metals,  trace
    elements, and other toxic pollutants,  and ap-
   propriate designs and pond liners can considerably
    impro ve pond safety.
                                                  25

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• Salinity Control: Desalination and reduction
  of runoff from  irrigated  agriculture are the
  most likely salinity control options.


      Desalination could remove up to 600,000 tons of
      salt per year per plant on the Colorado River.

      Although desalination plants are very capital- and
      energy-intensive, they appear to be one of the most
      efficient options with respect to cost (less than $70
      per ton of salt removed) and reliability.

      Lining distribution canals and producing water effi-
      cient crops also cost less than $70 per ton  of salt.
      However,  improved  irrigation efficiency  costs
      about four times this much.
                    •  Implementation Costs: Several water quality
                       control alternatives will be difficult to enact
                       and implement because of the  large capital
                       investments required. This is particularly so
                       for municipal waste treatment, desalination,
                       stream flow diversion, and irrigation efficien-
                       cy  improvements. Each of these alternatives
                       can contribute to increased public expen-
                       ditures, require long-term commitments, and
                       may  not  be  broadly  applicable across the
                       western states or to the specific water quality
                       problems associated  with individual energy
                       facilities.
               Solid and Liquid Effluents from Technologies
  Uranium
  Mill

  Coal Power
  Plant (Th)

  Synthoil
  Liquefaction
  Lurgi
  Gasification
  Synthane
  Gasification
  In Situ
  Oil Shale

  TOSCO II
  Oil Shale
  Retort
                                                Site-Specific
                                                Variation
                       40
80       120       160      200      240      280        320      360


                                         Pounds/million Btu in Product
                                                26

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            Growth Management
                       and Housing
                                               • Revenue  and  Public  Expenditure  Imbal-
                                                 ances:  Counties and school districts can an-
                                                 ticipate rapid and  large  tax  revenue  in-
                                                 creases because energy facilities typically
                                                 are located within their boundaries. Towns
                                                 will often suffer the most serious growth im-
                                                 pacts but will receive little additional revenue
                                                 in the short term.

                                               • Inadequate  Public/Private  Sector Coopera-
                                                 tion:  Current practice, reinforced  by re-
                                                 quirements  of the National  Environmental
                                                 Policy Act, is to deal with  impacts of each
                                                 company separately, rather than with overall
                                                 population  impacts  affecting energy  com-
                                                 pany  employees, long-time residents, and
                                                 service workers alike.  Planning and growth
                                                 management difficulties are increased by in-
                                                 adequate   information  about  timing,
                                                 magnitude, and location of energy develop-
                                                 ment activity.
Problems and Issues
   Energy resource development in  the West
can produce serious growth  management and
housing  problems  for  small,  isolated com-
munities  which often  experience rapid and
large population increases and  boom-and-bust
cycles. The most serious population changes
will result from labor-intensive facilities such as
coal  gasification and electric  power  plants.
Population increases from these developments
will require rapid increases in expenditures for
new public facilities and social services, hous-
ing, and  higher quality mobile home parks.
These appear to be the most serious  growth
management and housing problems:
                                                   Projected Revenue Imbalances in
                                                Campbell County, Wyoming - Year 2000
OJ
0)
01
J5
o
O
"o

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                                                            Mobile Home Park Near Energy Development
Public Sector Assistance: Few federal pro-
grams are directed towards the problems of
energy-impacted,  rapid-growth   situations,
and  those that are typically give funds to
energy-rich county governments rather than
to towns. Although several western states
have established housing finance agencies,
they  have  had  little  impact  on  housing
markets.

Development Risks: The risks  of housing
construction in energy development  areas
are  apparently   too  great  for  lenders,
developers,  and  energy firms.  Relatively
small western housing markets cannot com-
pete with major urban lenders and are often
unable to finance  construction  and  mort-
gages. Thus, most newcomers live in mobile
homes, which are often crowded, unmain-
tained, and contribute relatively little to local
tax rolls.
            Wright, Wyoming

  "During  the Sweetwater County, Wyoming,
boom's early stages, the housing stock of the
county was nearly doubted with 6,000 new units.
Fifty-five  hundred of  these  were  mobile
homes.. . .The housing market  demand drove
prices and rents up, yet investors and developers
were skeptical of putting money  Info boomtown
housing. Even if Hey had been wiling, mortgage
money was not  available for the typical miner
wishing to buy a home."

