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Show 06 Wednesday, January 30 2008 Schlumberger buys Ev Mark Jewell AP Business Writer BOSTON (AP) - A major defense contractor is selling technology to a large oilfield services company that hopes microwaves will someday become a key tool in unlocking the vast Utah court adopts broad media shield regulations By Jenifer Dobneb Associated Press Writer SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Utah Supreme Court has adopted a rule that allows reporters to refuse to identify confidential sources if called to testify in court, a protection described as one of the most sweeping in the country. "It provides near-absolute protection for confidential sources," sourc-es," Jeff Hunt, an attorney for ; a Utah media coalition, said Thursday. The only exception to the shield rule would be in cases where the information could prevent substantial injury or death, he said. The rule also protects non-r non-r confidential, unpublished in-: in-: formation - notes, photographs and videotape - collected in the reporting process. "Hopefully it will give sources : and whistleblowers the confi- dence to come forward to provide I information (that's) important : for the public to receive," Hunt : said. : "Without some protection for news sources, a lot of very ; important stories would not get : done," he said. The Supreme Court approved : the rule Wednesday, a day after a : public-comment period expired. It will take effect with the signa-' signa-' ture of Chief Justice Christine Durham, said Rick Schwermer, assistant state court administrator. administra-tor. Reporters still can be subpoenaed sub-poenaed to appear in court. And anyone seeking information can also ask a judge to privately re 1 Jgi Mrxm v- i GET IN STEP... 12-step recovery program "With men it is impossible, but not with God; For all things are possible with God. " Mark 10:27 Begins January 17th First Baptist Church (ym) 2100 West Hwy. 40 790-7917 Thursdays 7-8 p.m. Open and Anonymous A' J v , x ftltKtfltllCC'd; ! Is MmA4 u M Mtl ia!eppnnsw! qXcffi MB Pro Jewelry e Mm (anil MaMp Bath S Body P mm but hard-to-extract oil reserves in the U.S. West's underground shale deposits. Much as a microwave oven heats food, Raytheon Co.'s technology tech-nology relies on microwaves to generate underground heat and melt a waxy substance in the shale called kerogen so that it view it to determine if it should be disclosed, although a judge can decline. More than 30 states and the District of Columbia have some type of shield law or rule, according accord-ing to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Arlington, Va. Before the rule, Utah reporters report-ers could offer confidentiality but risked being sent to jail in order to keep the promise. In 2005, Hunt and other media me-dia attorneys joined forces with Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to pursue a shield law. Legislation was proposed but dropped in favor of a judicial rule that could be adopted by the Supreme Court. Attorneys worked with the court's Evidence Advisory Committee Com-mittee to settle on a draft that balanced the public's interest with the state's interest in investigating inves-tigating wrongdoing or crimes. For state courts, the rule provides "clear direction from the Supreme Court about how to weigh the policy issues involved in-volved in these types of cases," Schwermer said. Judges in the past were forced to look at other cases and federal rulings when making decisions. "None of those rulings were really binding on other courts, so we never had any assurances," said Mike O'Brien, a media attorney who helped draft the rule. The new rule does not cover conflicts between authorities and the news media in federal court in Utah. "It's very strong. I think it puts you probably in the top s' Happy Birthday R An IY1UUDCII KUUU! We Love Vou Mom. uaa h ramiiy UADDV" SWEET 16 0 mm I PUH PUH! x nvc vn dq v a Bath & Body Store, Accessories & More IOS6Wtiff40 IPIizuaHiSmWt). n u Vernal Raytheon can be converted into oil. Carbon dioxide heated and pressurized into a liquid form then is used to extract the oil from the rock and carry it to a well. The world's fifth-largest defense de-fense contractor is not the only company focusing on microwaves or other heat-generating tech- 10," said Lucy Dalglish, execu tive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Paul Boyden, executive director direc-tor of Utah's Statewide Association Associa-tion of Prosecutors, said some prosecutors balked at the idea of granting a reporter's shield, but at the same time understood how important confidential sources can be. "We have at least as many confidential con-fidential sources as reporters," said Boyden, who called the final rule "a good compromise." "It's a reasonablebalancingof