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Show Asst. Interior Secretary Will Speak in FAoab Saturday A high ranking Interior Department officiU will be in Moab Saturday, Aug. 9 to seek public comment and give information on various Interior Department programs. Jack W. Carlson, assistant secretary for energy and minerals, and a Salt Lake City native, is in Utah currently filling some speaking engagements engage-ments made by recently-resigned Interior Department Secretary Stanley K. Hathaway. Hatha-way. Between engagements, he is traveling to various communities com-munities in the state to hold give-and-take sessions with the citizens, and he will be at the Grand County Courthouse at 10 a.m. to hold such a meeting with local residents. Mr. Carlson's responsibilities responsibili-ties in the Department of Interior are mainly involved with such agencies as the Bureau of Land Management, the U. S. Bureau of Mines, and the U. S. Geological Survey; however, he is asking for comment on all Interior departments, including the National Park Service. Speaking in Salt Lake City on the Kaiparowits power project last week, Mr. Carlson stated that a decision should be reached late this year, following ten years of study on the project. He said he would join with the Interior Secretary or acting secretary, plus the assistant secretary for land and water resources, to make a final decision on project approval. He voiced concern about vast acreages of land being tied up in wilderness areas without proper study of their mineral content. He said, "A summary of all the public domain shows us that the miner is already barred from mineral entry on more than 55 per cent of the land that the American public owns, and the percentage may rise to 77 per cent if pending proposals for withdrawals are accepted." Explaining his position, he said, "Each proposal to establish a wilderness area can be defended logically because so much of the Mountain West fits the qualifications people have in mind when they use the words wilderness area. But we must consider the cumulative cumula-tive effect of the addition of more and more wilderness areas. Is it possible to add up so many 'good' proposals, that their sum total is bad?" |