Environmentalists say mining oil out of shale could require nearly three times the electricity used by the entire state of Colorado in 2005 and consume as much water each year as two cities the size Denver. That's why they're insisting that questions about water and air pollutions be answered before the U.S. Bureau of Land Management moves forward on large-scale commercial oil shale development. Industry officials say it's too early to quantify the potential impacts of a process that is still evolving. Environmentalists say an oil shale boom could strain area water supplies and increase air pollution if more coal-fired power plants are built to power the mining of oil locked in rock in western Colorado, southwest Wyoming and eastern Utah.

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