SALT LAKE CITY -- An energy startup from Canada on Tuesday defended its plan to launch the first significant U.S. oil sands project in eastern Utah, after opponents argued it would dig up fragile topsoil and pollute groundwater.
The criticism against the Earth Energy Resources Inc. project came during an informal hearing before the head of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, who is considering whether to uphold his staff's approval of the company's operating permit.
The Calgary, Alberta-based company said it won't pollute and will leave Utah's oil sands as clean as beach sand.
The company has obtained government permits to open the first U.S. oil sands surface mine designed for producing bitumen, a tar-like form of petroleum, at a 62-acre pit in eastern Utah. For decades, other Utah operators have used oil sands as a poor-man's asphalt, but nobody has tried to produce petroleum from U.S. oil sands on a scale planned by Earth Energy.
The private company with 411 shareholders says it will turn out 2,000 barrels of oil a day after raising $35 million from private equity groups.
The Division of Oil, Gas & Mining OK'd a permit a year ago, but the company hasn't posted a reclamation bond needed to obtain the permit.
Division head John Baza held a "protest hearing" Tuesday to take objections from Grand County residents and environmental groups. The groups promised not to file a formal appeal to a state board pending Baza's review.
Baza said he will decide whether to uphold his staff's approval within a month.
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