The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed by the United States Department of the Interior has approved the applications of the Estonian state-owned energy company Eesti Energia for the establishment of a utility corridor to serve the company’s planned oil shale project in the state of Utah, while Eesti Energia said that the fresh decision will aid the project’s competitiveness and help find investors.
The Bureau of Land Management issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on seven right-of-way applications of Enefit American Oil, owned by Eesti Energia, following consideration of both draft and final environment impact statements. The BLM assessed comments and feedback received from the public during the 60-day comment period prior to issuing the ROD, the bureau said.
“Eesti Energia’s subsidiary Enefit American Oil on September 24 received a permit for establishing a utility corridor on federal land, which will help connect the development project located on Utah’s private land with the regional infrastructure. Receiving the permit was preceded by an environmental impact assessment of nearly six years, which confirmed that the establishment of the utility corridor will not bring along significant environmental impact and the establishment of the corridor has a smaller environmental impact than alternative solutions,” Margus Vals, member of the management board of Eesti Energia, told.
He said that the right of establishing the utility corridor will help the project’s competitiveness. “As we are planning to involve strategic investors for developing the project, the approval of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will affirm to partners that it is possible to get the permits necessary for the project and this knowledge will mitigate risks for the investors,” he said.
The plan is to build altogether 31 kilometers of water supply pipeline, 14 kilometers of buried natural gas supply pipeline, 18 kilometers of buried oil product line, a 48-kilometer 138-kilovolt H-frame power line in the utility corridor, and upgrade an estimated nine kilometers of road. In order to further develop the project, air use permits and mining permits must also be applied for.
The project would provide access, natural gas, electricity, and water to — while allowing for the movement of processed oil from — Enefit American Oil’s South Project, which is planned on private land and minerals owned by Enefit.
The project is consistent with the U.S. President Donald Trump administration’s goals of American energy independence and fostering economic growth in rural communities by supporting the creation of jobs and infrastructure development, BLM said. The construction of the pipelines, power lines, and road will contribute approximately 85 to 110 jobs over several years.
Eesti Energia acquired oil shale reserves estimated at 6.6 bln tons in the state of Utah in March 2011 with a view to developing a shale oil plant with a daily output of 50,000 barrels there.
U.S. conservation groups have fought against the Utah oil shale mine and oil plant project. “This plan would turn plateaus into strip mines, pull precious water from our rivers, and cause dangerous climate and ozone pollution. It is everything the Colorado River Basin does not need,” John Weisheit, a river guide and the conservation director of Living Rivers, said in a joint statement to BLM in July.
The South Project would produce 547 mln barrels of oil over three decades, spewing more than 200 mln tons of greenhouse gas — as much as 50 coal-fired power plants in a year. “The amount of energy it takes to mine and process oil shale make it one of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels on Earth,” the statement of conservation groups said.
The environmentalists were specifically fighting against the decision of the BLM, which would allow Eesti Energia’s subsidiary Enefit American Oil establish a support infrastructure for the project. According to the initial project, altogether 30 kilometers of water supply pipeline, 13 kilometers of buried natural gas supply pipeline, 20 kilometers of buried oil product line, nine kilometers of service roads and approximately 50 kilometers of high voltage powerlines would have been established in the utility corridor.
