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Show Page A6 Thursday, June 24, 1982 The Newspaper oniitaift Trail Elides Steak Rides Overnight Trips 20 minutes from Park City In The Wasatch National Forest PIUTE CRSZK OUT FXTTSRS INC. Barb and Arch Arnold Phone 783-4317 Kamas, Utah 84036 Write or call for free brochure and reservations Holiday Vitiate Matt 649J074 ' Stop By niNOftf IDS! Cody Hoffman I M Ever. I A 1 I Ml Mave you registered for the irthday Club"? A special message will be sent to your child (ages hl2) on their day. Each month a gift will be presented to the boy or girl whose name is drawn. f ll ft ti Nicklaus Golf Course is getting greener Workmen have begun to lay sod on the new Jack Nicklaus Golf Course, according ac-cording to architect Spence Smith, spokesman for the Enoch Smith Company, developers of the 18-hole facility. Smith reported that sod was being used on the aprons to the traps and on the perimeters of the greens. The other areas on the course cour-se will be seeded or hydroseeded, he said. "I expect that we can get about two fairways a week," he said. Bentgrass is being used on the tees and greens, with a bluegrass mixture on the fairways and rough. Smith predicted that the course would be ready for some exhibition matches this fall, and open for general use next spring. Planting of trees, mostly native species such as aspen and spruce, would probably take place in late fall, he said. r I 1 V- J 'Si f" - Q. ) "4, ' " JSP1 1'- TL s photo by Michael Spauldlng Through Kamas Valley? Route of gas pipeline still undecided The proposed Rocky Mountain Pipeline Project (RMPP) slated to deliver natural gas from Wyoming to California apparently is a viable project, but construction construc-tion still is somewhere in the unforseeable future. Dell Waddoups, projects manager with the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Division of Resources, said plans for the 583-mile pipeline pipe-line have been put on hold while the project's backers work out problems with market and supply. In the meantime, the Kamas Valley Soil Conservation Conserva-tion District, a group of farmers and ranchers opposing oppos-ing construction of the pipeline pipe-line through the Kamas Valley, still is pushing for an alternate route around the west edge of the valley. Area farmers argue that the pipeline, which would require re-quire 50- to 100-foot wide rights-of-way through private pri-vate and public lands, would alter the flow of subsurface water in the valley, draining wetlands and changing irrigation irri-gation patterns. Irrigation water, they argued, would follow the path of the pipeline. The proposed gas pipeline is a project of a four-party partnership, including the Pacific Gas Transmission Company. Applications for certification of the project are being submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington, D.C., according to Waddoups. The BLM will not make any decisions on the proposed pipeline route until the FERC has held public hearings and taken action, he said. The proposal calls for the 36-inch diameter pipeline to extend from Lincoln County, Wyoming, to the Nevada-California Nevada-California border in Clark County, Nev., where it would connect with a new 27-mile-long intrastate pipeline proposed pro-posed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Pacific Pacif-ic Lighting Gas Supply Company. Some 5,500 acres in permanent perma-nent right-of-way, 7,400 acres for temporary construction con-struction use and several hundred more acres for borrow material, access roads and other facilities would be required to build the project. Most of that acreage would be in Utah. In the lengthy Environmental Environ-mental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project, the FERC and the BLM differ on their recommendations for getting the pipeline through the Kamas Valley. The FERC's environmental staff, in its conclusions, notes that the West Kamas Valley route would avoid most of the farmland crossed in the valley and cites the concerns of landowners about the ability of RMPP to restore the right-of-way. The west alternative would also avoid sandhill crane habitat, but would be three miles longer than the route through the valley and would cross rougher terrain. "Because of the additional length of the variation and because pipeline crossings of agricultural land general create insignificant impact, the proposed route (through the valley) is preferred," the FERC said. BLM conclusions, however, how-ever, state that the west Kamas Valley alternate is preferred over the route through the valley." "The local people are quite concerned that their marginal margi-nal farmland not be traversed. tra-versed. This land is not plowed because the surface layer of soil is underlain by a rocky strata which comes to the surface with plowing. Some of this land is irrigated by ditches that release water to flow by gravity across the surface of the meadow hay and alfalfa fields. "During the construction period and the period of rehabilitation and maintenance, mainte-nance, the