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Show i Vernal Express Tuesday, July 3, 2007 A5 Halliburton projections put the basin into the global energy market Express Writer In a recent forum, Jon Wickham, Halliburton district manager, expressed his belief that the extraction ex-traction industry in the Uintah Basin is an integral part of the global energy economy. "In terms of the world-wide oil business," Wickham says "world consumption consump-tion is around 80 million barrels of oil a day." "We, here in the basin as energy extractors, contribute to that intake." His remarks were made before be-fore the Uintah County commissioners commis-sioners and Vernal City council members in a joint session on June 22. Wickham stated that while only some of that oil comes from the Uintah Basin, the local reservoir of natural gas is a different dif-ferent story. In fact, the natural gas extraction industry in the basin, an outgrowth of the oil industry, operates at the global market-level. "Natural gas is now at 22 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in national consumption," says Wickham, "and it is projected pro-jected to go to 27 tcf by 2020, which is a 25 percent increase." Much of nation's natural gas comes from reservoirs tapped in the Uintah Basin in Utah and the Piceance Basin in Colorado. Wickham notes, "The fundamentals fun-damentals of domestic gas production look good for the long-term." Unlike the 1980s, when gas production was tied to the oil extraction industry, we no longer have associated gas production." Since then, the natural gas industry of the basin has grown into its own. His comments illustrate the change in the extraction industry indus-try to become more responsive to the increasing demands for natural gas supply in the US. Becoming energy self-sufficient means recognizing that "our natural gas localized economy has gone global," said Wickham. Utah Businesses Put Employee Health at Top of 'To Do' Lists UDOH Releases Worksite Wellness Survey Report Health care can be costly for employers, but many Utah businesses are catching on to the benefits worksite wellness programs offef to their bottom line. A recent Utah Department of Health report shows that nearly one-third of Utah's medium me-dium and large workplaces now offer employees comprehensive worksite health programs aimed at providing activities, education and an environment that supports sup-ports healthy lifestyles both in and out of the office. The report is based on survey data from nearly 500 medium (50-99 employees) and large (100 employees) businesses across the state. "These programs pro-grams can give employers as much as a $6 return on investment invest-ment for every dollar spent," said UDOH Director of Health Promotion LaDene Larsen. "Utah businesses like ARUP Laboratories and the Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Communica-tions Center are leading the way to wellness with healthy lifestyle challenges, lower insurance premiums for healthy behaviors, and education on health issues like high blood pressure and high cholesterol," said Larsen. The survey was designed to evaluate Utah's worksite wellness well-ness programs against a national goal to increase the proportion of worksites offering wellness to employees. A comprehensive A still day st Dry Forte C "One of the factors that will affect af-fect our marketability is in the transportation of gas." Right now, the basin industry relies on extraction with outlying outly-ing transportation to production produc-tion centers and distribution hubs. In this way, "we are still somewhat economically tied to conditions condi-tions beyond local lo-cal control," he said. He pointed to a recent drop ttik tnuwtji. Jm in natural gas pricing which was attributed to lagging construction con-struction of pipeline capacity to transport gas out of the Opal Hub in Wyoming. Looking to offset these impacts, im-pacts, county commissioner Darlene Burns asked "what is the local capacity for natural gas storage in the basin?" "The short answer is none," replied Wickham, notingthe market will likely be better "served once the Rockies Express Pipeline is completed." com-pleted." In the planning stages now, the pipeline will connect the basin's gas industry with the east and west coasts with "an expected first phase range in the 1.8 billion cubic feet in daily capacity." The Rockies Express project will build a 1,678-mile natural gas pipeline that will connect the Meeker Hub, Rio Blanco County, CO to the Clarington Hub, OH in the eastern leg. The Meeker Hub 136-mile extension was completed in 2006 connecting Meeker to the Wamsutter Hub in Wyoming. Projections are that the Ohio pipeline extension will be in service before 2010. The western extension of the Rockies Express will lead from Wamsutter to the Opal Hub in Lincoln County, WY, which is anticipated to be in service by January 2009. Overall pipeline construction will bring together program is defined as one that includes: 1) health education, 2) a supportive social and physical environment, 3) integration of the worksite program into the organization's structure, 4) linkage link-age of related programs, and 5) a health screening program. So how does Utah measure up? Overall, 30.2 percent (1,126 employers) of worksites surveyed met the comprehensive criteria. Seven percent met a more stringent strin-gent criterion developed by the UDOH that requires several programs be in place under each of the above elements. All worksites had at least one supportive social and physical environment program (for example, ex-ample, a formal written policy relating to drug and alcohol use) and most worksites (90.1 percent) had at least one health education program delivered to employees via e-mail, intranet, brochures, posters, or videos. But the survey also shows employers can do even more. Only 56 percent of worksites had integrated their wellness programs into the organization's structure by having the support of the CEO, assigning a person or committee to oversee the program, or having a budget to support it. Sixty-eight percent of worksites had linkage to related programs like an Employee Assistance As-sistance Program (EAP), and 49.1 percent had at least one :lr;:;::i. a partnership of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Sempra Pipelines Pipe-lines & Storage and Conoco-Phil-lips, among others. Mike McKee, county