ABSTRACT
Environmental quality has become a national concern over the past decade. This is especially true in the Western United States where awareness has grown in direct proportion to the likelihood of large-scale regional energy development. The sharp increase in world oil prices over the past decade has made the West’s enormous deposits of coal, oil, oil shale and uranium increasingly attractive. Water resource management and conservation is one of several factors that will be important environmental considerations in Western energy resource development. The direct use of coal for electric power generation consumes between 45 and 55 gallons of water per million BTU of electricity produced, based upon the use of conventional wet-cooling towers. Along with water, air quality will be greatly influenced by Western energy development. Conflicts between the goals of increasing energy development and protecting the West’s generally pristine air will directly affect which resources are developed, the technologies used, and cost of the energy products.
