The next boom: oil shale
Today, there are signs of a resurrected interest in another energy resource, oil shale, the same resource that initiated its own frenzy on Colorado’s Western Slope in the 1980s. If such development rises from the ashes of its predecessor, the "Uranium Drive-in" in your photo will become the "Oil Shale Drive-in," and there will be massive landscape changes including new cities, roads and congestion. Oil shale planning will soon make its presence blatantly apparent, and it will persist like no activity has before. The impacts of nuclear exploration and development will pale in comparison.
Martin J. Pasqualetti
Professor, School of Geographical Sciences
Arizona State University