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Show 'J3WL fr - t. i) I am i-'Ki a:-.siu:i a l H)N Wednesday, January 12, 2005 WILDLIFE Big horn sheep released See A12 By Steven R. Wallis Express Editor Uintah County Commissioners Commission-ers have backed off of an ordinance ordi-nance they passed last week to charge $1,000 for every approved drilling permit in Uintah County. The fee, as proposed in the ordinance, would affect oil and gas wells drilled on state, BLM and private property. The fee would generate about $700,000, based on the number of drilling drill-ing permits approved last year. The money would be put in the County's General Fund for roads, security, mapping of Hearing set (for Buckskin Mills Recreation Complex By Virginia Harrington Express Writer A public hearing on the proposed pro-posed Buckskin Hills Recreation Complex will be held Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. in Western Park. The hearing will be attended by Uintah County officials as well as representatives of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM representatives representa-tives will explain the process involved in turning the land over to the county. Individuals and groups with interests in a particular venue are invited to share their vision of how the complex should be constructed and what it should include. The complex is planned for BLM acreage east of the landfill land-fill and north of Diamond Mountain Road. The BLM is currently conducting an environmental envi-ronmental assessment for the area. Archeological studies and noise assessments have already been completed. Uintah County Grant Writer Heather Hoyt said the initial grant requested a total of 3000 acres for the complex with 1,200 acres going to a shooting range and 300 acres designated for motor sports. Uintah County Commissioner Jim Abegglen said that although the BLM has agreed to loan the land to the county, the exact size has not been decided and will not be until all assessments have been completed. He cautioned that the total acreage could be less than half of the amount requested request-ed in the grant. In the meantime, enthusiasts have already started making plans for developing the complex com-plex once the land is made available. avail-able. Members of the Uintah Basin Motor Sport organization, with Allen Hacking as president, have been meeting regularly for approximately four months to draw up plans and racing regulations. regu-lations. They are developing rules for building cars so they will be ready when the proposed race track becomes available. The group is attempting to parallel par-allel the track in Price to draw racers from that area. Commissioner Abegglen attended the Uintah Basin Motor Sport meeting of Jan. 4. He told the members the county is totally behind the complex but that county involvement will be limited. He suggested that Uintah County might be able to help with fencing the area but once the track is up and running, the users would be responsible to keep it running. He noted that selling advertising advertis-ing space along the fence would be one way to help pay for maintenance main-tenance of the track. Hacking and the other officers offi-cers said they hope to have racing rac-ing for several classes of cars, including dwarfs, modified, pure stock, street stock, pro stock and mini stock as well as motocross. They have already obtained offers of equipment for building the Diamond Mountain Beetle could fight noxi week. See A2 in Little Hole. the area affected by oil and gas, pursuing initiatives that benefit bene-fit the production of oil and gas and to hire a county employee to expedite the development of oil and gas in Uintah County. Over 80 people, representing represent-ing the oil and gas industry attended a meeting Monday set up by county commissioners to explain the ordinance. Many at the meeting were concerned about how the money would be used and why the county needed more money when the oil patch is booming. Commissioners explained that only a small percentage of the oil and gas fees that come 0 O If all goes as planned, Uintah Motor Sport will soon be racing on the Diamond Mountain Race Track as part of the Buckskin Hills Recreation Complex. Race Track from Intermountain Concrete and J West. They are looking for help from other local entities and are writing grants for funding. Anyone interested in joining join-ing Uintah Basin Motor Sport should call Hacking at 790-1098, Terrie- White at 789-0518, Troy Gardner at 789-8294 or Grady Martin at 781-0127. . ' - j Haystack and home along 2500 West are surrounded by water caused by rains Monday and Tuesday. Ice knocks out transmission lines At approximately 4 a.m. Jan. 10 an ice storm hit the top of Little Mountain, knocking out transmission lines for radio stations sta-tions broadcasting on 92.5, 98.5 and 94.3. In addition, transmissions transmis-sions for Utah State University, the U.S. Forest Service and other government entities using 2-way radios were also affected by the storm. Some cellular service ser-vice has been disrupted by the storm. ' ; Joe Evans, owner of two of the radio stations, said the storm took down approximately one and a half miles of transmission line. Lines that are normally a couple inches in diameter grew to 10. inches with the ice coverage cov-erage and transformers were coated with as much as three feet of ice. Power poles snapped under the weight of the ice. 7ivww.vernal.com nrinuii ' ft INSIDE r Quilting is tops to Uintah County actually ends up in county coffers. Most of the Mineral Lease Funds are given to the Uintah Special Transportation District or the Uintah Recreation District to be used for roads, scholarships and recreation. J. T. Conley, Slate RVR Resources, read a statement in