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Show Federal coal leasing in West is highest in hisvory By Helene C. Monberg Vernal Express Washington Correspondent (Special to the Vernal Express) Washington The Interior Department Depart-ment is endorsing a plan of W.R. Grace and Company to move coal by pipeline from Western Colorado to California using saline Colorado River water. Interior gave tentative approval to the plan on March 26. but the announcement an-nouncement has been held up because the bureaucrats here have been unable to agree on a letter to be written to Ira E. McKeever, Jr.. president of the Grace Western mining division in Denver. "The letter is still sitting on Carrey Carruthers' desk." a Bureau of Reclamation informant told this correspondent on April 16. Carruthers is an Assistant Secretary of Interior. The pipeline concept is the produce of Michael Clinton, a second generation Bureau of Rec. official who works on Colorado River problems out of the Bureau's Denver office. and McKeever. Bills by Sen. William L. Armstrong. R-Colo., and Ray Kogovsek. D-Colo., would endorse the study, but the Kogovsek bill makes it plain that the plan must not infringe in any way on Colorado's water rights. One of the points holding up the Department's expected endorsement of the plan is whether the Department officially endorses the Armstrong-Kogovsek Armstrong-Kogovsek bill, which is an amendment to the 1974 Colorado River Saline program already in operation. Agriculture officials have told this correspondent that the Administration will not endorse the legislation, but Interior officials still hope that an endorsement will be forthcoming. Grace officials avoid the use of the word "slurry" in relation to the coal carrying pipeline proposal because there is so much labor union and railroad opposition to slurry pipelines. But that's what the plan is. with a difference. Ordinarily slurry pipelines carry coal the consistency of face powder in a solution of water. The coal is dewatered at the end of the pipeline when it is put into a heating unit to power a generator of a power plant. "Our proposal is different." John N. Thurman. vice president of Grace, told this correspondent here on April 15. "We would grind the coal to the consistence con-sistence of face powder and we would bag it in plastic bags about 30 inches by 15 feet. Each bag would contain between bet-ween 3-1 tons of coal each. Up to 15 million tons of coal would be moved in the pipeline annually," Thurman stated. "We are the largest plastic bag manufacturer in the world. The coal would be kept dry in the pipeline and it would be shipped to the Far East, where the Orientals would receive a nice product." The plastic bags would move in a saline solution of Colorado River w ater. and Grace plans to replace the water exported out of the mainstream of the Colorado River with water that it owns on the Yampa River. Just exactly how-much how-much Colorado River water would be used to move the coal by pipeline from Axial, Colo., to the California coast, about 1.200 miles, is not clear. Grace is talking about using 12.000 acre-feet of fresh water to move the coal just from Axial to Rifle, just a few-miles. few-miles. From Rifle to the West Coast the water would be saline Colorado River water. Another complication is that Utah coal is being considered for use of the pipeline in addition to Colorado coal. This means Utah water would have to be dedicated for the purpose, as it's doubtful that Colorado officials would allow Colorado Riverwaterallocated to their state to be used to move Utah coal. State water rights is an issue that has to be addressed relative to the project, and it is being addressed by the Colorado River Basin Salinity Forum, according to the Interior Department. In other words, the plan's concept make a lot of sense, but implementing it will take a lot of doing. Coal slurry pipeline legislation has failed in the past in Congress, despite White House support, mainly because of the concern by rail unions about loss of jobs and because of water rights issues. Grace and the Bureau of Rec. probably can get their plan studied but implementing im-plementing it will be tough. The Arm-strong-Kogovsek bills only provide for study. Grace is claiming that the project would remove an estimated SO.CttO tons of salt per year out of the Colorado River and thereby help control a major source of salinity in the rive, but it isn't saying how much Upper Basin Colorado River water would be exported ex-ported out of the Upper Basin to keep the pipeline in operation. This would be a prime concern to the four Upper Basin states engineers in Colorado. New Mexico. Utah and Wyoming. It is relying on the Forum to settle the w ater rights issues, certain to surface over the plan. The Forum is only a debating society, and it has no authoritv to settle anything. But the Colorado River Basin states are under tremendous pressure to make industrial in-dustrial use of the saline Colorado River water without further clean-up. which costs a lot of money, and isnt very cost-effective, according to many w ater experts. The aqua-train pipeline proposal worked out by Clinton and Grace affords that opportunity. ir '. -; i . -, , v. ; ) v ..- ; ; ' r.-'-' - ; ';'-' ' i - J NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL awards were given to postal carriers Mary Keel, Barney Sessions, Ses-sions, Berle Bell and top row Lanore Lance, Jimmy Anderson, Lola Davis, Jay Anderson, Myrna Mortenson, William Reese, Dallas Merrell, Mer-rell, Kermit Harrison, Lloyd Lemon and Lloyd Wilkinson. |