It is exempting wilderness lands and important endangered species habitats from development. 

The plan now enters a 30-day comment period and then a 2-month process that ensures it is consistent with state and local policies. 

The plan leaves open 677,000 acres for oil shale development in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and 130,000 acres in Utah for  tar sands production.

Oil shale is actually a precursor to oil, called kerogen, and requires insane amounts of energy to turn it into oil, more than tar sands. No one really knows how to cost effectively develop it, kind of like "clean coal."

"The proposed plan supports the Administration's all-of-the-above approach to explore the full potential our nation's domestic energy resources and to develop innovative technology and techniques that will lead to safe and responsible production of resources, including oil shale and tar sands, which industry recognizes are years from being commercially viable, but require RD&D today," says Blake Androff of DOI.

DOI intends to grant smaller research-and-development oil shale leases than planned under the Bush administration, with requirements for environmental safeguards and progress milestones.

Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) expressed concerns about the potential impact of shale oil extraction in a region with scarce water resources, but said he believes the potential for that development need to be researched.