“If you look at it, it just puts our state on the map,” Hatch said. “From an energy standpoint, we're going to become one of the major states in the whole world in regard to being able to provide energy to our country.”
One of the key provisions for Utah is the Hatch-backed language aimed at reviving the U.S. oil shale and tar sands development, which went bust in the 1980s. Eastern Utah, western Colorado and southern Wyoming are believed to have the equivalent of 1 trillion barrels of oil trapped in the shale and sands.
It directs the Interior Department to begin work on a commercial leasing program and establishes a task force to recommend policy. Hatch said it will be years, possibly even a decade, before the oil shale resource hits the market, but it “sends a message to everyone, including Interior, that we're tired of messing around.”
Environmental groups criticized the bill, saying it won't reduce America's dependence on oil imports, and doles out subsidies to the energy industry.
Parts of the bill would exempt oil and gas projects from the Clean Water Act and exempts a process called hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It also provides exemptions to small oil and gas projects or those being done on already-developed sites from environmental studies.
The oil and gas industry praised Hatch's amendment that would block the Bureau of Land Management from charging companies to process their permits. The BLM proposed a new fee last week, but the Hatch amendment snuffed it out.
The bill includes Hatch's CLEAR Act, which provides tax credits for the purchase of alternative-fuel vehicles, such as gas-electric hybrids.
The CLEAR Act was a contentious issue in the conference, with House members balking at its $2.4 billion price tag.
Senators prevailed in blocking House-backed language that would have granted immunity to manufacturers of the fuel-additive methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, for the costs of cleaning up groundwater polluted by leaking storage tanks.
Huntsman Corp., with headquarters in Utah, is one of the largest producers of MTBE in the country. A company spokesman declined to comment.
Other Hatch-authored provisions in the bill include tax incentives aimed at encouraging construction of new oil refineries and promoting development of geothermal energy. Hatch said Utah has one of the nation's largest underground hot water reservoirs.
