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Show Vj i Jack-Straws By Jack Wallis V J IAt the annual Utah Press Association press conference with Governor Scott M. Matheson Friday afternoon the 7 governor responded to questions I concerning delays on building the I White River Dam near Bonanza in J Uintah County. , J When asked if he thought the En-oangered En-oangered Species Act concerning three i nsh thought to live in the White River f would prevent the building of the White River Dam, the governor said that the j quickest way to deal with the issue was lo go directly to Congress and get an t'j exemption from the Act. Working the j, issue out on a bureau basis would be too drawn out and take too long. f if The real solution to the endangered- 0" fish problem would be to maintain the "sn in a hatchery condition in the en-,f en-,f "ronment they can grow in best, the governor said. When asked about the recent aeration ae-ration made by the Utah Audubon 'ety and the Utah Water Resources wuncil concerning the safety of the due to the sandstone structure at S'il! and wnether tnis information as being supressed from him, the ' yernor said he was not aware of the "nt charge, but that he had spent "ore time studying this project than any other issue. J The governor said he was aware of safety studies being made on the "We River Dam, and they were not "gnored. All of the issues will I out in the final draft en vironmental impact statement, the , Pernor stated. Concerning the mix of state lands in J Unn 0wnshiP a'ong with federal ' t w , governor said the state needs blnrl UP a11 its lands in about six Kp S.S0 can be managed in the ; tim 'n.lerest of the state. At the present e state land is so spread out it has to ' !rmJ t0 the exisng uses of the funding lands. ; When asked who was behind the 3 I?ove ln tne state Legislature to A nHr UUh Sunshine Law on open J herfiH?.S' the governor responded that ' Qlant mind have the press present in all his meetings. He also stated he could understand why others may be nervous in having the press always present. Norma Matheson, the governor's wife, was also present at the informal press meeting and responded to a question concerning what she was supporting or working on in her free time. Mrs. Matheson said her big project at the present time was working on the adivsory council on volun-teerism.- A new media campaign is going to start soon throughout the state to get more people to volunteer their time and talents to worthy programs. The governor said Utah is the only state in the west that does not have a severance tax policy on its natural resources. He suggested an increase from two percent to four percent severance tax on oil and gas and a two percent severance tax on coal, also a one percent mine occupation tax. Shipping coal out of state will be big business and we need the severance tax on this natural resource, the governor stressed. This is the 5th year the governor has met with the Press Association in conjunction to its annual convention in Salt Lake City. The governor's parting remarks were that he would like to meet more often and even on a regional basis with weekly news representatives. represen-tatives. We came away from the press conference con-ference with a greater appreciation for the ability of the governor to address any issue that was brought up. We were impressed with his general knowledge of issues and also with his frankness in admitting he had not studied the issue satisfactorily enough to give an opinion. The governor knows how to get along with people and make them feel good. We hope he can maintain this type of composure through the remaining days of the Utah State Legislature session, and that he and the Legislature can weed out the unnecessary legislature and pass those bills that will help the state meet the needs of various small communities as well as the larger populated Wasatch Front area. |