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Show WESTERN AMERICANA r iBHpaw of Serials Order Department University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 ... 7T" ..- - . - .,.,,,..0,,,,, VOLUME 1, NUMBER 8 ...... -r ,,v.v.v . . ,;-, ,: ... : :: .w :,yy,: .xyra-r- UP&L's New Emery Plant Passes Environmental Will Utility Stocks Follow COW ED's No Dividend Lead? Rising Consumption During the past two decades, U.S. consumption of electricity has risen at an annual rate of almost lYt percent, in 1950 in 1973. from 329 billion kilowatt-hour- s to 1,703 billion kilowatt-hour- s For most periods, except during the boom of the 1960's, electricity usage has grown more than twice as fast as the economy as a whole. Yet, if the record of recent months provides any guide, the ratio may fall somewhat below this 1 figure in coming years. While manufacturing production has annual rate since fallen at a 2-- last fall's peak, utility production has rate. dropped at a steep nt The price rise of recent years reflects especially the last half-yeof cost in the generincrease the sharp residual of The cost ating electricity. fuel oil has doubled within several months' time, so that fuel now accounts for half of all operating expens- ar big-cit- y Supreme Court Decisions BP See Details Page 6,16 increases. County Surveyor Is Running for licensed land surveyor, -j ofessional hydrologist, plus designers au-- J drafts- men. "I have fulfilled the promises made in previous campaigns and it is my desire to complete new projects which have been started. Under Mr. Holt's direction the . term as County Surveyor has announced his candidacy for on the Republican ticket. Mr. Holt's desire is to continue with arid expand the programs which he has begun during his terms of office. An engineering department, including five graduate engineers, a chief deputy who is a licensed professional engineer and land surveyor, also an additional licensed professional engineer, and a interest rates and partly because of the extra borrowing costs incurred by those utilities which have been downgraded by rating agencies. (The utilities are large and constant borrowers, accounting for almost half of all funds raised in the capital markets.) Yet with electricity usage dropping in the face of rising costs, utilities have been subject to a severe profits squeeze, leading them to beat a path to the doors of the regulatory commissions. In 1973, regulators granted $1.1 billion in rate increases, and further boosts of about $1.7 billion are pending. The commissions generally permit fuel price increases to be passed along automatically to consumers via "fuel adjustment" clauses, but they frequently move slowly in ruling upon rate increases designed to meet cost hikes on non-fuitems. Consequently, even after rate increases, the utilities find their profit margins eroding, their ratios shrinking, and their capital spending plans in some s disarray. debt-covera- ge Soaring Expansion Plans Ever mindful of the record of blackouts and brownouts of the past decade, the utilities have pressed ahead with substantial, axpansion plans designed to keep up with historical trends in energy consumption. The industry's equipment spending has risen sharply over the past decade, from $5.5 billion in 1964 to an estimated $22.2 billion in 1974 twice as fast as new investment in manufacturing. Half or more of the total increase in capacity could be in the form ofnuclear power, spurred along by the escalating costs and occasional unavailability of fossil fuels. (Nuclear plants could increase their share from 2 to more than 20 percent of total capacity over this period.) But the initial capital outlay required for a nuclear facility is perhaps twice that d required for conventional plants. electrical-generatin- Re-electi- on DALE K. HOLT, 1144 Westminster Avenue, presently serving his second electric-pow- er el low-sulph- Dale HoH companies. The cost of borrowed funds has also soared, partly because of the general rise of es of County Surveyor's Department has designed and replaced antiquated bridges over canals and streams and it is anticipated that many more will be done in the future. Design work accomplished in the County Surveyor's Office has saved the taxpayers over $100,000.00 each year for the last four years. This designing includes remodeling of the City and County Building, the County Complex and a new canopy at the Salt Palace. Mr. Holt was instrumental, after several years of negotiations, in obtaining the services of the National Geodetic Survey to set base points for horizontal and vertical control in Salt Lake Valley so that eventually all section corners and monuments in Salt Lake County will be tied together precisely. This will eliminate many errors previously made in private surveys. The initiative has also been taken by the County Surveyor's Department to have this same work done in other counties in Utah. "My pledge", says Mr. Holt, "is to continue to expand all of the programs which I have initiated and to modernize the equipment and files in my department by updating calculating equipment, microfilming the files and keeping abreast of other modern improvements". WW.Vm MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1974 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH The nation's largest utility (Consolidated Edison) skipped a dividend last month for the first time since 1885, and the shock waves have been reverberating throughout the utility industry and the investment community ever since. Many investors who had long valued utility stocks for both safety and income now decided on the basis of this company's performance that utility stocks lacked both qualities, and they sold off their holdings in a market which had already been beset by worries about the energy crisis and the monetary situation. Utility stock prices dropped 15 percent or more, after declining 25 percent last year, and market technicians (ever watchful of that particular bellwether) saw the weakness in utilities as a signal for a general market decline. Aside from the market implications, the Con Ed development highlighted some very real industry problems, utilities. especially among the They have had to contend with soaring fuel oil, and in costs of held back by been have cases many environmental regulations from shifting to cheaper substitutes such as coal. In addition, they have been faced with for labor other sharply rising costs and equipment, and also for money with which to finance new capacity. Meanwhile, revenues have risen at a much slower rate, partly because of a reduction in electricity usage by consumers who are beset by the rising prices of all budget items, but also because of the relatively slow pace with which regulatory agencies have been granting requests for general rate Mvy.K g