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Show t I I Ashley campsites ready for holiday Memorial Day is this weekend and the Ashley National Forest has prepared its campgrounds for the expected rush of visitors to the forest and the Flaming Gorge. National Recreation Area. A majority of the campgrounds camp-grounds on the Ashley National Forest are expected to be open this weekend. Some campgrounds camp-grounds at higher elevations will not be open, so campers should check with the local Forest Service Ser-vice district office. At Flaming Gorge, visitors to Mustang Ridge Campground will enjoy a new pavilion in the group site; four newly paved camping spurs in the campground; new fire rings installed throughout the campground; and new concrete con-crete picnic tables installed at some campsites. Buckboard Crossing Campground Camp-ground has been re-paved as well, and a four-person shower unit and flush toilet building has been installed. At Antelope Campground two large parking lots for the group campsites have been completed; 37 concrete sections ofboat ramp have been replaced; and a vault toilet has been installed near the boat ramp. Dispersed campers at Flaming Flam-ing Gorge Reservoir are now required to have a portable toilet system or self-contained vehicle if camping within a quarter mile of the high watermark for the reservoir and more than 200 yards from any constructed toilet facility. In the Vernal Ranger District, the Red Cloud Loop and Mosby Mountain roads are both open. Forest road No. 020 behind Oaks Park and East Park still has some significant snow drifts as of May 15 that are blocking vehicle traffic. traf-fic. ' Whiterocks Campground is open, but without water. Water should be available by Memorial Day weekend, on a first come first served basis. Gas price hikes reflectlack of refinery capacity "A major contributor to the recent spike in gas prices is the lack of domestic oil-refining capabilities," said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who is working to expand refining capacity while continuing to increase national access to alternative energy sources. "With Utahns paying more than $3 for a regular gallon of gas, and as much as $3.40 in some parts of the state, everyone is feeling the squeeze at the pump," Hatch said. "This hurts everyone from families on budgets, to businesses busi-nesses with high travel expenses, and even school districts, who have to swallow the extra costs to bus kids. While there is unfortunately un-fortunately no immediate magic bullet for our energy problems, there are real steps we can take to strengthen the weakest links in our nation's energy system." According to AAA, "gasoline stockpiles in the United States have dropped by 15 percent since early February amid an unusually unusu-ally high number of refinery outages." "The economics of refining are so tough that the United States has lost nearly 200 refineries since the last U.S. refinery was built in 1970, and now, 37 years later, the nation na-tion is left with only 149 aging, over-worked and over-regulated refineries, "Hatch said. "We simply can't supply enough refined gasoline to an ever-growing marketplace," Hatch said. "That is why I sponsored spon-sored a new law that provides tax incentives for the construction of new refineries and additions to existing refineries. Since it's a new law, it'll take time to reap the benefits, and because of budget restraints, important incentives in my initial proposal were dropped. I have and will continue to urge my colleagues to provide a fuller measure of State parks hide coins for visitors Get your coordinates and go! Five hundred coins have been hidden in state parks as part of a hunt to celebrate the 50th anniversary an-niversary of the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation. Each state park has at least one Magellan Global Positioning Position-ing Unit programmed with the coordinates and available for free use by visitors. The hunt is commonly com-monly known as geocaching. Oaks Park Campground is a primitive campground that is currently open and free of charge but is also only available on a first come basis and is non-reserveable. non-reserveable. " Iron Springs Group Campground Camp-ground will beopenbytheMemo-rial beopenbytheMemo-rial Day weekend by reservation only East Park Campground and Paradise Campground will not be open by Memorial Day weekend. week-end. East Park Campground and Paradise Campground will open on June 7, when it is warm enough to open the water system and camp hosts are available. IntheRooseveltandDuchesne ranger districts, the Avintaquin and Pole Creek campgrounds will be closed for Memorial Day weekend. Pole Creek Campground Camp-ground should open in the middle of June, but is not accessible at this time. Avintaquin Campground Camp-ground will remain closed until the completion of maintenance operations designed to ensure public safety. The following campgrounds will be open with full services for Memorial Day weekend in the Roosevelt and Duchesne district: Iron Mine, Hades, Aspen, Rock Creek group, Miner's Gulch, Yellowpine, Upper Stillwater, Moon Lake, Moon Lake group, Yellowstone, Bridge, Reservoir, Swift Creek, Uintah, Uintah group, and Wandin. To determine the status of a campground, or find out if it is first come, first served, visit ' To reserve a campsite, visit www.recreation.gov. If you can not locate your desired campground on recreation.gov, call to confirm the status of the campground. Anyone with questions should call the Ashley National Forest's supervisor office at 789-1181, or stop by the Vernal field office at 355 North Vernal Avenue. tax incentives to promote new refining capacity." Hatch's refinery incentives were part of 2005 's comprehensive compre-hensive energy bill, which also included Hatch's CLEAR Act, a law