Energy-Water Nexus: A Better and Coordinated Understanding of Water Resources Could Help Mitigate the Impacts of Potential Oil Shale Development

On August 13, 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) as a step towards establishing responsibilities and a coordinated understanding of water resources in the Piceance Basin where oil shale technologies are being tested and developed. The MOA remains in effect for 10 years, until 2022, in order to address the long-term nature of these efforts. In 2013, USGS issued two reports to help establish baseline conditions for ground and surface waters and identified gaps that needed to be filled in order to fully reflect the water conditions. According to Department officials, a regional water-monitoring strategy to fill these gaps was discussed but not drafted due to the lack of oil shale development activity in the Basin. During 2013-2014, USGS, the Colorado School of Mines, and DOE worked together to begin developing a GIS based infrastructure of water resources in the Piceance Basin that could potentially support oil shale development if it were to occur in the future. On balance, BLM and USGS, in cooperation with other stakeholders, have taken steps over several years and plan to continue the development of the comprehensive baseline, as funding allows, to address GAO's recommendation. We are closing this recommendation as implemented because actions to date and continued efforts address the basic intent of this long-term recommendation.

In 2013, USGS issued several reports that DOI officials and scientists note are key to the development of a model to better understand the hydrologic system in Colorado. According to USGS geo-scientists involved, these reports form an architecture or basic structure for analyzing the chemistry, age, and water movement in the Piceance Basin. The focus of this work has been the Piceance Basin since this area of Colorado has been significantly impacted by energy development and has been a key area of interest for oil shale demonstration, development, and potential production. These reports form the basis of a conceptual model that provide a starting point for a numerical model once additional data and funding are available. Given the long-term nature of this data collection and potential modelling effort, DOI said that as resources allow, it will continue to evaluate the results of monitoring efforts and collect other information that can be used to determine a numerical modelling approach. We are closing this recommendation as implemented because actions taken establish a basic structure for future modelling efforts and address the basic intent of our long-term recommendation.

To coordinate water-related research, on August 13, 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) created a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to establish responsibilities and a coordinated understanding of water resources in the Piceance Basin. Since this time, according to officials, USGS and BLM offices continue to meet on a regular basis to coordinate efforts in the Basin. With regard to coordination specifically with the Department of Energy (DOE), Interior officials said that coordination was initiated after the issuance of our report with the Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves, but DOE's reorganization eliminated this office and related contacts. Beyond this change, USGS and BLM scientists note that they continue to interact with a range of stakeholders, including state governments, industry, and international companies at the annual Oil Shale Symposium. USGS also developed the Energy and Environment in the Rocky Mountain Area (EERMA) project to facilitate research mapping, datasets, and decision-support tools and has a Web-accessible data repository to provide access to historical and current information. We are closing this recommendation as implemented because Interior has coordinated and continues to coordinate these efforts with many of the stakeholders envisioned in the recommendation.