—Gilmore, John s. Transcript ol Hearings Before
the  Subcommittee on Regional and Community
Development of  the Senate Committee on En-
vironment and Public Works, 95th Congress,
August 2,1977, pp. 26W7.
                                             28

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   To deal with these issues, four categories of
alternatives have  been  considered: tax struc-
ture changes, impact assistance, reductions in
the number of workers living on-site,  and in-
creased housing construction.

• Tax Structure Changes: Several alternatives
  exist for changing the tax structure in order
  to provide revenue during the construction
  phase when large population increases first
  occur.
       Several of these alternatives, particularly redistribu-
       tion of state severance taxes and prepayment of
       property  and  sales taxes, appear to be  effective
       means for dealing with growth management prob-
       lems.

       Tax structure changes appear equitable, since the
       direct beneficiaries of energy development would
       also share the costs,  and they can  be easily ad-
       justed  to specific situations  and combined with
       other alternatives.

       Tax structure changes will also create political prob-
       lems, because state and county governments view
       the loss of control over revenue sources as a reduc-
       tion in their authority and in their flexibility to ad-
       dress energy impacts.
                    ' ?- f;    Growth Management and Housing Alternatives
                    ' t* '   "  v  -t" !  * "  -•    -  '


            Category of Alternative
           Specific Alternative
    Impact assistance for rapid growth areas
    Reductions in workers living on-site
    Increased housing construction
                                                      * Municipal annexation of county land
                                                      • Prepayment of property and sales tax
                                                      » State collection and distraction of property taxes
• T«x credits for private sector assistance

* Water ami sewer facility programs
* Federal land and mineral payments

• project schedule adjustments
» Long distance commuting
* Selective siting
                                                   29

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                  Population  Increases from Energy Facilities
                               Peak Construction
          Peak Operation
                                                Uranium
                                                Milling
                                                d.OOOmtpy)
  I
                                 Natural Gas
                                 Production
                                 (250MMcfd)
                         Coal Power
                         Plant (Th)
                         (3,000 MWe)
                                  Oil Shale
                                  Retort
                                  (50,000 bbl/day)
      Coal
      Gasification
      (250MMcfd)
 Coal
 Liquefaction
 (100,000 bbl/day)
          Crude Oil
          Production
          (50,000 bbl/day)
20
               15
                              10
                                                            0
                                                    Thousands of People
                                10
                                               15
   Energy Impact Assistance:  Federal  impact
   assistance will probably be required  to sup-
   ply  the  necessary  financial assistance  to
   municipalities, particularly  for water  and
   sewer facilities.

       Impact assistance programs appear to be easier to
       administer in the critical near-term than state and
       local-level tax changes, but they would be costly
       and would not necessarily change the fundamental
       imbalance between town and county governments.

       State and local officials are also likely to perceive
       this choice as decreasing their control over revenue
       sources.

   Selective Siting:

       Consideration   of  siting  choices  to   match
       technologies and  locations could avoid many
       growth management and housing problems, if the
    most labor-intensive facilities are prohibited in areas
    least capable of handling population increases.
    Coal gasification and liquefaction facilities have the
    largest peak population increases during construc-
    tion.

Industry Investment in Housing:

    The cost of housing construction programs for in-
    dustry can 'range from  $5,000 per unit for site
    development alone, to more than $30,000 per unit
    for  house construction  (1975 dollars).  Many
    energy industries appear unwilling to assume the
    risk of buying homes, since development plans
    could be delayed or cancelled.

    Improving the quality of mobile home parks, for ex-
    ample, by providing amenities typical of residential
    areas would be a flexible way to deal with the par-
    ticular housing problems of each community.
                                                    30

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                                                     known  about  the  long-term  success  of
                                                     reclamation in the West, but success will be
                                                     related   to  climate,  soil   composition,
                                                     topography,  and  existing biological  com-
                                                     munities.  Reclamation appears to  be most
                                                     difficult in the arid Southwest.

                                                     Ecological Damage: Land  use to meet the
                                                     needs of  energy-related population growth
                                                     generally  produces more serious ecological
                                                     impacts than land used directly by energy
                                                     facilities.   Public   lands   (national  parks,
                                                     forests,  recreation and  wilderness areas),
                                                     particularly those in a natural state, are likely
                                                     to  experience  the greatest  changes as a
                                                     result of population growth.