that gives tax incentives to consumers who purchase alternative-fuel and hybrid-electric vehicles, tax incentives at the pump for the purchase of alternative alter-native transportation fuels, and tax incentives for the purchase and installation of alternative fueling equipment. The law also includes Hatch provisions to tap the vast reservoirs of oil shale and tar sands in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Experts agree that this small tri-state region promises more recoverable oil in tar sands and oil shale in than the entire Middle East. "Congress needs to keep pursuing pur-suing a forward-looking energy policy," Hatch said. "Withlargely untapped energy reserves, Utah will have a vital role to play in such a forward-looking policy. As our nation grows and our energy consumption increases, we must keep Utah's communities supplied sup-plied with affordable and reliable energy resources." Hatch will soon introduce legislation with Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) that would build on the success of the CLEAR Act and promote further development develop-ment of plug-in hybrid technology technol-ogy "In my view, no solution to our nation's transportation energy needs holds more short-term promise than plug-in hybrids," Hatch said. "Elections are significantly sig-nificantly cheaper and cleaner than liquid fuels, and we could provide power to between 70 to 80 percent of all our vehicles on the road right now without having to build a new power plant." , The coins have no cash value. "We want people to explore the parks," said Mary Tullius, director of the parks division. "We want people to get out of their cars and walk around." Go to www.8tateparks.utah. gov and click on the 50th anniversary an-niversary logo for the geocache coordinates at each park. Vernal Express Utility crews worked Wednesday to find underground lines below the aqueduct in Ballard. The old waterway is scheduled for demolition in two weeks. According to Burdick Paving, U.S. Highway 40 will be closed on June 2, between 11 p.m and 8 a.m., while the aqueduct is demolished with explosives and the debris is removed. An irrigation pipeline installed years ago made the aqueduct obsolete. Kerr-McGee, EPA reach settlement Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed Thursday to spend $18 million to reduce harmful emissions and conserve natural gas at plants across Utah and Colorado as part of a settlement with the Environmental Envi-ronmental Protection Agency, according to the Associated Press. The oil and natural gas exploration explo-ration and production company was accused of violating the Clean Air Act at several of its natural gas compressor stations, including those on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation near Vernal, and in the Denver Julesburg Basin near Weld County, Colo. . The control measures are expected to reduce annual emissions emis-sions of air pollutants by more than 2,500 tons in Utah and more than 3,000 tons in Colorado, the EPA said. j. l! Volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide can contribute to respi Spring agriculture prices USDA Utah Agriculture Field Office In the previous month of April, Utah farmers and ranchers ranch-ers baled alfalfa hay is priced $7 more than hay the same period for 2006. Other hay was $2 less per bale than the previous month and $5 less than the price in April 2006. The Utah commercial red meat production totaled 39.4 million pounds in March 2007, down 11.7 percent from March of the previous year. Cattle slaughter in Utah for March 2007 totaled 48,800 head, 15 percent below ayear earlier. Hog slaughter totaled 4,100 head up 24.2 percent from the previous year. Sheep and lamb slaughter during March totaled 3,000 head, up 7. 1 percent from the previous year. BEST S ? 0?m SQUARE a ratory disorders such as asthma and reduced lung capacity. They ' can also damage ecosystems and reduce visibility. Kerr-McGee will also pay $250,000 in fines and spend an additional $250,000 on environmental environ-mental projects, according to the settlement filed in Denver's U.S. District Court. The money for the environmental environ-mental projects will be used to' reduce dust emissions from roads that service oil and gas facilities in Utah, and retire vehicles with higher emissions of air pollut- . ants than newer vehicles in Denver. These older, high-emitting vehicles disproportionately contribute to the Denver area's air quality problems, according to the EPA. mm I 2125 N. RESULTS ARE f: t if fflfflffimffim imjfgiKp Brent Brown rm$h I Chevrolet All Tim-r S MB j rt SQUARE MEAL 1 -i ii&imJsJk. Waiter, sewer district meets Ashley Valley Water and Sewer Improvement District met on Tuesday, May 15 for their regular monthly meeting at the district office at 1344 West Highway 40, Vernal. Of the items on the agenda, the extension of the water and sewer lines on Main Street near the college was discussed. dis-cussed. "The Uintah Transportation Trans-portation Special Services District say they are ready to begin the bidding process for road construction in the area of the new college," Boyd Workman, district manager "mm 7 AN AMERICAN REVOLUTION UNIV PKWY PflOVO j MONDAY SATURDAY flRfi-443-tin7n ! 8:30am 9:00pm u(ttn "vi j www.brcntbrownauto.com Wednesday, May 23, 2007 A5 explained. "The SSD is asking us the improvement district to decide where to put our water and sewer lines." Workman told the board that the water and sewer improvement district is not ready for construction with hook-ups as no rights-of-way have been secured as yet. At least two entities, Maeser and Vernal City, in addition to the district have an interest in the disposition of the utilities corridors. For now, however, no easements are determined for road access or water and sewer to the college. art ii JBJMQ) 'r narvJillB |
