June 08, 2012 12:29 AM UTC

Fiscal Responsibility, Jared Polis Style

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• by: Colorado Pols

A story from the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Dennis Webb we wanted to ensure got a mention:

A Democratic Colorado congressman Wednesday succeeded in convincing the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to strip a $25 million oil shale subsidy from an energy and water appropriations bill.

The amendment by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., to remove the funding for oil shale research to reduce the federal deficit passed 208-207.

In Colorado, voting on the amendment split along party lines, with Democrats Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter also supporting it and Republicans Scott Tipton, Doug Lamborn, Mike Coffman and Cory Gardner voting no…

“We shouldn’t be throwing good money after bad on oil shale research that won’t produce energy for the foreseeable future,” Polis said. “Dumping another $25 million of taxpayer money into oil shale research makes no sense when there isn’t commercially viable technology that will turn it into oil and many energy companies consider it such a low priority.”

The Sentinel’s Webb reports that Rep. Jared Polis is not targeting the boom in drilling shale formations like Colorado’s Niobrara for crude oil, but the thus-far vaporware process of commercially extracting kerogen from “oil shale.” The commercial viability of oil shale production is a function of market pricing relative to the higher cost to extract kerogen compared to other forms of energy production. Simply put, if the price of energy reaches a level that makes oil shale kerogen a viable source, it will be developed, no taxpayer dollars necessary.

Interestingly, this is the exact argument the Colorado Republicans who voted against this bill make about publicly funded research into renewable energy–which they of course oppose. The problem is, how is oil shale kerogen any less risky or speculative a research investment than renewable energy? Especially since “oil shale” isn’t renewable?

By a surprising bipartisan vote of 208-207, here’s their answer.