                                                     Conflicts  Over Land  Use: Energy  develop-
                                                     ment  will  compete with  other economically
                                                     productive land  uses, such as grazing and
                                                     row crops, and with preservation, conserva-
                                                     tion, and leisure time uses. Conflicts are like-
                                                     ly to increase among a variety of constituents
                                                     and among government agencies as to how
                                                     increased demands on land  use should be
                                                     accommodated.
                              Land Use
Problems and Issues
   Energy development will disturb lands used
for mines, access roads, support and conver-
sion  facilities, waste  disposal,  housing  and
recreation. Although these land uses will affect
only  a very small percentage of land in the
region,  they  will intensify conflicts  among
energy  developers,  farmers,  ranchers,  en-
vironmentalists, recreationists, and others. The
most important land-use  issues  appear to be
the following:

• Land   Disturbance:   Most  of   the   energy
  resources in the West will be extracted by
  surface mining, which  disrupts large areas
  and produces more visible land degradation
  than underground mining. Relatively little is
          New Recreation Demands

   Grand Teton National Park Is located 100 miles
 north of enerfy boomtown Roek Springs, Wyom-
 ing. Residents combined with out-of-state tourists
 resulted in three million visitors to the park In 1976.
 "Wyoming  Is  feeling the  effects  of  energy
 development," says State Senator John Turner,
 "It's doubled  the  population in some com-
 munities, brought In a rough crowd, caused an in-
 crease  in  mental  health  problems,  divorce,
 alcoholism, and crime." Due to these increases 70
 percent of the respondents in a public survey of
 residents ol Jackson Hole (in  the park) favored
 strong land-use controls and very limited growth.

-Leydet, Francois,  "Jackson Mole: Goodbye to
 the Old Days," Matiaaaf 
-------
Piceance Creek Oil Shale Area in Western Colorado
Policy Alternatives
   Two broad categories and four specific alter-
natives for dealing with land-use issues were
identified. Of these,  the two policy responses
of reclamation and  redevelopment have been
evaluated. Reclamation refers to returning min-
ed  lands  to the  state that  existed  prior  to
development;  with  redevelopment, lands may
be returned  to some other productive use such
as  residential  subdivisions,  new  towns,  in-
dustrial parks, wildlife refuges, public parks, or
waste disposal sites. The focus of our evalua-
tion was on redevelopment to public parks.

       Redevelopment  to create recreation areas has a
       higher potential for success, especially in arid and
       semiarid  areas.  Generally,  redevelopment can
       return lands to a productive use three to four years
       earlier than reclamation.

       Costs  for reclamation  and redevelopment are
       about the same, ranging from $1,000 to $7,000 per
       acre (1977 dollars)

       Redevelopment is generally more adaptable to site-
       specific conditions and gives local authorities more
       discretion in interpreting local needs.

       The established  need for expanded recreational
       opportunities  for energy-related population  in-
       creases challenges the appropriateness of a policy
       emphasizing only reclamation

       Current land rehabilitation requirements are inade-
       quate for lands disturbed by oil shale and uranium
       development.
                                         Land U se Alternatives
                                                                          Specific Alternative
                                                                 •  Designation of permissible uses

                                                                 *  Controlled access to and activities
                                                                   on public and private lands
                                                                 * Reclamation  ^return  to  prede-
                                                                   vetoptnefrt wse)
                                                                 • Redevelopment to recreation areas
                                                                   {e.0., parks)     ; '   -   -   "
                                                   32

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Problems
   Our  technology  assessment  considered
three other categories of issues important to
western energy resource development:

      Capital a variability

      Energy facility siting

      Transportation

Among  the   more  important  problems  and
issues in these categories are the following:
Economic Risks: Considerable technical and
regulatory  uncertainty surrounds the com-
mercial scale  performance of technologies
for producing  energy from geothermal, oil
shale, and coal gasification and liquefaction.
Risks  are  great  since  synthetic  fuel
technologies can require investments of over
$1 billion per facility, which is equivalent to
almost the entire fixed investment of many
large energy firms.

Competition: Major oil and gas  companies
are  acquiring   large holdings of coal,  oil
shale, and uranium reserves  in the West—
about 40 percent of the  nation's  privately
held coal reserves.  Such acquisitions could
close  off  competition  among   energy
resources. Competition is also influenced by
federal leasing policy, since almost 80 per-
cent of western energy reserves are federal-
ly owned or lie under or adjacent to federal
lands.

