OCR Text |
Show By Jack Walhs What will happen to the local area if 311 the proposed multi-million dollar Projects start up at the same time? Are e prepared for the impact? Can we tondle the increased population? And is " economic prosperity worth the pressures it will cause on the social and owonmental status quo of the com-tunity. com-tunity. e have been told for many years m 'hen the right time comes the juneral wealth of the local area will "J"1 Vernal into a boom town. This has eady proven true over the years in Ration to the oil and gas that has been overed in the area and to a lesser ee with the gilsonite and phosphate lopments. Now the area is on the threshold of a synthetic energy program forced trudeou by the shortage of Jor many years the feasibility of ex-oil ex-oil a? 011 from the vast tar sands and toyed the area have been aid Wlih and for many years research small-scale extraction and process-bimE process-bimE j have been working away at of getting the oil out menu1 f the research and developed develop-ed th has been vefy encouraging tech?"6 ls no doubt n the minds of the 2'a th.at the oiI can ex" Proeessh! g question is. can this tialsM accomPlished on a commer- iu 6 a profit and in a way that il leaturl ?amage the environmental of the area. there ' years f study and development tien are sti" two views concerning shaleurn resource 01 tar sands and oil ?roth Hi?ntribute s'gnificantly to the still be m area' 0ne view says il wi" other J Tny years in the future and the 1 the time is now. Alter m shale dp iny Ups and downs in the oil svin eve'opment, it now looks like the "etitis t P again- ne federal govern-' govern-' thein(ju gamore favorable look at r tkeiBcr7:ry'the Price of crude oil is on and the demand is evident. A. Another important problem of our tar sands and oil shale development is the socio-economic impact. Can we handle the additional impact on our schools, public facilities, road, police protection, protec-tion, utilities and other public services? The big question is, who will pay for all these added expenses. The costs of preparing a community for a boom happens before the benefits from the increased economic activity is able to share in the expenses. This is the reason for the need for front-end money and impact funds to build the roads, provide the utilities, enlarge the schools and generally expand the services of the community to absorb an increased population. With oil shale tracts being developed by White River Shale Project, Tosco, and Geokinetics in our backdoor, it appears ap-pears that the time for commercial shale oil production on a large scale is close at hand. These developments have already contributed to the economy and social problems of our community. We hope the area can plan for the future developments of this great industry in-dustry in such a way that it will be an asset and contribute to an organized systamatic growth. The future lies in making the right decisions in relation to the amount of impact received from these promising new industries. Can we make the necessary transition? transi-tion? That will be up to local governments, govern-ments, private industry and the federal government. At present it appears to be a giant puzzle all ready to be put together. With cooperation on all sides the puzzle can be fit together to make a complete picture pic-ture but by withholding any of the vital pieces the puzzle may never take it's intended in-tended form. We hope the puzzle of getting oil from sands and shale in our area can be put together to benefit the local area, the state and the nation, as well as those industries in-dustries willing to make a venture into a new energy source. |