commissioner, com-missioner, stated that "the Uintah Basin is now considered consid-ered the premier pre-mier natural gas reservoir in the US." "We anticipate that Halliburton and the energy industry will play a contin llltiim, ued important role in our community" com-munity" into the future. Halliburton's basin integration integra-tion is more than mere economics. econom-ics. "We live here too," says Wickham. "Halliburton is part of the community." "We feel so strongly about growth in the area that Halliburton is planning to expand their Naples' facility with a $30 to 35 million investment." invest-ment." "Right now, we have 300 employees here in the basin," he said. Looking at the projected drilling activity "we anticipate our growth may be near 33 percent over existing levels in 2008 and 2009, or 100 additional people." Halliburton'splans for expansion expan-sion are tempered by limitations in the available workforce. Even after workers are hired there remains the nagging problem of affordable and available housing in the Uintah Basin. "Housingis an important part of the equation," equa-tion," said Wickham. Halliburton has an active recruiting program established to bring laborers into the basin's employment market. Wickham says, "Entry-level folks on straight salary find it challenging challeng-ing to qualify for home loans." Wickham closed his remarks by promising to work with local officials of-ficials to resolve housing restriction restric-tion over the coming months. health-screening program. ' "Utah businesses have made some real progress, but a lot of work remains to be done to help Utah workers get healthy and stay healthy," said Larsen. "We'd like to see more worksites achieve the desirable, more stringent strin-gent UDOH criteria." Based on the survey results, the UDOH recommends the following: fol-lowing: Worksite wellness programs should include both primary and secondary prevention and health education programs. More corporate policies should be established to create a supportive social and physical environment that allows for healthy employee lifestyles. Worksite wellness committees commit-tees should be established to ensure that employees' health needs and interests are addressed. ad-dressed. Funding for wellness programs pro-grams should be included in corporate budgets. Wellness programs should be linked to other health offerings offer-ings such as employee assistance programs, nurse advice lines, and on site health screenings to ensure the program is accessible to all employees. For a complete report, or to learn more about worksite wellness in Utah, please visit: http:www.health.utah.gov worksitewellnessfacts.html. UBATCUSU BUILDING UPDATE Applied technology center, university nearing final plans for neiv building Br Krai tear Express Publisher Construction of the new Uintah Basin Applied Technology Col-legeUtah Col-legeUtah State University building build-ing has set back as planners find ways to address too much ground water and figuring the best way to build a firm foundation But the delays should not impact the overall construction schedule. According Rob Behunin, executive director of university advancement at USU, problems holding up the final plans have been related to groundwater and a highly saturated ground soil system starting between four and five feet below the surface on the property at 500 N. and 1800 W, just south of Uintah High School. Behunin is also the director for the Uintah Economic Development Develop-ment Special Service District He explained the bedrock is about 16 feet below the ground surface, and engineers have determined placing a series of geopiers down to bedrock and then attaching a floating foundation founda-tion for the building would be the best. Geopiers are created by drilling drill-ing a wide shaft to the bedrock. After installing a casing in the shaft, it is then filled with native bedrock best suited for the local soils. The foundation of the buildings build-ings will be attached to these piers, leaving it independent from the soil, which are likely to shift and settle in the future. According to the plans these geopiers will be 36 inches in diameter will be located about four feet apart so approximately 300 of them will be located under the buildings. Other alternatives included drainingoff the water or building up the soil to build the structures, but these were deemed too expensive expen-sive as prices were estimated in the millions of dollars. m CD z 0 "This brings our foundation costs back down to $400,000 rather than more than a million for the other alternatives," said Behunin. "This also gives us a good foundation that does not move with the soil movement that would be expected in such wet conditions." Final plans will be submitted submit-ted to the UBATC board this week, and are set for review and finalization by the Utah Division Divi-sion of Facilities Construction and Maintenance the following week. Big D Construction has been awarded the bid. Behunin said the construction firm is working on the Lowe's shopping complex in Vernal. "We will see savings as Big D piggy-backs heavy equipment usage at both locations, plus other shared costs," explained Behunin. The process of ground scrubbing scrub-bing should begin July 9, and the buildings are expected to be ready for use by fall 2008. There are two components to W"-f " ECTr,,,iTr-"ir,,!jf,",'''""' Call Tonya at 789-3511 to place a classified. c How taking on work for August and September. 0 0 the UBATCUSU complex. The first is a two-story classroom and computer facility that will house such classes as nursing, computers, comput-ers, labs and chemistry. The other is tie "dirty" building where the shop area will be located and such programs as diesel mechanics, petroleum and welding. UBATC will vacate the trailers trail-ers they are now in located next to the high school in Vernal, as the new faculty will provide all new space for them and their programs. USU will also enjoy the new space made available, but will retain their present building on US. Highway 40 in Vernal. With the additional space there will be more educational offerings by both schools. Chemistry, Chem-istry, life science and biology general sciences are some of the new courses that will be offered by USU , "It's going to be a very busy place when it opens," stated Behunin. "The building will be used from 7 a.m. toll p.m., five days a week." July, |