OCR Text |
Show Environmental committee gets info on White River Dam The Utah Division of Water Resources sent to the state's Environmental En-vironmental Coordinating Committee information on the White River Dam proposed for southern Uintah County Tuesday of last week. The project is designed mostly to assist possible future oil shale operations. The dam is to be financed by bonds approved by the Legislature in 1978. It has been heavily criticized by conservationists. Information received by the committee com-mittee Oct. 28 in a meeting fn the Capitol indicates only that the project is under study and that the (federal) Bureau of Land Management will draft an environmental impact statement on that particular dam location, said Jerry Kern, a grants coordinator for the Division of State Planning. A draft copy of the statement will be available in a month or so. At that time, the committee will study the material and perhaps make suggestions or report concerns it has with the study. The committee has not taken much action on the proposed dam in the past, though it has approved permits needed for the project. "We've not seen anything in depth or of a quality that would allow us to really make any suggestions or voice our concerns." Kern said He noted that a similar dam is being proposed in Colorado on the White River. But on that one, a permit is being sought before the land is purchased pur-chased for the dam. The Utah site would be on BLM land, thus requiring an environmental review by that agency. |