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Show Wednesday, April Bob Bennett Continued from Al but he also said that many of those same scientists he has discussed the situation with are reluctant to give solutions, partly because a lot more research needs to be done and partly because many of the proposed fixes in the works are political moves, rather than scientific ones. "When I have asked some of them about their ideas on solving the problem and bring up some of the solutions that have been proposed, many of them just say they are scientists and they just don't know about those solutions," solu-tions," he said. "It looks to me that we should do everything we can logically do to reduce these emissions." For Bennett however that doesn't mean not burning coal for power and industry, but by putting put-ting the blame for high C02 levels in the proper perspective. "One of the things I have A2 VERNAL (USPS 0892-1091) Periodical postage paid at Vernal, Utah Published weekly at 54 N. 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"A good example of one that was not caused by man, and is a huge source right now, were hurricanes hurri-canes Katrina and Rita. Trees store C02 in them and when they die and decay they release that stored C02 very quickly as they decompose. Those two hurricanes hur-ricanes mowed down and killed whole forests in the southeast and now those trees are decaying decay-ing and releasing the gas into the atmosphere at a tremendous rate." But despite these natural occurrences, Bennett also said any energy policy should put an emphasis on clean coal technology. technol-ogy. "We need to make abiginvest-ment abiginvest-ment in these technologies," he . said. He also thinks an energy policy should include an increase in the production of domestic oil and gas. "We need to look at drilling drill-ing in ANWR Arctic National I I I I In the Uintah Basin 1 Yr.$26-2Yr.$48 Out of the Uintah Basin lYr.$42-2Yrs.$70 of State -1 Yr. $46 2 Yrs. $80 Zip4 Sorry No Charges Efficiency process. Accountabi 3 '1. fZ Vernal Wildlife Refuge and along our shorelines," he said. "It can be done safely, while respecting the environment." He also said the country should work toward developing develop-ing it's tar sands and oil shale resources as much as possible. This kind of policy would bode well for eastern Utah where oil shale and tar sands resources are substantial. Countries like Canada have taken advantage of their oil shale deposits producing produc-ing millions of barrels of oil per day from them. The neighbor to the north is also the largest importer of oil into the United States and the largest exporter in the world. However, present technologies technolo-gies to do that often require large . amounts of water, somethingthe local area is not blessed with, especially es-pecially during drought years. Bennett says that oil conservation conser-vation is also important, so that supplies can be stretched, use reduced and with that prices would come down as well. Some of that could be done with better bet-ter CAFE standards, or having car makers make more efficient vehicles. "We shouldn't care what kind of car you want to buy, but if someone buys a car with mileage mile-age that is above say point A, we should be giving tax credits for that," he said. "Of course tax credits don't help poor people much, because they don't pay as much tax, so any tax credit for efficiency should, in that case, be applied to the purchasers down payment." Bennett says development of other kinds of energy are also very important too. "We really need to look closely at nuclear power," he said. "People "Peo-ple worry about the waste from a plant, but we could increase reprocessing to eliminate some of that problem." Bennett says he likes the idea of solar and wind energy for electricity as well, but thinks the country is missing the boat a bit by not looking more closely at tidal power. "I really think that the action ac-tion of tides and the generation of power from that should be something we seriously consider for givingus a substantial source of energy," he said. One of the things Bennett says he doesn't like in energy policy is the cap and trade process. Under that process for instance someone can pay money because they produce certain kinds of pollution and that money will my. f X Y Express be used to mitigate their impact somewhere else. "I saw this huge pickup in Salt Lake that had a bumper sticker on it that said the carbon from that truck is being mitigated by so much money the owner had paid to some organization to plant trees," said Bennett. "But how does an individual know that is being done with the money they pay?" He brought up the example of Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) who is a farmer and has a lot of trees on his property. He told Bennett Ben-nett he had been approached by some type of conservation company com-pany that wanted to pay him so much so they could say his trees were in their reserve. They were not planting new plants, but only wanted to pay a small amount for trees that were already in the ground and had been there for years. "I think cap and trade, the way it works today, is the perfect chance for a scam," he concluded. Bennett listed the following items as part of an energy policy that he would support: Significant investment in clean coal technology. Increased domestic production produc-tion of oil and gas for less dependence depen-dence on Middle East fuels and lower prices. Nuclear investment. Increase the supply of petroleum petro-leum products. Introduce a massive new Group wants SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Green, Uinta, Logan, Whiter-ocks Whiter-ocks and Provo. Those are just a few of the Utah rivers cited in the "Renowned "Re-nowned Rivers" report that a local environmental group wants protected from dams, diversion or development. The report from the Utah Rivers Council cites 17 of state's most beloved rivers and creeks. They say those waterways deserve protection under the U.S. Wild and Scenic Rivers Act passed by Congress in 1968. Some 165 rivers in 38 states are protected under the act, but none are in Utah. Council Solutions Coordinator Coordina-tor Mark Danenhauer said the U.S. Forest Service will release an environmental impact report and source of energy like tidal en- ergv. Promotemeaningfulconser- vation including unit pricing for 7 ' . A. .V. Utah Senator Bob Bennett hosted and addressed attendees of a rural business development conference in Price last week. More than 500 people attended the conference held at the Carbon County Event Center. protection for recommendations for wild and scenic river designation later this year. Eighty-six rivers, creeks or river segments in Utah's national forests are being considered. The Forest Service relies on input from local elected officials to determine a "suitability" factor fac-tor for each of the rivers or river segments under considering, he said. "Ultimately, suitability is a political process," Danenhauer said. , Opponents to federal designation, designa-tion, including county commissioners commis-sioners from around the state, say it will stifle development and endanger water rights around listed rivers. The nonprofit organization has earned support for the protection pro-tection of some river segments ( t i ' M O n . f .fl910'Jfi. "X, Energy. Efficiency. Sustainability. electricity as determined by use and time of day. .Develop better car standards and how tax credits are earned. Utah rivers from commissioners in Summit, Daggett and Carbon counties. The council has also met with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, about 21 miles of the Fish and Gooseberry Creek that flows through Utah, Carbon and Sanpete San-pete counties, but has no commitment com-mitment of support, Danenhauer said. Protecting Utah rivers under the wild and scenic designation would mean each resource would be managed so that nearby development de-velopment would maintain or enhance its value. "It's not like we're going to stop any of these sorts of development develop-ment activities from happening. We just want to make sure they're consistent with the way the river is today," Danenhauer said. t ' j in.) i . i f v-j I i jr. |