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Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

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The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Oil Shale Revival for Montana?

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Thursday, September 25, 2008   

Helena, MT – The federal ban on leasing land for oil shale production could soon be lifted, if the U.S. Senate passes a proposal that is in both the House-approved energy bill and the federal spending bill. A proposal to remove the ban is expected this week, and although Montana has a limited amount of oil shale, neighboring Wyoming has plenty.

That could intensify strained relations over water between the two states, according to Craig Thompson, a scientist who worked on oil shale production in the 1960s. He says billions of gallons of water, along with a lot of electricity, would be needed to get at the oil, and that's why energy companies haven't been pushing for oil shale production.

"I've not seen anything that makes me think that they can produce it in an economically and environmentally sound way."

Extraction of oil from shale rock has been criticized for the amount of climate-change pollution it generates, and for destruction of land when the oil-bearing shale is accessed by strip-mining. Those challenges, says Thompson, make the process more trouble than it's worth, when there are renewable energy products that are cheaper and quicker.

"We are going to the ends of the earth for the last drops in the bucket, and oil shale is not the way to do it."

Oil shale is being promoted as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil, and states would have the option to oppose development. The oil shale development measures are part of the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer Protection Act (HR 6899).




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