Regulatory Complexity: Federal and  state
environmental  policies  restrict  where
development can occur, help  to define how
facilities  will  be  configured,  and  require
lengthy and  uncertain  review  processes.
These processes have become more com-
plicated as  diverse interest  groups  have
gained better access to public decisions on
energy development.  Because  siting  deci-
sions have seldom successfully balanced the
interests at stake, many groups  resort to a
variety of tactics to delay or cancel projects.

Siting Uncertainties: The conflicts that often
occur over siting create such uncertainty that
it  has  become virtually impossible to an-
ticipate  when,  where, and  at what  level
development will occur. These uncertainties
contribute to the inability of local and state
governments to manage  development im-
pacts and growth.
                                            33

-------
• Inadequate  Transportation  Capacity:  In-
  creased energy development in the West will
  require major  expansion of  transportation
  capacity.  Based  upon  our  low  demand
  scenario,  capital requirements by the year
  2000 for coal slurries, unit trains, and electric
  transmission will  exceed $26 billion  (1975
  dollars). Land requirements for these three
  transportation modes  are projected to ex-
  ceed 450 thousand acres.
Impacts of Train Traffic and Electric Power
Transmission: Heavy coal train  traffic will
create noise problems, bottlenecks at cross-
ings,  and  health and safety problems.  High
voltage  transmission lines create aesthetic
impacts, the  potential  for electric  shock,
communication interference,  and possible
biological effects on people and livestock.
                                                                    Unit Train Near Colstrip, Montana
                                             34

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   Several alternatives for dealing with these
capital availability, facility siting, and transpor-
tation issues have been considered. Major fin-
dings from the evaluation of these alternatives
are as follows:
Financial Subsidies:  Developers  would  be
provided at least some increased stability by
financial  subsidies  and  they  may  be  a
necessity if certain of the newer technolo-
gies are to contribute to increased domestic
energy production.
                          Capital, Siting, and Transportation Alternatives
        Category of Alternative
                Specific Alternative
  Provision of financial subsidies to
  developers
        • Tax preference

        * Price guarantees
  Promotion of new sources of
  investment
        » Consumer risk asspmpiiOTL

        • Improved fe»sfn$iSf stem
  Improvement of the siting process
        » Technology-site evaluations

        * Increasedimpactassistance " "'

        * improved wieeftairtswtm for cteen
         Involvement
  Enhancement of coat transport
  capacity
        «  Increased regulatory flexibility
          for railroads

        *  Promotion of coal slurries
  Mitigation of transportation impacts
        » Improved safety and notse reduction
          of unit trains

        *. Regulation of voltage and Improved
          planning for transmission Woe routes
                                                35

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    Price  guarantees  would primarily  benefit larger
    companies since they would not reduce capital re-
    quirements.

    Tax preferences, especially investment tax credits,
    would reduce capital exposure risks by allowing the
    developer to recapture part of the capital invest-
    ment almost immediately.

    These alternatives could require large public ex-
    penditures,  but both price guarantees and tax
    preferences  are  well-established approaches  to
    economic policy

Improvement of the Siting Process: The suc-
cess of technology-site evaluations,  as well
as most other siting alternatives, depends on
fundamental changes in the system.

    Technology-site evaluations could improve the in-
    formation base and reduce development risks by
    eliminating the most problematic sites.

    An important need is for equitable access to deci-
    sionmaking by parties-at-interest in combination
    with limits on how long and in what manner siting
    decisions can continue to be contested after review
    processes are over.

    "Reasonable" determination of  where to locate
    energy development facilities eventually depends
    on the willingness of parties-at-interest to recognize
    the legitimacy of other values. Otherwise, the result
    will be  a continuation  of the uncertainties, in-
    equities,  and at  times,  paralysis of the existing
    system

Mitigation of Unit  Train Impacts: Improving
safety signals  at  crossings  or constructing
grade separations or by-pass  lines  around
towns can  reduce coal train impacts.
             Concerns of Increased Coal
                    Train Traffic

      Mayor Hammond of Lusk, Wyoming, summed
    up the worries of his constituency: "We get one
    freight a day through here now and that ties up
    traffic coming in and out of town. What do we do if
    there's a fire, or if someone has a heart attack on
    the other side of the track when these  unit trains
    start running? We just don't know what's going to
    happen."