fossil-fuele- Excessive Expansion? The utilities assume that the demand for electricity will double over the next decade, in line with past g trends, and their plans reflect this expectation. However, that assumption overlooks price behavior. A change in the industry's price as well as a rise in its practices could help reduce both the prices demand for electricity and the need for excessive expansion of new Capacity: Critics argue that the utilities' rate structure stimulates excessive consumption by permitting lower rates as consumption rises and by permitting the same charges at peak k hours and peak seasons than at times. These practices are based upon the premise that rising output brings about a drop in average production costs an increasingly questionable assumption. Some regulatory authorities are now basing their rate decisions on the more likely premise that utilities no longer represent a declining-cos- t industry. Thus, they are pushing the utilities to charge equal rates to different classes of consumers and equal rates for all levels of power consumed by individual customers along with higher rates at operation. If this approach becomes more widely accepted throughout the industry, the price system could play a wider role in reducing excessive demand for power g and for facilities. capital-spendin- off-pea- full-capaci- ty power-generatin- -- William Burke Standards Utah Power & Light Co.'s proposed c new Emery generating in plant Emery County will meet all steam-electri- j federal and state environmental standards. That was the opinion of a panel of scientists and engineers appearing before a public information meeting Thursday at Salt Lake City, Utah to discuss the environmental protection plans for the proposed generating station. A similar hearing was held yesterday at Castle Dale, Utah. Panel members' studies embraced all facets of the environment air and water quality, vegetation, wildlife, archaeological-historical, aesthetics, as well as socio-economi- c. Speaking to an audience which inthe public representatives of state and local agencies and conservationists, Frank N. Davis, UP&L manager of engineering and construction, said, "All environmental studies to date indicate that the site of the plant and transmission line routes chosen are appropriate for the purpose intended and that the environmental impact will be a minimum practical level." Mr. Davis explained that consulting meteorologists have predicted that no ambient air standards would be violated'by operation of the plant in regard to particulate matter, SOs, NOx, trace elements or radioactivity. The plant would be equipped with particulate removal equipment designed for 99.5 percent efficiency making the stack plume virtually clear. Water quality would be maintained with no return flow from the plant entering adjacent streams. He said no damage to local vegetation would result from operation of the plant. Appearing to explain details of the plant itself, J. C. Conder, UP&L director of power plant' engineering and construction, said the plans for the plant include two 415,000-kilowa- tt units. The first unit of the plant is scheduled for service in 1978 and is estimated to cost $190 million. The cluded In This Issue 2 2 2 Legals Probate Court Suits New Partnerships Divorces . 2 3 4 4 '. Marriages Births Bankruptcies Third District Court Supreme Court Decisions 5 5 6&16 Mortgages 6 7 Bountiful Power Building Permits Business Licenses Trust Deeds Warranty Deeds Supreme Court Calendar 7 7 7 7 Liens Tax Liens Quit Claim Deeds Murray Power Murray City Court Attorney General Opinion Water Service Bankruptcy Sales Uniform Commercial Code Filings ...... . 8 8 10 10 12 12 12 13 14 15 . second unit, Mr. Conder said, is tentatively scheduled for service in 1980 and is estimated at $175 million. (Estimated costs include SOs removal equipment.) The plant will occupy nearly barren ground east of the highway between Ferron and Castle Dale. Speaking on electrical demand on the UP&L system, D. L. Bryner, manager of planning, said while there has been some decline in the growth rate by some other utilities in the country, UP&L has not seen any evidence of such decline in customers' use. "In fact, we are very concerned that a projected 5.9 percent com- growth rate to 1985 rinded annual km." If these growth trends continue, there is no question but what our load forecasts are conservative and rather than slowing down the construction of new units, we will find that we must accelerate them. Alan J. Anderson, project meteorologist for North American Weather Consultants, said studies on the air quality impact of the Emery Plant indicate that no state or federal ambient air quality standards will be exceeded. He said the company began the studies about 18 months ago and would continue at least to early 1975 ... "so that air quality resulting from operation of the proposed plant can be estimated." The studies included using a temperature sensor mounted on an airplane that also measured updrafts and downdrafts. Wayne O. Ursenbach, research associate, University of Utah engineer- -' ing experimental station, listed four general type of particulates and explained that Emery County background concentrations of these particles will be measured before the plant is built and total concentrations will be measured after the plant is in operation. He said with a 99.5 percent removal of particulate matter from'the stack, impairment of average visibility could not be detected by the untrained observer. Dr. A. Clyde Hill, associate professor, biology department, University of Utah and director of Air Pollution Labatory, said, "Our experience in evaluating air pollution impact during the past 20 years indicates that the proposed new power plant will have little if any adverse impact on the surrounding vegetation or ambient air quality." However, he said, "base line studies are now being studied to measure background air quality in the vicinity of the plant site so that the impact of the plant after operation begins can be quantitatively measured." Harold Boehmer, UP&L chief engineer, said indepth studies concerning the environmental impact of transporting the electric energy from the proposed plant have and will continue to insure the environmental quality along the route of the transmission lines. Environmental factors being considered in the design and routing of the transmission lines include visual, ecological and physical impact, reliability of service, maintainability and economics. There are two proposed lines, one for each unit for the proposed plant. The first will be routed Lake north towards the Provo-Sa- lt area passing through Spanish Fork Canyon; the second will be routed south through Salina Canyon to a point near Richfield and then north to Camp Williams Substation in south Salt Lake County. |