interests," he said. "It's going to be very rare that we will be able to pierce that privilege." Shield rules frequently are opposed op-posed by prosecutors who claim they block the ability to solve some crimes, she said. "Those folks who have lived in states with vibrant shield laws for a very long time can tell you this really does not cause them to not be able to prosecute," Dalglish said. In a statement, Shurtleff praised the Supreme Court's decision, calling it "a banner day for the First Amendment in Utah." Trash bins present safety concern County officials said Monday that trash containers on roads in unincorporated areas of the county should not be on the road any longer than in necessary. Speaking on recent snow removal re-moval problems, Uintah County Commissioner Dave Haslem said trash containers cannot be left in the road one day to the next. "These containers left on the road are a hazard for the snow plows," Haslem said. "I told the road department to bury them. Some of these roads are lined with trash containers. They are left to one lane of traffic." Jeremy Raymond, director of Uintah Fire Suppression Special Service District, added, "No obstructions can be left in the roadways. Access in an emergency is critical. " Raymond suggested trash containers left out week to week are ending up in the streets. The commission and emergency emer-gency authorities ask that residents resi-dents remove trash containers after pickup and limit the time containers are out as much as possible. Our Ack are worth the time in the... VtPHM xpress 54 North Vernal Avenue Vernal, Utah -435-789-3511 www.vernal.com e Cologne tti Pre-made or Custom Made Much, Much More! Pamper f Yourself! I Express technology to mine nologies to address an engineering engineer-ing challenge that oil companies have tried to crack for decades - so far with no efficient, environmentally envi-ronmentally sensitive method that's proven commercially viable, vi-able, despite rising oil prices. In a deal announced last Tuesday, Tues-day, oilfield services company Schlumberger Ltd. is buying technology that Raytheon developed de-veloped with Boston-based CF Technologies, which supplied expertise to extract oil using so-called "supercritical" liquid carbon dioxide. Lee Silvestre, a Raytheon vice president, said Schlumberger was paying an undisclosed upfront up-front fee along with royalties that could extend "multiple decades" for any revenue Schlumberger generates through the technology. technol-ogy. Some of the proceeds would be shared with CF Technologies. Technolo-gies. Waltham, Massachusetts-based Massachusetts-based Raytheon and Houston-based Houston-based Schlumberger would not disclose further details. Rod Nelson, a Schlumberger vice president, said in a phone interview that Raytheon's technology tech-nology shows potential to generate gener-ate a more efficient return than other extraction methods, as measured by the amount of energy en-ergy expended to produce oil. Schlumberger, which plans to review other extraction technologies tech-nologies as well, hopes to move beyond the laboratory tests that Raytheon and CF Technologies already have conducted and eventually try out the procedure at an underground oil shale deposit. de-posit. Nelson said the company would "invest a fair amount of time and effort and money By Jennifer Dobner Associated Press Writer LBSJ SALT LAKE CITY ( AP) - Gor- Hinckley, the 15th president donB.Hinckleythelongest-serv- of church, died due to compiling compil-ing president of the Church of cations from age and was sur- X L LDS President and Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley died Sunday night in Salt Lake City, surrounded by family. Photo: LDS Church AMCB:C,LSSEsS Tauuht bv Rachel liarsen I t- ; ( ' , : . k ' . I I 'I M- 1 ! il-l I , . t- For more information call 789-6823 in developing it further, so we can eventually deploy it in the field." Raytheon and oil companies began exploring ways to extract oil from shale decades ago, but many efforts were shelved in the 1980s as oil prices and supplies sup-plies stabilized. Some projects - including Raytheon's - were revived in recent years because of spiking prices, technological improvements and hopes of decreasing U.S. dependency on foreign oil. Most of the attention is focused on oil shale reserves scattered across federal lands in Colorado, Utah and southwest Wyoming - an area estimated to contain up to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil trapped in shale, or three times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. Of that, roughly 800 billion barrels is considered recoverable. Raytheon - which invented microwaving food by accident in 1945 after a Raytheon engineer noticed waves from radar equipment equip-ment had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket - is not the only player using microwave technology to try to unlock the treasure. West Berlin, New Jersey-based Jersey-based Global Resource Corp. is taking a similar approach and in November announced a research agreement with a Pennsylvania State University professor to conduct research on commercializing commercial-izing its process. Since 1996, Shell Frontier Oil & Gas Co. has conducted tests on private land in western Colorado. Those tests involve baking shale rock in the ground with electric heating rods, then pumping the 1 'resident, inckley dies at 97 Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Sunday, a church spokesman said. He was 97. j IV V i . 