OCR Text |
Show Wednesday, December 31, 2008 A7 Something to tali alouL. auction Vernal Express o J was easy claims oiader By Paul Foy Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The college student who infiltrated a government auction for oil and gas parcels said last week he didn't plan to run up prices and disrupt the sale until an auction clerk asked him, "Are you here to bid?" With that, Tim DeChristo-pher, DeChristo-pher, 27, a University of Utah economics student and environmental envi-ronmental activist, showed his driver's license, picked up bidding bid-ding paddle No. 70, and quietly seated himself in the bidding hall on Dec. 19. He snapped up 22,500 acres of parcels between Arches and Canyonlands national parks that he doesn't plan to develop or even pay for. He also drove up prices on other bids by hundreds of thousands of dollars. : Nobody else has infiltrated a government auction to cause so much turmoil, according to officials at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Investigators submitted reports re-ports last Monday to federal prosecutors, based on DeChris-topher's DeChris-topher's own account of his auction play. No decision on charges against DeChristopher was expected until after the holidays, and the case would go to a grand jury first, said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah. DeChristopher huddled last Monday with Ron Yengich, a prominent Utah defense lawyer, and Patrick Shea, a lawyer who also was head of the Bureau of Land Management during the Clinton administration. Shea said the BLM didn't require bidders to show proof of a bond or their ability to pay for leases prior to the Dec. 19 auction. auc-tion. That was a practice Shea said he folio wed as head of the bureau for two years ending in 1999. "Somehow, the regulations changed, an indication of their rush" to sell oil and gas parcels before President George W. Bush leaves office next month, said Shea. "It was rush before the door slams behind them: 'Let's get as many leases out as possible.'" BLM "officials didn't return calls seeking comment. The lawyers also discussed with DeChristopher the possibility possibil-ity of finding sympathetic and well-heeled donors to raise $1.7 million to pay for his leases, and whether that would keep him out of trouble. DeChristopher said his bidding bid-ding won moral support from his mother, a founder of the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, but consternation from his father, a retired natural-gas engineer. "He's not especially pleased about the actions I took and the fact that I put myself at risk," DeChristopher said. The Dec. 19 auction drew scathing criticism from actor Robert Redford and a lawsuit by environmental groups, who are challenging the sale of 80 of 131 offered parcels. Stephen Bloch, a staff lawyer for the Southern Utah Wilderness Wilder-ness Alliance, said a majority of the contested parcels were among the 116 sold during the auction. Many of the 13 parcels DeChristopher De-Christopher won were the subject of the lawsuit or protests filed by the National Park Service. In response to complaints from the Park Service and other groups, the BLM ultimately dropped more than half the 359,000 acres first proposed for auction, including includ-ing drilling parcels that had been bunched up on the boundaries of Arches National Park. Still, activists said the auction auc-tion sales included parcels that threaten Utah's wildlands or could spoil the view from some of the state's spectacular national parks. DeChristopher said he was willing to leave his fate in the PROCEEDS TO FUND NEW CJC FACILITY Uintah County sells Children's Justice Center By Mary Bbinard Express Writer At its Dec. 29 meeting County Commissioners agreed to sell a parcel of county property, the Children's Justice Center building build-ing across from Ashley Regional Medical Center, to facilitate construction of a new center in the neighborhood of the Public Safety Building. The medical center has offered of-fered to purchase the property and to meet the appraised value of the home, roughly $213,000. In addition, ARMC agreed to allow the CJC to operate from its current site until the new building is completed. The old building has a number of plumbing and heating prob lems and must be replaced, the commissioners said. Proceeds from the property sale will be used as an in-kind match for a Community Impact Board grant to fund the building project. Public notice of the sale was published for two weeks in the Vernal Express before the hospital hospi-tal agreed to the terms of the sale. mbernardvernal.com seeks s hare of bailout Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has highlighted $14.4 billion in state infrastructure projects that could be significantly expedited expe-dited with an infusion of federal economic bailout money. The lists compiled by state agencies include potential road, rail, water, energy and building projects. These could begin within 180 days and would