FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — On Tuesday, July 19, 2022, the Utah Division of Water Rights will hold a hearing to decide the fate of a nearly 10-million-gallon-per-day water right on the Green River, a tributary to the Colorado River.
In 2013, oil shale company Enefit transferred the extremely valuable water right to coal-fired power plant owner Deseret Power for $10. Together, the two are taking advantage of an exception in Utah water law, arranging to funnel up to 3.5 billion gallons of Upper Colorado River Basin water annually to an oil shale strip mine and sidestepping a Utah rule designed to make sure people and companies don’t take water that should be available to the public in the nation’s second-driest state.
The hearing is in response to an administrative protest the Grand Canyon Trust filed to return the water right to the people of Utah.
“It looks like Deseret Power struck a deal to help Enefit avoid losing its water right,” said Staff Attorney Michael Toll. “Deseret Power is unlawfully holding it so that Enefit can use the water to mine and process oil shale.”
Public Hearing
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
In person: Department of Natural Resources, Room 214
1594 West North Temple, Salt Lake City
Background
Enefit, owned by the Estonian government, plans to strip mine up to 9,000 acres in Utah’s Uinta Basin, south of Vernal, to produce about 547 million gallons of synthetic crude oil over 30 years, relying on a single 1965 water right to pump almost 10 million gallons of water per day from the Green River.
Under Utah law, Enefit had 50 years — until 2015 — to use the water right or lose it. In 2013, Enefit transferred the water right to Deseret Power, a wholesale electrical cooperative. Wholesale electrical cooperatives that need water to produce electricity for public power needs can apply to extend the 50-year deadline; oil shale companies can’t. Later that year, Deseret Power applied to extend the water right, swearing it needed the water to generate electricity. The Division of Water Rights approved the extension based on those sworn statements.
However, before Deseret Power applied for the extension, it signed a contract promising Enefit all the water from the water right for its planned oil shale project for the next 30-plus years.
“The deal between Deseret Power and Enefit is depriving Utahns of billions of gallons of water that should be available to the public,” said Conservation Director Travis Bruner. “The water right should be forfeited and returned to the people of Utah rather than used to produce one of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels on the planet.”
