Fool me once... won't get fooled again

The Aspen Daily News has a solid article on oil-shale development this morning. Besides the usual he-said/he-said angle they go on to make two very important factual notes.

Technology for reaching the oil shale is still being developed, though. Critics question whether it will ever be feasible.

The fact that we have no way of reaching the oil shale is something that rarely gets mentioned in a news article. For some reason reporters rarely report this fact and it is left up to letter writers, op-ed authors and bloggers to note that we're giving away leases on pristine public lands even though we don't know how (or even if) this resource will be developed.

Moving on the Daily News reminds us that we've been down this path before and our mountain communities were left holding the bag,

The issue is laden with painful memories, too. Western Colorado’s last oil shale boom left the region crippled after Exxon unexpectedly ceased its operations in 1982 on what became known as Black Sunday.

“Really, until there is an identified, commercially viable technology to extract the oil from the shale, we don’t see a reason to lease,” said Mike Braaten, governmental affairs and energy coordinator for the city of Rifle, which was devastated after Black Sunday. Rifle’s City Council has urged the federal government to hold off on oil shale leasing until after a thorough analysis of the environmental and economic impacts.

It's important to note that the communities who have experience dealing with oil shale development and our oil and gas industry remember what happened in 1982 and consequently many of them oppose the current direction of Federal policy on the matter. They understand what is at stake and they understand the consequences of rushing headlong into an unproven and undeveloped technology.

It is of course amusing to watch Republican Bush lapdogs like John McCain and Wayne Allard shoving the Federal government down the throats of reticent local communities. I thought these guys believed in small, limited government and the power of state and local communities over the Federal government? Apparently when it comes to give-aways for preferred industries none of that matters.