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Show By Jock Wallis flCM ' Yesterday and today are crucial days for the future of Uintah County. These two days will go down in history as the days that decided how to spend the $50 million in oil shale mineral lease bonus funds generated from federal leases U-a U-a and U-b southeast of Vernal. A special session of the Utah Legislature has been called for a specific purpose of deciding how to use this one time windfall. State agencies are clamoring for their so - called share of the pie. Both SLC daily newspapers devoted editorials yesterday on what they thought should be done with the oil shale lease funds. For some strange reason no one seems to realize the real intent in the first place in giving lease royalty funds on federal leases. Our interpretation is that these funds are supposed to go to the area that receives the impact as a direct result of the mineral leasing activity. We tried to explain some of our problems at the beginning of the January Legislature session. Because the points brought out in January 21 "Jack-Straws" column are worth repeating we are re-printing the entire column as follows: The town was destitute of furniture dealers and public officials the first half of this week. All the furniture people have been to the San Francisco market and the public officials have been to Salt Lake City explaining to Governor Matheson and legislators why Uintah County needs $30 million of the $48.5 million the state just received as part of the White River oil shale project bonus bid funds. Thirty million dollars is a lot of money. More money than has ever been spent in the area on a single project. In fact it is so much money that is was reported by our State Representative that the governor, when he saw the Uintah County Community Impact Council's request packet, scoffed at the idea of spending this much money in one county. The first presentation for the $30 million appropriation by the State Legislature from oil shale funds was made to Gary Tomsic, chairman of the Community Impact Board Department of Community and Economic Development for the state, the governor was not present. This is one reason why the Uintah County Community Com-munity Impact Council met with the governor Tuesday morning. ...... In his opening address to the budget session of the legislature, the governor specifically mentioned the $48.5 million coming from the Uintah County oil shale bonus bid trust fund, He said, "The wealth that flows from our natural resources must be spent prudently. ..We must be extremely cautious in any appropriation of these funds. I urge a full and complete analysis of all options and legal obligations before any decisions are made." The purpose of meeting with the governor was to convince him of the need of impact mitigation in Uintah County and to point out that it is his and the legislatures legal obligation to give first priority to the impacted area generating the extra income to the state. This language is set forth in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and also Utah law that establishes a natural resources development revolving account into which the U-a, U-b bonus money is to be deposited. The problem now is. how long will the state hold onto the bonus money ana how long will it take to make a "complete analysis" of the way these funds can be most prudently spent. A study can go on almost indefinitely and could also consume a good share of the bonus bid money. More liberal philosophies state that the money from mineral or resource wealth should be spread evenly throughout the entire state. This wealth does not belong to a specific area of the state where it is produced but to the entire state. The Uintah County Community Impact Council comprises of representatives from two cities, the county and school district and four improvement districts. The largest request from the council is a 1,500 student high school at an estimated cost of $14,800,000. Next an amount of $3,500,000 for Uintah County for a truck bypass around Vernal. One and one-half one-half million dollars is for the bridge on the Red Wash road. Another $1.5 million is for equipment for the new high school. $1,459,000 is for a water line from a storage tank to existing lines for Ashley Valley Water and Sewer Improvement Im-provement District. $1,194,544 is for a sewer system for Ballard City. $1 million is for an addition to the Uintah County courthouse and jail. The remainder of the $30 million requested from the state legislature from the Community Impact Account are capital needs ranging from $691,200 for a Vernal City sewer trunk line in North Vernal to $36,100 for a building for a water treatment plant for Tridell-Lapoint Tridell-Lapoint Water Improvement District. The $30 million request was finalized after reducing capital projects from an original $45 million proposal by the eight governmental entities. After considering the projects individually in-dividually and their need to various areas of the county, if growth is to be absorbed, the request seems very reasonable. The governor and the Legislature should not get the first impression that this is too much to spend for impact mitigation in the far reaches of northeastern Utah. This $30 million could be one of the best investments in-vestments the state has ever made. If the oil shale industry is to be successful, provisions must be made to accommodate the many workers and services that will be needed to support the industry. Industry cannot thrive in a vacuum, it must be given the support of the state and communities where it resides. In return for these socioeconomic socio-economic services industry can be the " source of financial security in the form of taxes and payments after it has become productive. We hope the Uintah County bonus -money request is looked upon as an investment for the state and not as a charitable handout or political favor. If the governor and the Legislature does not give Uintah County the money it is entitled to and the money it needs to make preparations for growth impact a "no-growth" attitude could be forced onto the area. Local residents and businesses cannot afford to provide all the needed services of a boom-type population growth caused by energy-related energy-related industry. This is why federal lease money gives priority to those areas socially or economically impacted by the development of minerals leased. We hope the governor and the Legislature responds to the needs of the area without further visits. But if it takes more persuasion maybe the whole town should make a trip out to Salt Lake City to make our needs known. |