take anywhere from 12 months to 5 years to complete. It is estimated 124,000 jobs would be created. "These ventures would provide concrete stimulus to our economy resulting in positive posi-tive impacts to Utah families," Huntsman said in a press release. "This is a tremendous opportunity to fast-forward work on critical infrastructure projects and create a focus on Utah's effort to develop more (compressed natural gas)." The list of projects was submitted to the National Governors' Gov-ernors' Association to submit to the incoming presidential administration as potential, ready-to-go infrastructure ventures that might be eligible for federal funding. Canal project wins engineering award By Scon Ruppe Guest Writer The West Side Combined Canals Ca-nals Salinity Project (WSCCSP) was named by the American Council of Engineering Companies Compa-nies of Utah as a winner of the 2008 Engineering Excellence Grand Award. During the past decade, the seemingly impossible was done when the most unlikely of groups came together and collaborated in western Uintah County: Uintah Uin-tah Water Conservancy District, Ouray Park Irrigation Company, Uinta River Irrigation Company and the Ute Indian Tribe, represented repre-sented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, agreed to implement an irrigation project that would combine seven irrigation canals into a single pressurized-delivery system to serve 14,000 acres. While individuals from all of these entities have collaborated to bring the project to fruition, one person in particular, Vern Richens, had the vision and acted as the catalyst to complete the project. Vern serves as vice chairman chair-man on the board of trustees of the Uintah Water Conservancy District and represents the area of the project. He also serves on the board of Uinta River Irrigation Irriga-tion Company. Without his interest, inter-est, insistence and constancy, the project may not have ever become a reality. This project is not going to grace the cover of a magazine anytime soon. There are no architecturally archi-tecturally stunningphotosof the pipeline. Instead, there is a group of hard-working agricultural folks, farmers, who are benefiting benefit-ing from a combined canals system sys-tem delivering their water. The WSCCSP's facilities consist of a one-of-a-kind diversion structure that diverts up to 200 cfs of water from the Uinta River, rehabilitation rehabilita-tion of the Cottonwood Reservoir outlet works, 8.3 miles of 48-inch diameter HDPE pipe, almost 7 miles of other large (24-inch to 36-inch) diameter pipe, and 21 miles of laterals. Construction also included installation of several sev-eral pressure reducing stations, various types and sizes of valves, water meters, and reinforced concrete structures. The first obstacle to the project was to acquire sufficient funding to design and construct the WSCCSE That funding was provided through the Bureau of Reclamation's (BOR) Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program, the Natural Resource Conservation Service's (NRCS) Parallel funds and funds from the Uintah Water Conservancy District. Another obstacle faced was coordinating and solving the ecological and environmental issues due to the decrease in. seepage from the canals. There was also the sensitive subject, especially in times of drought, of managing the water rights of the project participants. The project areas' water rights include Native Na-tive American water rights and non-Tribal water rights. Some participants have storage rights while others have only direct flow rights. Probably the most difficult diffi-cult obstacle was the historical mistrust between the entities. In the end, however, to their credit, the project participants have cooperated to share resources rather than compete for a less than adequate water supply. With these obstacles overcome, : ; k " ;- ?- J Vern Richards had the vision and acted as the catalyst to complete ' the project. water has been conserved, water deliveries have been maximized, crops yields have increased, and the usable water supply has been increased through the efficiencies efficien-cies created as a result of the project. The WSCCSP was much more than the typical pipeline replacement replace-ment project. It involved overcoming over-coming technical challenges resulting re-sulting from combining systems that had historically differed in water usage. This project is a good example of the benefits that can result from looking at the bigger picture of an engineering project. By combining the various vari-ous canal replacement projects, water conservation was achieved at a lower cost. In addition to the water conservation benefit, which increased the available water supply of the project participants, par-ticipants, salinity contribution to the Colorado River system was reduced at a more efficient rate, which allowed other salinity projects to be funded. The final phase of the project was completed in the summer of 2008 with a total project