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Show 1 , 1 irTrn l!i'Jv!;,;!!v!;'''Jl"Jv'i""i.i.i.iMi,i,,,i,i,i ---irjraXW j r I I 1521 TaLASJ0C1 L j;'S SALTiLAKE CITY UT 84124-6705 - 4 OPEN FOR FUN Uintah Community Center opens doors. C1 n aaHa 11 5th Year No. 26 Vernal, Utah 84078 50 CENTS 626 ': 627 Weather by 9155 9256 ASPtN BROOK P!fnt ot sun. Mdinlv D r A I TV ui Hih m the sunny. Highs KcAL i Y, llNC km SNts nd in ihc low kmsinthe WwhIIows Caq A7 mid 50s. in the mid vCC Mf 50s. 4 7 V taej-gaaa,M1ftirt-.f.ff n-ajg Jwvr '-niririL Wfcia&aaiaiilW f .."Surf; Your Hometown Newspaper vv.ww.vernal.com Wednesday Juns 20, 2000 iiif f ii By lis Bowen Uintah Basin News Service A cloud of smoke filled the air across the southern end of the Ashley Valley on Thursday night as firefighters responded to a blaze near 1100 S. Vernal Avenue. Vernal Fire Chief Sam Howard How-ard said the fire was started by neighbors who were burning debris de-bris in their yard. He said debris drifted across the property line around 7:30 p.m., starting a fire with flames that reached from 20 to 30 feet in the air. Vernal firefighters were in a training meeting at the station at the time of the call and were on their trucks in less than a minute after the call, Howard said. Naples firefighters also responded, putting more then 20 firefighters and six trucks on the scene. Howard said residents were advised to avoid the area, particularly par-ticularly if they have respiratory problems. Traffic was diverted away from VelhaF Avenue at 1500 South and 500 South. Crews finished cleanup around 3 a.m. and traffic was allowed back onto South Vernal Avenue. The main fuel source for the blaze was a woodpile, however several tires and a few cars and recreational vehicles also burned. A single-wide trailer was severely damaged, making it unlivable. A second double-wide trailer was smoke damaged and a window was broken by the intense heat, but the occupants have been allowed al-lowed to continue living in the trailer. Howard said a dollar amount for the damage is unknown. There were no injuries. He reminded re-minded residents that the period for open burning has expired for the season. "We need to make people aware that stuff is drying out," said Howard, who added that residents should haul debris to the county landfill rather than burning it. TP" j Firefighters from Naples and Vernal fire departments respond to a fire south of Vernal that started when burning debris spread into a neighbor's yard. Vernal Fire Chief Sam Howard said his department was in training at the fire station when the alarm sounded. He said crews were able to save several nearby structures because of the quick response. President's energy initiative backed by county Mary Bernard Express Writer In a one.year, the price of oil rose from $55 to $135 a barrel, driving the national average for ' a gallon of gasoline from $2 to more than $4. . Impact from higher fuel prices has raised transportation, food and living costs throughout the country. On Wednesday, the president asked ' Congress to eliminate "old and outdated restrictions on increasing our domestic supplies of oil and gasoline." Bush proposed a new energy policy that would do away with the legislative ban on oil shale lease lands, "after considering each individually and requiring requir-ing appropriate environmental protections." Commissioner Mike McKee spoke with the Vernal Express on Thursday offering the county's position on the potential for commercial com-mercial oil shale development in the area. "Commercial oil shale development devel-opment will begin here," said McKee. "We know, for example, that the Green River Formation has between 1.5 and 1.8 trillion barrels of oil in three states: Colorado, Colo-rado, Utah and Wyoming. That's enough to serve the nation's oil needs for 100 years." McKee believes that that county is uniquely poised to initiate production. He credits eastern Utah, over other areas, with active exploratory oil shale leasing in the past few years. "Shale oil requires an average $50 a barrel in order to be commercially com-mercially viable," the commissioner commis-sioner explains. "It's practically three times that now. It's not price or process, it's access to the land that is restricting the industry now." McKee refers to the morato rium established by Congress on lease lands managed by the federal government. Many are western lease lands associated with the Green River Formation oil shale. "Congress sidetracked the leasing provision built into the Pro-grammatic Pro-grammatic Environmental Environmen-tal Impact Statement," he said. "That makes the PEIS nothing more than a resource docu ment. It lacks value for energy production." The PEIS was intended to locate energy resource allocation alloca-tion areas across western federal lands. Without the leasingprovi- sion, the document is a mere map that restricts the BLM from issuing is-suing oil shale energy permits. Congress has further prohibited prohib-ited the BLM, the president said, by restricting "spending of t r nun hen hno I - t, VJ UUUIIlJII until w bmof bm wowi in regulations on oil shale as a framework for potential commercial com-mercial operations." opera-tions." 