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Show Wednesday, November 22, 2006 All Vernal Express BLM to hold oil and gas lease sale Orange spray paint was found on buildings around Vernal after the weekend. Juvenile mischief sees increase in Vernal By Jennifer Petty Express Writer The orange spray paint on the middle school and on several sever-al buildings throughout Vernal marks the fourth time juveniles have caused mischief in the area recently. The other three times were cases of burglary at the Junior High. "They painted outside on the brick and stucco by the cafeteria and auditorium and on windows," said head custodian custo-dian at the middle school Todd Hadlock. Hadlock added that the vandals did not get into the school. "This is the first time in two years," said Hadlock. "It goes in spurts." Middle School principal Ed Johnson acknowledged the increase but said there has been no indication that it was by a student at the middle school as they haven't had "any students in disagreement" with school policy. Johnson said that graffiti graf-fiti surfaces at the school from time to time. He thinks that the graffiti this time has to do with some "spin off of the clowns gang," formally called the chugalos. Johnson said he saw a clown emblem in orange spray paint on a garbage can by the high school. When asked what" was being done to stop further incidences, he said offi cers are doing increased patrol work at night. Chad Watt, the Vernal City Police detective assigned to the schools said that he believes the vandalism doesn't have any connection to the three burglaries burglar-ies at the Junior High School and though he hadn't been assigned to the vandalism case yet, he hadn't heard about anyone any-one copycatting the chugalos. Concerning the burglaries, Watt reported that the police department is still using investigative inves-tigative tools that will hopefully hopeful-ly shed light on the incidences. Watt and other patrol officers are also "keeping a closer eye on schools and people who are out late at night." u Made the Bifferencel h- ' j&F " y JirV Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to serve you and your families as your state senator. I'm anxious to be your voice and to represent you good people in the Uintah Basin. Together, we can build a bright future for Senate District 26. nTassell SENATE DISTRICT 26 fit Senator Kevin VanTassell 435-789-0724 kevintsbtnet.com Paid for bv the Committee to Elect Kevin VanTassell After receiving nominations for 414,000 acres, BLM Utah will offer 336,000 acres (256 parcels) par-cels) at the upcoming oil and gas lease sale Nov. 21. According to Deputy State Director of Lands and Minerals Kent Hoffman, the offering at this sale reflects BLM's integrated inte-grated and detail-oriented approach in land-use decisions. BLM considers numerous factors fac-tors before offering parcels for lease, including the current land use plans as well as other resources and uses. BLM considered public input through its protest period which ended on Nov 6. After reviewing the protests, BLM pulled nine of the protested parcels par-cels on the sale list. BLM determined deter-mined that further documentation documenta-tion was needed prior to offering offer-ing of these parcels for lease. "We take a hard look prior to offering lands for lease. The decisions are made in compliance compli-ance with a number of laws and land use plans," said Hoffman. He also noted that on this sale BLM has taken actions to comply with a recent court ruling that determined BLM must adequately address new information presented in the Wilderness Inventory conducted conduct-ed by BLM in 1996. In response to the ruling, BLM will not offer any lands that were a part of the inventory in this sale. Hoffman noted that leasing is essential for companies to invest in exploration. Although oil and gas drilling in Utah has dramatically risen, production produc-tion has remained steady since production from existing wells is on the decline. Tapping new reserves contributes to maintaining main-taining current production levels. lev-els. Pinpointing new oil and gas resources requires leasing and exploratory techniques such as geophysical testing. "Leasing of public lands plays an important role in maintaining the domestic supply sup-ply of oil and gas resources," Hoffman said. "Prior to