The U.S. Bureau of Land Management handed another win to the fossil fuel industry this week when it issued the Estonian-based company Enefit a right of way to begin to develop oil shale—a particularly dirty kind of fossil fuel production that emits up to twice the amount of greenhouse gas as conventional oil. Estonia's reliance on oil shale has wreaked environmental havoc on the small nation, which holds the unfortunate distinction of having the most carbon-intensive economy among developed nations. Enefit is planning a 50,000-barrel-per-day project in eastern Utah, which would require water, oil, and gas pipelines, along with electric transmission lines, to be built in the state's rural areas. This week’s go-ahead from the BLM doesn’t approve the mining project as a whole, but is yet another sign of the administration’s pro-oil agenda.
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