0 ly one company Oil Shale Exploration Explora-tion Company, has a valid oil shale exploration explora-tion permit at this time. OSEC bundled 22,000 acres of private land with 8,000 acres of BLM land in order to receive a that permit. wtiml leioumi wltih bang Mik MA Uit'lak Cowty CmwuUioiWb "If we're serious about energy independence, we need to replace the leasing provision," McKee insisted. "The county supports the removal of the ban on leasing and streamlining the regulatory process toward energy extraction." extrac-tion." McKee said the county prefer s that the leasing document be returned. More than that, he said the county favors procedures that develop time lines for consultation consul-tation and that these schedules be followed. Legal wrangling in many cases has added years to the process. "We support the National Environmental En-vironmental Protection Act process," pro-cess," he said, "but it shouldn't be used to stop potential production. We can have the best of both worlds, developing our natural resources and being careful environmentally! en-vironmentally! SEE ENERGY PLAN on A2 'I" 5 i J S ( - -ry ft s-i V r.i 1 ft i jr-i Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Jon Gardiner documents damage to an airplane after the pilot made an emergency landing on U.S. Highway 191 and collided with a truck hauling gravel. The incident restricted traffic north of Vernal Wednesday morning until after 10 a.m. The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation report into the landing has not been released. Two injured in emergency aircraft landing on U.S. 191 By lis Bowen Express Editor Theoccupantsofasmall plane suffered minor injuries last week when the pilot made an emergency emer-gency landing on U.S. Highway 191 north of Vernal. The incident occurred just north of Steinaker Reservoir a few minutes before 8 a.m. Wednesday. "The pilot said he had engine trouble," said Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Cameron Roden. As the pilot of the 1959 Piper attempted the emergency landing land-ing flying north over the highway, the plane collided with a southbound south-bound semi-truck hauling two trailers loaded with gravel. According to U1IP reports, the left wing of the plane hit the front of the truck, sheering off nearly half the wing and sending the plane spinningcounterclock-wise. spinningcounterclock-wise. The plane collided with the second trailer before coming to rest behind the semi facing the opposite direction it had originally origi-nally landed. Bart Hyde, 45, of Layton, was flying the plane with his son 1 7-year-old Austin Hyde as a passenger. pas-senger. Both were transported by ambulance to Ashley Regional Medical Center. Roden said the two were in fair condition. The pilot had injuries to his face and the passenger had an injured arm. The driver of the truck, 27-year-old JodyPixton of Bluffdale, was not injured. "We don't foresee any citations," cita-tions," suid Roden, adding that the matter will be turned over to Uintah County Attorney's Office for review. Though the highway was not completely closed, UHP turned non-essential traffic away from the crash site and reopened the highway to all traffic shortly after 10 a.m. The truck Pixton was driving, operated by Barett Trucking, was towed from the scene. Debris from the plane and the fuselage were removed from the road but left on site until Federal Aviation Administration officials were able to perform an investigation. investiga-tion. A spokesman for the FAA said Friday the agency had concluded its investigation and would be turning the findings over to the National Transportation Safety Board. The results of the NTSB report have not been released. 1' . LlTfAn mm 7 fiiHdrawfc? F-xit Realty Professionals 1285 West Hwy 40 . Vernal, Utah 84078 (435) 789-EXIT (3948) A 5.h -f" ' - ' " Ovr 3200 sq ft. with fiv btdroomi nd thru kathi. 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