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Show 4 B8 Wednesday, January 30 2008 Vernal Express Water Conference to discuss Green River water for Basin growth t By Preston McComoe Uintah Basin News Service While the 20th Annual Uintah Basin Water Conference will discuss dis-cuss many of the normal topics - Western drought, long-range precipitation forecasts, and updates on storm and drinking water issues - the highlight will be a study of how to bring over 350,000 acre feet of new water to the Uintah Basin from the Green River. The two-day conference begins be-gins today, Jan. 29, at noon at the Western Park Convention Center in Vernal, with an awards banquet at 5 p.m. where individuals individu-als from Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties will be honored. Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert has been invited to give the keynote address. ad-dress. Presentations will continue from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday, with Mike Nicholson and Jason Lilliwhite, engineers with CH2M Hill, a large-project international engineering firm. With sponsorship sponsor-ship from the Uintah Water Conservancy District, the company com-pany has completed a study of the Green River-Flaming Gorge area and will present propos als for more than doubling the amount of water being diverted to the Basin. "In the ultimate case of the Central Utah Project, it was noted that (Uintah Basin water) districts could get as much as 450,000 acre feet from Flaming Gorge," Lilliwhite said in a telephone tele-phone interview Friday, noting that so far the Basin is allocated only 22 percent of that amount, or 99,400 acre feet of water from the Green River. The only obstacles in the way of the extra water are: paying for the massive pumps, dams and pipelines; getting water share holders, federal and state government govern-ment agencies and the Ute Indian Tribe to cooperate; and surviving environmental reviews. "The only way they are going to get these things built is if people peo-ple are willing to get together," Lilliwhite said. "It will require multiple water rights changes, and it will need the kind of cooperation co-operation that will only happen if if there is a lot of support for it." At stake is the future role the Basin could play in weaning the United States from dependence on foreign oil. With today's petro leum prices making it suddenly profitable to extract oil from shale and tar sands, and with trillions of barrels of recoverable oil buried in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, demographers demogra-phers are predicting Vernal could become Utah's second-largest city as early as 2020. But none of that will happen without a vast increase in available avail-able water. "The thing is, in order to capture cap-ture that oil, for every one billion barrels it takes about 100,000 acre feet of water per year," Lilliwhite Lil-liwhite said. "So that being said, that's a big part of future water needs in this area." Currently, according to Lilliwhite, Lilli-white, 96 percent of water in the Basin goes to agriculture, 2 percent per-cent for homes and businesses, and 2 percent for generating electricity and extracting oil. In the "near future," he said those numbers will likely change to 52 percent agriculture, 45 percent energy and 3 percent municipal. munici-pal. In addition to the possibilities of more Green River water, Lilliwhite Lil-liwhite said both the Uintah and Duchesne water conservancy districts dis-tricts have already been alloted large amounts of water from the Uintah River that they don't have the means to divert. The Duchesne County Water Conservancy Conser-vancy District has 47,600 unused acre feet of water available, with 51,800 acre feet of unused water available to its Uintah County counterpart. Plans for tapping those allocations include building a new dam on the upper Uintah River on U.S. Forest Service land to form a 25,000 to 28,000 acre-foot acre-foot reservoir. For the Basin to get the water it needs to grow, it's inevitable that a pipeline will need to be built from Flaming Flam-ing Gorge, Lilliwhite said. "That would be quite a proj ect," he said. "Still, if we want the economic strength to support the energy industry, versus supporting sup-porting Saudi Arabia, we need the water to do it." For more information about the 20th Annual Uintah Basin Water Conference, call the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce at 789-1352. Crandall Ganpn families say they'll file a lawsuit BY JfflMffft Dobmer Associated Press Writer SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The families of coal miners killed or injured inside Utah's Crandall Canyon mine said they are planning to file lawsuits against two power agencies involved in operations. