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Show Utah governor warns Interior Dept. state will press oil shale fight in court Utah demanded an immediate federal decision last week on its claims for 122,000 acres of oil shale land in northeastern Utah. Unless the Department of Interior acts promptly the state initiate will mandamus proceedings,'1 Utah Gov. Calvin L. Rampton warned during a public hearing at the State Capitol. The governor said the delay has been unreasonable... There is no question about the fact have we mineral that is It entitlement. my understanding this is not a The only problem problem. federal government concerns policy on oil shale." Gov. Rampton was one of several witnesses testifying before federal commissioner John who Rampton Jr., adjourned the hearing late in the morning of Wednesday when no new witnesses were expected. He said other interested persons wishing to submit comment may do so in writing before Aug. 7 to the Salt Lake City office of the Bureau of Land Management. The acreage Utah seeks is land it is entitled to by previous federal land grants. The acreage requested by Utah either fulfills unselected allotments or replaces lands the federal government has appropriated. Another witness at the hearing was John Moigan Jr., of Utah Resources International, Inc., which holds acreage on oil shale lands in the state. Partners in the corporation include Mr. Morgan's father, president John H. Morgan and Sr., Clarence I. Justheim. Their interest in oil shale began IS years ago, Mr. Morgan testified, and many major oil Shell, including companies Gulf Ihn American, and have shown interest in Husky Utah oil shale lands. We have a tremendous reserve lying idle in the Uinta Basin...Our studies show it may total 200 to 400 million barrels per square mile." Mr. said the Morgan development of an oil shale industry has become increasingly important for several reasons. We are using up more oil every day than we find (in liquid reserves). This is a serious situation. The trend is we are becoming more dependent on foreign oil supplies than we have in the past..." Oil is important. It runs our entire nation. In time of war we would have to have our own supplies in this country." He stressed it is not economically feasible for oil shale deposits to be mined unless the operators have title to large. unified blocks. He estimates ai least 30,000 acres is the minimum size. He said it is alsc possible to make natural gas out of oil shale, and the Federal Power Commission has recognized that this country is fast running out of natural gas reserves. Gov. Rampton said the land chosen by the state does not lend itself to strip mining i method which causes serious ecological imbalances. And the governor emphasized he opposes strip mining. of The would acreage necessity be recovered in situ, he said. He added the land would. House panel urges bill to bolster domestic mining Isr A House WASHINGTON has subcommittee Interior for a bill a calling approved aimed at minerals policy industries domestic bolstering domestic and developing reserves. The bill, sent to the full House Interior Committee, was passed earlier by the Senate and strengthened by the House subcommittee. The measure would give the Secretary of Interior the task of coming up with a program to carry out these objectives: The development of an economically sound and stable domestic mining and mineral industry; The orderly and economic of domestic development mineral resources and reserves to assure satisfaction of help industrial and security needs, and, mineral and Mining, research to metallurgical wise the and efficient promote use of our mineral resoruces." bill calls for annual Interior reports from the on the condition of Department the domestic and mining minerals industry along with recommended legislation. The subcommittee added oil, natural gas, coal and uranium to the list of minerals covered in the bill. The Also added were provisions for the protection of the environment and re-uof scrap materials. se Climax mine wins citation anti-polluti-on A tiny speck of moon dust magMOONDUST PROFILE nified some 700 times by a scanning electron microscope at 2 the- Atomic Energy Commissions Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Plant revealed this cameo profile that might be labeled Man Indian Chief, or Woman with Bonnet. The in the Moon, dust speck, smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, was being examined by Union Carbide Corp. research chemist R. K. Bennett when he discovered the surprising resemblance to a human head. The dust specimen, obtained during the Apollo-- 1 1 mission, was loaned to AEC installations at Oak Ridge for a number of analytical studies. (Union Carbide Corp. - plioto) A citation for outstanding contributions" in preventing water pollution has been the ' Climax awarded .to Molybdenum Co. mine at Qimas, Cdo., by the Colorado Control Pollution Water Commission. The mine is operated by the Molybdenum and Specialty Metals Division of AMAX (American Metal Climax, Y-1- Inc.). . The Climax mine is located in central Colorado at an elevation of 1 1,200 feet above sea level on the Continental Divide. The headwaters of the Arkansas and Eagle Rivers flow near the mine property. The mine is the United State's primary source of molybdenum, an alloy used in making superior steel,. It processes an average of 40,000 tons of. ore per day and produces a molybdenum mineral II. . 1 I J . .4 J... l I concentrate which is shipped elsewhere for further refining. The Climax mine uses an extensive system for water used in the ore. This involves processing of more i continuous than 25 million gallons of water per day needed in the molybdenum extraction process. As a result, mine industrial water is kept separated from river Jrainage on both slopes of the Continental Divide. Additional systems have been Jeveloped at aimax to capture drainage inderground mine wter and prevent it from Jontaminating nearby streams, This system is used for active mine openings and older mines which were operated in the late ng 1800's, but later abandoned and aquired by aimax, as,, it expanded its own operations and. 3 1 Si needed more land. Between 1967 and 1969, Climax spent $122,000 to install a collection system for mine drainage water flowing from the portal of its Storke Level operations. As result, heavy mineralized water is prevented from entering the Arkansas River where it might be harmful to fishlife. In the same area, muddy water from a sand and gravel washing plant at Gimax is retained in a series of settling ponds for clearing and re-us- e. Climax has also installed basins and dams immediately below its tailing (process waste) storage areas to collect seepage water. This water is also prevented from contaminating streams by returning it through stations to the pumping industrial water circuit . . ' 1 ' ' |