drilling, drill-ing, industry typically conducts con-ducts studies to determine if mineral extraction is economically economi-cally viable. Before conducting such costly studies, companies want a reasonable assurance that they will have rights and access to the resources if their research shows potential. "Leased lands are not always developed; however, leasing provides an assurance to the mineral rights if developed." Some of the parcels nominated nomi-nated for lease in this sale are in areas being considered for special management in BLM's current resource management plans. For lands that are being offered in these areas, known as potential "Areas of Critical Environmental Concern," BLM has various stipulations already in place that would protect the resources or values of concern (scenic, cultural, soils, habitat, etc.). BLM has also deferred parcels in these areas if the relevant and important impor-tant values cannot be protected through stipulations. Oil and gas production in Utah contributes to meeting local and regional energy needs. Last year, 138 billion cubic feet of natural gas was produced on public lands in Utah, providing enough energy to heat more than 1.6 million homes. Natural gas production on Utah public lands is critical since current infrastructure does not enable natural gas to be imported from outside North America. Four million barrels of oil were also produced on Utah public lands in 2003, enough to produce 79.6 million gallons of gasoline and 38 million gallons of diesel heating fuel as well as other products. BLM Utah conducts quarterly quar-terly oil and gas lease sales in accordance with the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act (1987) and the Mineral Leasing Act. Lease parcels are made up of lands that have been determined to be open for leasing through BLM's land use planning process, pro-cess, and are either nominated or requested by the public. Half of the royalties from mineral development and leasing goes back to the states. Since the passage for the Mineral Leasing Act in 1920, the state of Utah has received $962,468,000 from mineral revenues on federally managed public lands. The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land - 261 million mil-lion surface acres - than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1.8 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. sponsored by I Hi pVm rf.TWrnTi I ASPEN BROOK I lliTim i I REALTY, INC. 1 Wed Thu Fri Sat Sim Mon 1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 W"- 5231 4924 4421 4322 3923 3521 A lew clouds Highs Partly cloudy. Highs Abundant sunshine. Times of sun and Mainly sunny. Highs Chance of a few in the low 50s and jn the upper 40s and Highs in the mid 40s clouds. Highs in the in the upper 30s and snow showers, lows in the low 30s. ows m the mid 20s. and lows in the low low 40s and lows in lows in the low 20s. Highs in the mid 30s 20s the low 20s. and lows in the low 20s. Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset Sunrise Sunset 7:10 AM 4 56 PM 711 AM 4 55 PM 7.12AM 4:55 PM 7:13 AM 4:54 PM 7:14AM 4:54 PM 7:15AM 4:53 PM Utah At A Glance Moon Phases Wilis'" (V) ' Logan . 4122w7 y t Ogden 4726 t Salt Lake City "0 4627 Provo 'S 5025 O d New First Nov 20 Nov 28 Vernal Cedar City 5622 J f- 4924 1 A Full Last Dec 5 Dec 12 UV Index Thu 1123 Fri 1124 Sat 1125 Sun 1126 Mon 1127 Low Low Low Low Low The UV Index is measured on a 0-1 1 number scale, with a higher UV Index showing the need for greater skin protection. pro-tection. 0 JHi 1 1 Area Cities Beaver 55 Blanding 57 Brigham City 42 Cedar City 56 Delta 53 Elko, NV 44 Evanston, WY 36 Farmington, NM 61 Fillmore 56 Flagstaff, AZ 56 21 pt sunny 30 pt sunny 25 rain 22 pt sunny 20 pt sunny 14 pt sunny 16 mixed 28 pt sunny 25 pt sunny 20 pt sunny Grand Jet, CO Green River Heber City Kanab Logan Moab Mt. Pleasant Ogden Park City Preston, ID 57 29 pt sunny Price 42 21 rain 56 25 pt sunny Provo 50 25 rain 40 17 mixed Richfield 55 22 pt sunny 57 27 pt sunny Roosevelt 44 20 pt sunny 41 22 rain Salt Lake City 46 27 rain 58 26 pt sunny Sandy 46 27 rain 48 22 rain St. George 65 36 pt sunny 47 26 rain Tooele 47 24 cloudy 37 19 mixed Vernal 49 24 pt sunny 40 21 rain Wendover 49 22 pt sunny fMT n ' II f VI fa El Cl A CI U H5r LiU I ASPEN BROOK IRFAITY IMc. f'iftlMffailfciMtfl 'full. tftltfJi."' .0 'A 1r 8 MPttlraKrt .nn.mn aio |