4 V ' Vi- (I tiill . !l Ml It. pi. oil shale melted oil to the surface. Shell said any commercial development develop-ment of the technology is several years away. Raytheon's technology also involves underground heating, but using microwaves beamed using transmitters lowered into Jim Bunger, chief executive of Salt Lake City-based petroleum research firm James W. Bunger & Associates, said Raytheon's process could require large amounts of electricity to generate gener-ate the microwaves. The process involves multiple steps of heat conversion, with some energy lost during each stage -a method he said is more complex than Shell's approach. But John Cogliandro, who heads Raytheon's effort, said the company's expertise in radar and guidance systems proved valuable in fine-tuningthe microwave micro-wave frequencies in a way that enables the heat to target the shale rather than surrounding dirt and rock. He compared that energy-conservation energy-conservation effect to the way a microwave oven heats up food without significantly heating a plate or bowl. Raytheon claims it can retrieve re-trieve four to five barrels of oil for every barrel of oil consumed in the process. Other methods have reported 1 V2 to three barrels for each one consumed. Because microwaves can generate gen-erate heat faster than convection heating, shale can be adequately heated to extract oil within a month or two of beginning production activities, rather the year or longer for other methods, Raytheon says. ijorao rounded by his family. Hinckley, a grandson of Mormon Mor-mon pioneers, was president for nearly 13 years. He took over as president and prophet on March 12, 1995. He oversaw one of the greatest periods of expansion in church history. The number of temples worldwide more than doubled, from 49 to more than 120 Md church membership grew from about 9 million to more than 12 million. Like his contemporary, Pope John Paul II, he became by far his church's most traveled leader in history. And the number of Mormons outside the United States surpassed sur-passed that of American Mormons Mor-mons for the first time since the church, the most successful faith born in the United States, was founded in 1830. The church presidency is a lifetime position. Before Hinckley, Hinck-ley, the oldest church president was David O. McKay who was 96 when he died in 1970. Hinckley had been diagnosed with diabetes and was hospitalized hospital-ized in January 2006 for the removal of a cancerous growth in his large intestine. In April 2006, he told a church conference he was in the "sunset of my life" and "totally in the hands of the Lord." By unfailing tradition, at a church president's death, the church's most senior apostle is ordained within days on a unanimous vote of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. The most long-serving apostle now is Thomas S. Monson. Hinckley began his leadership role in 1995 by holding a rare news conference, citing growth and spreading the Mormon message as the church's main challenge heading into the 21st century. "We are dedicated...to teaching teach-ing the gospel of peace, to the promotion of civility and mutual respect among people everywhere, to bearing witness to the living reality of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the practice of his teachings in our daily lives," Hinckley said. Over the years, Hinckley labored la-bored long to burnish the faith's image as a world religion far removed from its peculiar and polygamous roots. Still, duringhis tenure the Roman Ro-man Catholic Church, Southern Baptist Convention and United Methodist Church - the three largest U.S. denominations - each declared that Mormon doctrines doc-trines depart from mainstream Christianity. "We are not a weird people," Hinckley told Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes" in 1996. "The more people come to know us, the better thoy will understand us," Hinckley said in an interview with The Associated Associ-ated Press in late 2005. "We're a little different. We don't smoke. We don't drink. We do things in a little different way. That's not dishonorable. I believe that's to our credit." |