cost of just over $15 million. In the end, the WSCCSP proved to be innovative, valuublo, beneflcial, complex, and successful. hands of U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman for what he described as a simple act of civil disobedience he took spontaneously. He had arrived outside the government office building only to join a demonstration against leasing wild areas of Utah, then stepped inside a lobby hoping to draw a complaint. Instead, he met a friendly BLM clerk who asked if he was a bidder. DeChristopher said his education educa-tion in economics wasn't even necessary, and that he didn't have any bidding strategy. At one point, he bid on a dozen successive succes-sive parcels near national parks, but he said he knew only that the parcels were located somewhere near Moab. "It was just raise my arm as often as possible, bidder No. 70," DeChristopher said last Monday in an interview at a Salt Lake City restaurant. "I was trying to make it obvious I was there to disrupt the auction." It might have been his bidding style, or the fact DeChristopher was wearing a purple down jacket and carrying a rough leather saddlebag. But after grabbing 13 parcels and running up prices generally, other bidders complained to BLM officials, who pulled DeChristopher out for questioning. DeChristopher said he readily acknowledged he never intended to pay for his parcels. "One of the parcels I took was for $2.25 an acre," he said. "That's shocking - that we can sacrifice our public lands for as little as $2.25 an acre." mm VlfiHUL Express 60 Easl 100 North Vem.il, Ul.ih 84078 435-789-3511 ec & ceo Only 18 per pound I AlADCt price in v- Basin; Basin Cleaning Systems 590 W. Main 789-5888 3 EASU STEPS TO QUALEFU FOR HOUR OWN HOME O GET PRE-APPROVED O LOCATION O HOME Clayton Homes 3768 So Redwood Rd West Valley Utah Fax: 801-975-7782 Phone: 801-975-7781 JMI JHI IHJI III MJII II Hill .J II I,.-i iii.i mmmmynmmmimrm mmTrJfrwrn-r.i .i ii 1 1 mm u. i mmmnmnmmam " ""''"""" l.-.i-fa.....,-a,-i,(ftfiJ tigi lilllP With After Hours Answering Service A V kmMrfjmjJa.... ., , mJ, i , n " I UMafki ,l!HfUllU rrlHH(JL4j ASPEN BROOK I ' J-'Vv REALTY INC. r 1 I " I 1 .KL" Ji , .5558 North Dry Fork Canyon C -tj. On 3 acres with this 3, possibly 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 3360-SF home in Dry Fork Canyon. You'll enjoy a welcoming living room, custom kitchen with pantry, wood floors, solid-surface countertops, work island, appliances included, informal family room, finished basement, a large laundry room and so much more! MLS 829934 "Expect the Best" 1340 West Highway 40, Vernal, UT 84078 Office: (435) 789-7555 Fax: 781-2913 Pat Harrell, Agent, GRI, CRS 828-5063 Jessica Schofield Agent 828-5280 Wed 1231 2814 Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 20s and lows in the mid teens. Sunrise Sunset 7:39 AM 5:02 PM Thu 11 2811 Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 20s and lows in the low teens. Sunrise Sunset 7:39 AM 5:02 PM Fri 12 2917 Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 20s and lows in the upper teens. Sunrise Sunset 7:39 AM 5:03 PM Sat 13 275 Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 20s and lows in the mid single sin-gle digits. Sunrise Sunset 7:39 AM 5:04 PM Sun 14 247 Snow showers. Highs in the mid 20s and lows in the upper up-per single digits. Sunrise Sunset 7:39 AM 5:05 PM We Celebrate Uometcncn Life Stories for and about hometowns just like yours. Look for us each week in this paper. Utah At A Glance Logan M 3223" en V 3528 , Salt Lake City "O 3528 Provo 3423 Vernal 2814 Cedar City , 4417 Moon Phases Of. New First Dec 27 Jan 4 cv o Full Lasf Jan 11 Jan 18 UV Index Wed 1231 Thu 11 Fri Sat Sun 12 13 14 Low Low Low Low Low Ths UV inde is measured on a 0-1 1 number scale, wilh a higher UV Indox showing the nood lor grp.Hni skin pio-lecliori pio-lecliori 0 S 1 1 Area Cities Uoiwor Blanding Briyham City Cedur City Delta Elko, NV Evanston, WY Farmington, NM Fillmore Fluystaff. AZ la nibt sunny 19 mst sunny 26 pt sunny 17 mst sunny 19 pt sunny 19 pt sunny 20 pt sunny 14 mst sunny 21 pt sunny 1 2 pt sunny National Cities AiUnla Bob Ion Chicago Dalliis Denver 4U lit bill II IV 32 9 snow 21 15 sunny 61 33 sunny 40 29 mst sunny Uiand Jcl, CO Green River Hohor City Knnab Logan Moab Mt. Pleasant Ogdon Park City Preston, ID 31 31 42 32 33 32 35 29 30 1 b pi sunny 1 2 pt sunny 1 6 pt sunny 22 pt sunny 23 pt sunny 1 5 pt sunny 1 7 pt sunny 28 pt sunny 23 pt sunny 22 sn shower Hm-.e Provo Richfield Roosevelt Salt Lake City Sandy St. George Tooole Vernal Wendover lb pi 34 23 pt 20 pt 14 pt 8 pt Pt 41 28 35 35 29 49 34 m 35 28 pt 28 14 pt 36 24 pt tiumty sunny sunny sunny sunny sunny st sunny sunny sunny sunny Los Angeles Miami Minnfinpolis New York ti.i 44 nl sunnv 67 47 sunny 77 61 mst sunny 12 7 mst sunny 38 19 mixed Miounix San Francisco Seattle St. Louis ti 4.1 sunnv 58 42 pt sunny 41 30 rain 34 23 sunny Washington, DC 43 24 windy ir'nor, Ammlrwn PtnlHn Hnmntown Conlnnt fimvlt ft |