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Utah-based Utah-based Intermountain Power Agency should have known that dangerous conditions inside the mine would put workers at risk and lead to deaths, attorneys for the families said. Intermountain Power, whose members are municipal utilities, is co-owner of the mine, and the Los Angeles utility has a management manage-ment role. Both "caused or permitted mining activities to take place within the mine in an unreason- n - 1 ! ' 'jaiiwiimBuii ffinst gpfSTSgS! lT""Slg 0mm I i j- rn I : U dljltH v y H iah's Lowest r Hces oi CvRecliners A 1 REG.-$2699 Z 1 If; with 2 Recliners, Hide-a-bed, t - , . t- Ll IU CIIIU bUIICC LCI LI I vj k , w Solid 1 Wood Fold Away Butterfly Leaf Table Serta Perfect Sleeper Pillow Soft Queen Set Serta Perfect Sleeper Super Pillow Soft 800 Coil Springs, Fire Blocker Pad 3" Comfort Foam Irrterpanel, Reg $1499 $)(o)i "Quality Home r rumismngs wun i i Itty Bitty Prices." I rn . -,r. l I i 'i i; MrJ)-. -..i 5 . - i A, . ' . . r.- -, .... j . Pillow Top, Micro Fiber, I - ..: ji '; v Pillow Top, Micro Fiber. JTT) 1 mm on m v Not including mattress j ' xm 52099 - ; " K- r Is -r 2 V2 ' I y Dresser, Mirror, Chest,'---. ' -Z.ZsCz' I t f Night stand, Queen Bed 'vXi t Queen H . 5 -Dryers -Dishwasiir. 1 , 1 ,r-0 j 4- . rO J i L. 4 I.,,,-, r- I L .,...J LJ -J Size Buy Any Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Pedic Bed and Get 2 FREE Tempur $200 Pedic Pillows Value fjr. Three Months Same As Cash O.A.C. 130 East Lagoon, Roosevelt Open 9am Gpm Hon. - Sat. 722-2239 ably dangerous and negligent manner," attorneys said in letters notifying them that lawsuits will be filed. The lawsuits will seek unspecified unspec-ified damages for pain, suffering, loss of wages and other benefits. Six miners more than 1,000 feet below ground died after the walls of a shaft imploded Aug. 6. Their bodies have not been recovered. Ten days later, during an attempt to tunnel toward the group, three men died during another collapse. The mine is in Emery County, about 120 miles south of Salt Lake City. Under California and Utah law, a governmental entity must receive notice of a lawsuit. The letters were dated last Tuesday and Wednesday. The Los Angeles agency has 45 days to respond and Intermountain Inter-mountain Power has 60 days to respond before a lawsuit can be filed, said Ed Havas, an attorney for the families. Mine co-owner Murray Energy En-ergy Corp. of Ohio and others will also be named as defendants, Havas said. "IPA's sympathies continue to go out to the families of those who lost their lives as well as those who suffered injuries during the rescue efforts," Intermountain Power said in a statement. "IPA respects the right of individuals individu-als or families to pursue legal recourse in the courts, and IPA trusts in the fairness of the judicial system to address such litigation." A telephone message left for the risk management department depart-ment of the Los Angeles agency was not 'immediately returned. Two dozen survivors of the dead miners and two men injured in-jured during rescue efforts will be plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The families of miner Dale Black and federal inspector Gary Jensen, who both died in the second cave-in, are not part of the case at this time, Havas said. Efforts to recover bodies from the mine ended Aug. 31. The shaft has been walled off with cinderblocks. Basin council report on housing Uintah Basin Assistance Council chair, Heather Hoyt, provided a quarterly report to the Uintah county commission on Monday, Jan. 28. "The Utah Code provides for public entities to create housing authorities," said Hoyt recounting recount-ing the history of assistance in the Basin. "Back some years ago, Myton took the lead and created the first housing authority in the region. Then Roosevelt, and finally, Uintah County was poised to do so, in 2001." "Instead, Uintah County partnered with Myton to create Uintah Basin Council Housing authority," explained Hoyt. "Today, the council has 38 Sec-tion-8 housing vouchers, all in use, between Myton and Vernal. There are usually 40 to 60 people waitingfor vouchers. Jolene Daniels, Dan-iels, our director, is working with Roosevelt to apply some of their unused Section-8 vouchers to serve some of those in need." The Uintah Basin Assistance Council has "three housingunits with 67 total units for seniors, including two duplexes, one triplex, 11 crown homes and one three-bedroom home," Hoyt recounted for the commission. "There is also one domestic domes-tic violence shelter operated through the council," she said. "Future projects on the agenda for the council may include construction con-struction of another shelter as well as more affordable housing units for Basin residents. y 789-3511 |