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Show C10 Wednesday, October 8, 2008 Vernal Express Companies tell state board there's enough water to develop oil shale v - - . r I . sr . jr' ) f 1 . V , - - ? r ... 0 ' L: - ii- - HUNTER'S ELK Chuck Preece, here with Vernon Richens, walked the Book Cliffs for many years before he drew out for this season's elk hunt. It was worth the wait, taking this bull, which scored 397 3A. "He would have been more except for the breakage; he's nine points on one side and seven on the other," says Preece. Over time, Preece has hunted the Book Cliffs with Stacy Richens, Brett Neilson, Josh Kempton and Stacy Hunting. As he explains, "I've been looking for an elk this big for years, but I'm almost 80, it couldn't take much more time. As it was, it took six days and two hours for two of us to winch this big one onto the 4-wheeler trailer." By Stephen Speckman Deseret News Officials from two oil companies com-panies told state regulators Thursday that the Uintah Basin has plenty of water to supply commercial-scale development of oil shale in Utah. Laura Nelson, Red Leaf Resources Inc.'s vice president of energy and environmental development, and Gary Aho, Oil Shale Exploration Co.'s vice president of operations, told the state Board of Water Resources in a meeting at the State Capitol that Utah has sufficient water for developing its portion of oil in the Green River formation. The Green River formation spans Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, Wyo-ming, and is estimated to hold 800 billion barrels of recoverable recover-able oil locked in shale, about 70 percent of it on federal Bureau of Land Management property. With a moratorium now expired ex-pired on leasingpublic lands to oil companies for shale projects, the big lingering question is whether Utah's desert environment has enough water to support the people and processes it will take to tap the shale. The oil shale would need further refining, possibly pos-sibly in Utah, to become usable crude. Nelson and Aho said their companies will rely on sources such as the Colorado, Green and White rivers, and possibly use water stored in Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which would require an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation. The companies also would use a small amount of recover able water that already exists in the actual oil shale and recycled water from current oil and gas operations in the Basin. Ba-sin. "Our goal is to minimize water wa-ter usage," Aho told the board members. Both companies claim that, because of technological advances, ad-vances, they will need far less than the five to seven barrels of water that in years past has been needed to produce a barrel of crude oil. Now, the companies estimate that they will need one to three barrels of water per barrel bar-rel of oil. Nelson told the board that the question is no longer if commercial-scale development of shale will happen. "I think the question is: When is this going to happen?" said Nelson, who until last year was Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s energy adviser. Utah-based Red Leaf uses a shale-production technology, technol-ogy, which the company calls EcoShale, and aims to produce "low-emission 'green' diesel fuels from oil shale," according to the company's Web site. Huntsman is working with Red Leaf in that endeavor, the company said. Nelson said her company is "really very, very close" to making mak-ing the "leap" from research and development to at least a small commercial operation. She estimated esti-mated it would take two years to establish a small-scale production pro-duction and five years to have a large-scale operation that would produce 30,000 barrels of oil per day. Red Leaf currently has access to more than 17,000 acres of state land in eastern Utah that Nelson described as "a lot of sage brush." Alabama-based Oil Shale Exploration and its partners claim they now have or will have access to private and public land that will yield 2.7 billion barrels of oil. Both companies will soon be going after leases for a lot more oil shale on federal lands managed by the BLM. Nelson said getting that federal fed-eral land will lessen the footprint her company will have in Utah, because fewer access roads will need to be built if the companies can work with more contiguous state and federal land. The water needed by Red Leaf and Oil Shale Exploration will be mostly for dust control on dirt roads their vehicles will be using, as well as water for workers work-ers and production. At full-scale commercial production in the Basin, estimated to come sometime some-time after 2020, about 20,000 employees and their families who will depend on oil-shale operations for employment will need water. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The state has issued new warnings against eating certain fish because of elevated levels of mercury. The six new advisories bring to 15 the number of mercury warnings for fish in Utah bodies of water. The latest advisories recommend recom-mend that adults limit their consumption of smallmouth bass at Jordanelle Reservoir in Wasatch County; largemouth bass at Sand Hollow Reservoir in Washington County; and brown trout at Pine Creek in Garfield County, Porcupine Reservoir in Cache County, Rock Creekbelow the Upper Stillwater Reservoir in Duchesne County, and the East Fork Sevier River between Otter Creek and Piute reservoirs in Piute County. Children and pregnant women should not eat the fish, the state Department of Health said last Tuesday. The state has tested fish for mercury in 261 Utah bodies of water since 2000. Fish in 15 bodies bod-ies of water had elevated levels of mercury. Besides the new warnings, revisions have been made to several other advisories - Splake trout 12 inches and larger from Joe's Valley Reservoir in Emery County; rainbow