local farmers, who already have marginal operations, would be forced to suffer disrupted agricultural agricul-tural operations until their fields carried water as before. "The Department of the Interior land managing agencies prefer to avoid disruption to the lives and " occupations of the rural' population in the Kamas Valley by using the West Kamas Valley Variation," the EIS said. There is yet another alternate alter-nate route for the entire project, and it's one the FERC favors over the Rocky Mountain Pipeline through Utah. Termed the Northern Systems Variation, that route would extend from Wyoming through Idaho up to Stanfield, Oregon at the border of Washington. There it would join the proposed western leg of the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Systems through Oregon into California. The FERC, in the EIS, said, "The Northern Systems Sys-tems Alternative is a significantly signifi-cantly superior alternative to the proposed (RMPP) project. Unless it can be demonstrated that the alternative alter-native is economically or I jl ll 1 V-v Mlw , : Good looking Sportswear, Western fashions and footwear for the whole family 31700 PARK AVENOE. PARK CITY. UT. 84060. 649 4949 otherwise inferior, the proposed pro-posed project (through Utah) should not receive FERC approval since it is not environmentally equivalent equiva-lent to or better than the Northern Systems Alternative." Alterna-tive." That alternative, the EIS states, not only is 154 miles shorter than the RMPP, but could be constructed entirely on or adjacent to existing pipeline rights-of-way. The FERC said the RMPP is environmentally sound, but would have to establish a new utility corrider through many areas. Bill Mace, Summit County soil conservationist with the federal Soil Conservation Service in Coalville, said an in-house conflict exists between be-tween the BLM and the FERC over the best route for the pipeline. The gas companies, com-panies, Mace said, prefer the new route through Utah because it would be more cost-efficient in the long run. It would cost more to build initially, but gas could flow naturally through the line to its destination. With the Northern Systems Alternative, Alterna-tive, however, the companies compa-nies would have the constant cost of fuel used to condense gas before it enters the Alaska pipeline at Stanfield. In the meantime, the local Soil Conservation District is drafting an "article of interference," inter-ference," requiring the federal fed-eral agencies to inform the district of any hearings or action pending on the project. Robert Ure, chairman of the district, said the letter will require the agencies to let the district know of all action taking place so the group can intercede prior to any decision-making. "We have stated we do not want the pipeline through the floor of the valley," Ure said, "although the west route is acceptable." Ure added that all three of Utah's congressmen are solidly behind the district in its stand on the issue, and are ready to intercede in the decision-making process on the district's behalf. But the RMPP, according to Waddoups, remains a viable project. Its proponents, propon-ents, he said, fully intend to build it at some point. Marily Ryan, spokesperson spokesper-son for Pacific Gas in San Francisco, Calif.; Confirmed that the RMPP is "on indefinite hold," and that its progress depends on market and supply. But it would take a crystal ball, she said, to determine when construction construc-tion might start. Other pipelines already exist in the Kamas Valley. One is the Chevron's heatH oil pipeline, which also includes in-cludes an unheated line in the same right-of-way, that extends ex-tends through Woodland into Francis and South of Kamas. Another is a smaller pipeline carrying natural gas for Mountain Fuel. Mace said another pipeline is in the preliminary planing stages. That one would carry shale oil from Vernal to Salt Lake City. League names new officers The Park CitySummit County League of Women Voters, now entering its second year as a government govern-ment education and policy study group, has named officers of-ficers and a board of directors direc-tors for the upcoming year. Susan Dudley has been selected as president of the League, for the second consecutive con-secutive year. Carol Calder will serve as first vice president (membership), and Chris Eberlein is second vice president (program). Secretary is Linda McReynolds, and treasurer is Deanna Carpenter. Other board members for the League in the upcoming year are: Sue Zuchetto, finance; Paula Hurd, voter service; Katherine Janka, public relations; Teri Gomes, county social policy; lancy Cowher, city social policy; Gretchen King, county coun-ty land use; Cyndi Sharp, city land use; Joanne Krajeski, observer corps; Daryl Garnas, education and recreation; Sandy Wright and Mary Coehlo, "Voter" editors; Evelyn Richards, action; and Barbara Gurski, unit chairman. The League of Women Voters welcome new members. mem-bers. Anyone interested in joining should contact Carol Calder, 649-7599. |