    —Richards, Bill. "Paying the Price for Western
    Energy." Washington Post, December 13,1976.
       Little can be done to reduce noise impacts except
       to build new tracks away from as many people as
       possible.

       Grade separations and track rerouting are costly,
       the former ranging  between $750,000 and $1.5
       million (depending on conditions), and the latter ex-
       pected to cost $500,000 per mile for new double
       tracks.

•  Enhanced   Coal  Transport  Capacity:  The
   most attractive approach to  increasing coal
   transport capacity would appear to  include
   both coal slurry and rail transport.

       Slurry pipelines  are sometimes cheaper than rail
       transport, especially in high volume, long  distance
       applications

       Slurries are relatively inflexible in terms of shipping
       capacity; they must be operated at a more or less
       constant yolume of flow and at a very high capacity
       between a fixed supply point and fixed  demand
       points

       Thus, under no  circumstances  would  slurry
       pipelines totally substitute for rail transport.

       With a combined slurry pipeline-railroad system,
       there will be less of a threaf to  coal supply disrup-
       tion due to accidents, strikes, or  weather
                                                   36

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   The Science and Public Policy Program of
the University of Oklahoma is currently exten-
ding the analysis of water availability and water
quality problems  related  to  western energy
development. This work, scheduled to be com-
pleted  by   December  1979,   builds on  our
previous analysis of likely water impacts, pro-
blems, and  issues. A  range  of  water  policy
alternatives is being analyzed, including:

   •    Water management strategies

   *    Water pricing strategies

   •    Conjunctive use ofgroundwater

   •    Quantification of Indian rights

   •    Conservation in energy conversion facilities

   •    Conservation in agriculture

   •    Salinity control options

   •    Use of saline water in energy facilities

   •    Policies governing waste disposal

   *    Control of groundwater contamination from min-
       ing

These alternatives and others  will be evaluated
and compared  to improve our  understanding of
the  water  issues  associated  with  western
energy resource development.
                      37

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                                                          Energy From the West
                                                          Publications
White, Irvin L., etal.  Energy From the West.
  Washington, D.C.: U.S.,  Environmental Pro-
  tection Agency.

  Policy Analysis Report,  1979 (EPA-600/7-79-
  083)

  Impact Analysis Report, 1979
    Vol. I:  Introduction and Summary  (EPA-
           600/7-79-082a)
    Vol. II: Site-Specific and Regional Impact
           Analysis (EPA-600/7-79-082b)

  Energy  Resource  Development Systems
     Report, 1979
    Vol. I:  Introduction and  General  Social
           Controls (EPA-600/7-79-060a)
    Vol. II: Coal (EPA-600/7-79-060b)
    Vol. Ill: Oil Shale (EPA-600/7-79-060c)
    Vol. IV: Uranium (EPA-600/7-79-060d)
    Vol.V: Oil and Natural Gas (EPA-600/7-79-
           060e)
    Vol. VI: Geothermal (EPA-600/7-79-060f)

  Work  Plan  for Completing  a  Technology
    Assessment of Western Energy Resource
     Dei/e/opmenf,1978(EPA-600/7-78-012)
  A Progress Report of a Technology Assess-
    ment of Western Energy Resource Devel-
    opment, 1977
    Executive Summary (EPA-600/9-77-032)
    Vol. I:  Summary (EPA-600/7-77-072a)
    Vol. II: Detailed Analyses and Supporting
           Materials (EPA-600/7-77-072b)
    Vol. Ill: Preliminary Policy Analysis (EPA-
           600/7-77-072C)
    Vol. IV: Appendices (EPA-600/7-77-072d)

  First  Year  Work  Plan  for  a  Technology
    Assessment of Western Energy Resource
    Development, 1976 (EPA-600/ 5-76-001)

Gold, Harris, and D. J. Goldstein.  Wet/Dry Coo/-
  ing and Cooling Tower Slowdown Disposal in
  Synthetic Fuel  and Steam-Electric Power
  Plants.  Washington,  D.C.:  U.S.,   En-
  vironmental  Protection Agency, 1979 (EPA-
  600/7-79-085)

Gold,  Harris,  et al.  Water Requirements  for
  Steam-Electric Power Generation and Syn-
  thetic  Fuel  Plants  in  the Western United
  States.   Washington,  D.C.:  U.S.,   En-
  vironmental  Protection Agency, 1977 (EPA-
  600/7-77-037)
                                         38
                                                       GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
                                                                            1980 0 - 308-971

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