The major goal of the Oil Shale Environmental Research Program is the development of the necessary scientific and engineering data base to allow the production of significant amounts of new liquid petroleum products from oil shale with acceptable environmental impacts. The emphasis of the program is the implementation of long term, high risk environmental research. Key issues expected to have an impact on the environment give emphasis to site specificity, process, and local regulation, e.g., eastern/western shales, water availability, and state/regional requirements.