opposition to the fee. Some fear that the larger companies can absorb the fee, while the small companies will be squeezed out. "The industry as a whole is opposed to the fee, but they are not opposed to the county commissioners because they have done much for the indus- . Another group -that is bus- . ily planning for a portion of the proposed complex is the Buckskin Downs Racing Association, even though county coun-ty officials are not certain a horse race track will be part of the complex. Carlisle Rollins is president, Verl Mackay is vice president and Phyllis Farnsworth is By Jan. 11 Utah Power was attempting to get cats to the top of the mountain to try to repair the lines. They are also trying to get generators in place to return transmission ability to the stations. The work is being severely hampered by high winds and white out conditions. Evans said visibility is limited to a few feet. "I've never seen a mess like this," stated Evans. ? Radios stations broadcasting broadcast-ing on 105.9 and 12.5 are up and running since their transmission transmis-sion location was unaffected by the storm. Small transmitters from Little Mountain such as 911, are running off batteries or generators. r Little Mountain is located off the Maeser Highway. HWHH- ' "stetsMiW" ""Sot?" - ".'IBWMWI T See B1 , Ibid try," said Bill Ryan, Rocky Mountain Consulting. "They see it as another level of regulations. regu-lations. The fee could do a lot of good if it is not abused." Ryan said he would like to have a two year sunset on the ordinance, so after two years there would be an accounting with the industry as to how the money is spent, before the fee is renewed. "I can see the general taxpayer being concerned if the county files a lawsuit or takes action for the oil industry when the oil industry can defend itself," Ryan said. "With the fee, the county would be using money b , As Shaundra Larsen and her horse stay ahead of competitors on race tracks outside of the Uintah Basin, the Buckskin Buck-skin Downs Racing Association hopes to bring the races to Uintah County. secretary of the organization. They are hoping to have not only a horse race track but also stables for permanent boarding of horses. The members want a six furlong track for quarter horses, thoroughbreds, paints, and chariot races. Rollins said the track at Western Park is not long enough and Farnsworth noted that the bleachers make it Seven foot snowman is no match for despite his umbrella. t v. j Wed Thu ."TTr"""" 112 113 '' 114 3114 287 287 ?mm from the oil industry to fight land issues." It was suggested that the fee penalizes the industry responsible respon-sible for the economic turn around in the county. Ed Peterson, deputy county attorney said the fee is not an impact fee. "The funds are not earmarked to be spent specifically specifi-cally in the oil field. "It a matter of accessing the fee or increasing property taxes." After hearing the concerns of those in the oil and gas industry, indus-try, commissioners agreed to hold off on implementing the $1,000 fee for a couple weeks. 8 impossible for spectators to see the entire track. "Utah is the fourth largest state for breeding racing horses," hors-es," stated Rollins. He said a race track would support the agricultural industry because of the need for hay and grain on a daily basis for the 300 or more race horses in the area. The group is seeking members who have an interest in horse rain as he is reduced to three feet, Single Copy 50 Vernal, Utah 84078 113th Year No. 2 WEATHER BY ASPEN CROOK REALTY INC. SeeA9 "I feel good about them tabling the ordinance for awhile and taking more input," said Ed Trotter, consultant. The ordinance would have taken effect 15 days after publication, publi-cation, but Uintah County has put a hold on publishing the ordinance. "We want to clarify some issues first," said Commissioner Jim Abegglen. Another meeting with industry indus-try representatives will be held in two weeks. During the two week period, Uintah County is accepting written comments on the ordinance. racing. Contact numbers are for Makay and 828-8238 for Farnsworth. Hoyt said the shooting range ; portion of the complex should be ready by spring. Abegglen said one other potential addition addi-tion to the complex could be an ultra light landing strip. Rains cause flooding Unusual amounts of rain Monday and Tuesday have created isolated cases of flood-edstreets flood-edstreets and homes in Ashley Valley. Thom Wardell, airport manager man-ager said Monday .23 of an inch of rain fell at the airport. Tuesday at 4 p.m. he reported that .36 of an inch had fallen since 7 a.m. At the Charles and Kim Hodgkinson home in Naples, the city provided sandbags to prevent water flowing along the street from going into the garage of their home. The home is at the end of a dead end . street in High Country Estates subdivision. "We have been flooded before, but never this amount," said Kim Hodgkinson. The water in their garage reached three and a half inches. inch-es. At four inches it would have flooded their basement. Monday the Hodgkinson's had a pump in their driveway drive-way to clear out the water, but Tuesday a trench was dug to divert the water around the driveway. Other areas in the subdivision had water flowing, but no homes were flooded. Tuesday along 2500 West from 500 North south, melting snow and rain formed a stream along the west side of the street The stream diverted into a hay stack at about 100 South. A pond formed at the haystack, flooding into the south lane of traffic on 2500 West There were also reports Tuesday evening of front yards being flooded on south Vernal Ave. One home at about 1000 -South had about a foot of water in the yard. Flooding inside the; -home had not occurred. ' - ?! |