trout at Newcastle Reservoir in Iron County and Upper Enterprise Reservoir in Washington County; and brown trout at the Weber River near Morgan in Morgan County. Children and pregnant women should not eat the fish, and adults should limit their consumption. The limits for adults range from one to two 8-ounce servings per month. An 8-ounce serving is the size of about two decks of playing cards, the state Department Depart-ment of Health said, 1 Also, at Calf Creekin Garfield County, children and pregnant women should limit their consumption con-sumption of brown trout to two 4-ounce servings per month. For adults, no more than two 8-ounce services per month is recommended. Chronic exposure to low concentrations con-centrations of methyl mercury can harm a developing fetus or children. The health risks associated associ-ated with eating fish from water with elevated mercury levels are based on long-term consumption, not eating fish occasionally. The consumption limits recommended by the state Department De-partment of Health are based on thresholds established by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Express 54 North Vernal Avenue Vernal, Utah - 435-789-351 1 Questar Gas files for rate reduction By Paul Foy Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Questar Gas Co. plans to offer a rate cut because drilling in the Rocky Mountains is driving down prices in the volatile natural gas business. Questar will lower the price it charges households for natural gas by 5.3 percent starting next month. It filed the request last Thursday with the Utah Public Service Commission. Questar President and CEO Ron Jibson said gas production is up in the Rocky Mountains, driving down regional prices. He said that's a sign the market is working; ' : ''"' "This is good news for our Utah customers," Jibson said in a statement. "For the third year in a row natural gas costs i3 rea t to keep you in the game .? - .. : I '. , 1 . M 4 . V I , 1 1 s 1 . 1. . -"I -r-1 j i a n Tin ONLY$29 After $50 mail-in rebates with 2-yr. service agreement on both lines. See below for details. Includes red & blue faceplates. Optional faceplates shown. mycircle' mi y 1111 i it You. 10 friends. 1 private jet to the game of your choice. Enter for your chance to win the ultimate VIP gameday experience, text FLY to 57533 or visit alhelfootball.com. Reqular-season game, Charges for text entry vary & will appear on your bill Text STOP to end or HELP tor program information. Alltel Retail Stores llmse Detail Sims Now Open Sunday Utah Cedar City 603 S MainSt 435I865 0!01 Prica 12b S. Hwy. 55 1 14351 637-4440 Richfield 850 N. 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Sponsored by Antol 1 7008 Alltel Communication., U C All rights reserved. nsnorlivB nwners Urn RIM ft BlockBerrv iistoied with the U S Patent & Trademark age with the keyword "lly" "ret," "circle." . IA. KS. K. I A. Ml. MN. Mfl, MS. MT, NC. f on I IH.08 Limil 1 entry per person per day CnnstKner Inlnim.lton 1 Cm J e4ll' are dropping going into the heating heat-ing season, so we're passing the savings on to our customers." The rate cut would lower a typical homeowner's bill by about $43 a year, the utility said. It's expected to go into effect for the winter. Outside of Alaska, Questar is the country's cheapest provider pro-vider of natural gas for home use among major utilities, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In Utah, Questar delivers natural gas for $9.70 a decath-erm, decath-erm, plus taxes. A decatherm has a heat value roughly equal to 1 ,000 cubic feet of gas, depending on the quality. two winter days. Questar's Utah customers have a special arrangement with the utility. Under a court ruling 32 years ago, Questar was forced to sell gas from its Wyoming fields at no more than the cost of production pro-duction to its Utah rate payers, who helped pay for the drilling. Utah consumers get about half of their heating gas through this arrangement, which buffers them from market upswings. ... When the market price for natural gas goes down, Utah rate payers save even more money. Questar also said its production produc-tion costs have been flat thanks to better technology, keeping rates cut the rate to around $9.15 a decatherm, said Barrie L. McKay, manager of regulatory affairs for Questar. A decatherm is enough gas to heat a typical house for in check. And with more efficient The utility is proposing to heating applfances7cufomeirs use 36 percent less natural gas than they did 25 years ago, the company said. Questar also serves parts of Wyoming and Idaho. 3 THEFT UPSETS HOMEOWNER Once again, Connie Meyer's lawn sculpture of Betty Boop was taken from her front lawn at 500 W. 494 S., Vernal, on Sept. 27. Meyer's front lawn has several other representations of Betty Boop, a cartoon character from the mid-1 930s, and the stolen items are among her favorite figures. The sculpture stood more than five feet tall and was attached to a tripod for stability. Because this is recurring problem for Connie she has offered a reward for information leading to the return of her property. To contact Connie Con-nie call 435-279-0593. Federal spending in Utah is 'paltry' SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -New census data shows the federal government spends less taxpayer money in Utah than any other state except for Nevada. The U.S. Census Bureau says the federal government spent $6,486 for every residentinUtah last year, 25 percent less than the national average. The federal government spent nearly $ 1 7.2 billion on salaries for local federal workers, contracts with Utah companies, Medicare and Social Security benefits, grants, running military bases and more. Virginia received the most federal support - $14,277 per resident. CLAS1FECHDOS ...are worth the time in the... VlPNKl express 64 North Vernal Avenue. Vernal, Uuh 435-78B-351 1 www.vernal.com |