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Show WUsot Saturday begins the 10 day buck hunt locally. The old body doesn't allow for much climbing the hills anymore. But there is one benefit that we derive from the hunt besides managing to spend a few days looking at the beautiful scenery. - 0 - Ye ol' Ed just shakes at the slightest chill. It runs down my back to those bum spots in my spine where it creates considerable discomfort dis-comfort to say the least. A few years ago the oldest boy bought me a fine down vest, which has the capability of withstanding most chills regardless of the cause. It has only one drawback. It's bright hunter orange. The only time we can wear it without drawing stares or undue comment is during the hunting season. - 0 - It seems to me that Beaver Bea-ver County is getting the short end of the geothermal stick. Recent stories report how geothermal resources on the Wasatch Front can and are being used for heating. The second well has been completed com-pleted at Monroe with an eye toward heating the whole town. Now these reservoirs are only 140-160 degrees warm water, and not adequate for other than local application for heating and related industries such as greenhouses, green-houses, etc. - 0 -Roosevelt Hot Springs has seven commercial wells, that will produce steam and geothermal fluids at tem- 1 peratures ' exceeding 500 degrees. Still, it seems as if we really can't get something operational going. Both 1 Phillips Petroleum and Thermal Power Co. have a considerable investment in these wells, and several other companies have invested in-vested sizeable sums in exploration ex-ploration of the area. But for reasons unexplained un-explained the power companies don't seem interested. UP&L owns large tracts of coal, and seem intent on building mo re units at Huntington andelse-where, andelse-where, than getting into geothermal. geo-thermal. The same can be said of Cal-Pac and other private utilities. - 0 - Cedar City will vote on November 7, on whether to go to municipal power. Iron and Washington Counties are interested. The Beaver County . Commission is working independently on a feasibility study for Beaver County to go to public power. Now normally, any mention men-tion of government entering a field already served by private enterprise, Is distasteful dis-tasteful to ye ol' Ed. But as the present Public Service Commission is set up there is little difference between be-tween private enterprise running a public utility and that same utility operated by local government. - 0 - The main difference then comes down to not the operation, but taking advantage ad-vantage of a unique situation. We have that unique situation at Roosevelt Springs. Cedar City has already conducted a feasibility study. Their consultants listed as one alternative source of power the steam and geothermal geo-thermal reservoir at Roosevelt Springs. Estimates Esti-mates showed that Cedar City could save approximately approx-imately ten percent by going municipal. An estimated 20 percent could be saved by including all of Iron County. - 0 -Another proposal was ' SUPRA (Southern Utah Power Association.) We believe be-lieve this If it utilizes the geothermal resource at Roosevelt Springs, could prove to be the best solution for Washington, Iron and Be ave r C ounties . But only if the geothermal resource is Included. - 0 - The geothermal resource is a stabilizing factor. Just as the huge hydroelectric dams have been a stabilizing factor in the Pacific Northwest, North-west, and the TVA project of the Southeast, Geothermal is relatively stable. The cost of the resource does not continue to rise as does coal, oil or gas. Once the initial investment is made, the resource is as steady and reliable as the Columbia River. 0 - SUPRA would spread the initial investment, making each county's costs less. Even more important is the impact on other county services. serv-ices. Since SUPRA would be an area corporation, other county services would not necessarily be related for budgetary purposes. Counties could continue to operate their road departments depart-ments and other services independently, as at present. - 0 - Even though Beaver City has municipal power they are dependent on much of their power from other sources. We believe it would be wise for them to-become a part of SUPRA. We believe there is little i to gain by going public, unless the geothermal re- , source is utilized. Without geothermal there would be little, ' if anything, to be gained by purchasing power from private sources. Each time the Arabs tighten the valve or the price of coal in West Virginia is raised-SUPRA raised-SUPRA would be affected. The price of power would continue on its Inflationary spiral. - 0 - If any of the proposed government entities were to go their separate way with geothermal the initial cost would be higher plus arrangements would be necessary nec-essary to either meet peak demands or additional facilities woul3 be'nec essary putting the local entity in the position of selling the surplus and competing com-peting with private enterprise. enter-prise. - 0 -Instead of building huge 55 megawatt plants, we believe several smaller plants to be more feasible, since maintenance and down time could be better taken care of without cutting service serv-ice or purchasing more expensive power to fill the gap. This could be accomplished accom-plished by building three or more 20 megawatt plants approximately the peak needs of the three counties or by going to Hydrothermal well-head plants, such as the one being tested at Roosevelt Springs now. In either case, additional plants could be added as the power needs of the area are Increased. 0 -We believe that the Roosevelt Springs geothermal geo-thermal resource should be used to the advantage of Southern Utah. If private industry is not interested and certainly they are not jumping on the bandwagon-then bandwagon-then maybe we should do it ourselves. If, as we believe, geothermal geo-thermal power would be cheaper or at least not be subject to significant riases every few months-it months-it would also attract more Industry to Southern Utah. One needs only look at the Pacific Northwest to see how cheap power attracts industry. in-dustry. Certainly the idea of a Southern Utah Power Association should be given full consideration. The time is now! |