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Show k A'vYfV MOAB, UTAH 50$ Volume 107 WEATHER FORECAST Risk of removal: Will residents be Thursday Party cloudy High 46 Low 25 Friday exposed to harmful e dust? Party cloudy High 49 Low 29 AX Saturday Chance of snow High 45 Low 27 air-born- Chance of snow showers High 41 Low 21 Homes for the holidays The Moab Humane Society joins the No More Homeless Pets campaign this holiday season. Truck terminal Williams Energy is working on plans to build a truck terminal at Crescent Junction by fall B1 iNSIOEjTmTjKES Business Directory: B3 Calendar B3 Church Directory. 64 Crossword Puzzle: B11 Classifieds: B11 Dining & Lodging: B5 Editorials, Letters: A6-1- 0 Notices: A3, BIO Obituaries: A4 Region Review: B1 Television Listings: B2 Real Estate Weekly inside WEATHER HISTORY Date- - j x Nov. 29 54 23 -N- ov. 30 59 29 -- 1 2 54 24 49 21 3 54 4 51 --- 29 20 55 21 5 Dessert Theatre premiers new works by local playwrights in a production this Thursday and Friday evening at the Moab Arts & Rec. Center. To subscribe to nit.TiiMfc. Independent can subscrtwmoabtimes.eom This Tmes-fodepend- news-pap- is er T A D printed on recycled paper end is recyclable. Workers donft like 3 raise County to examine budget in response to angry dept, heads At Mondays afternoon session, council members said they were trying to create a balanced budget without raising taxes. But some workers argued that the portion of tax being paid into the countys general fund through the mill levy has actually decreased steadily since 1992. Three percent just isnt going to cut it," by Lisa Church staff writer The Grand County Council will take a second look at its proposed 2001 budget after some county employees expressed anger that the council recommended only a three percent pay increase for county workers. Department heads argued that growth in the county has significantly increased the workload for employees, yet wages still lag behind similar positions in other counties throughout the state. said County Building Inspector Jeff Whitney. And it isnt just because you dont want to raise taxes. The mill levy has gone down by almost half. Are we the only group of employees in the county that is not going to get a raise?" Whitney said he worried that his jobs employees will take better-payinelsewhere if the county does not increase wages to make the county more competitive. And, he said, the county promised employees that it would provide larger raises for 2001. They promised raises lat year to bring us somewhere in line with the state. And they didnt do it. Then g Continued on Page A2 Pile workers lose jobs as funds run out First theres the data. Air monitoring records from projects similar to the one being contemplated in Moab show levels. of radioactive duirpmained significantly below national safety standards at all times. Second, theres the operation protocol. At the Monticello mill tailings site the most recently completed DOE project to relocate a tailings pile the -- Environmental Protection level Agency set a for visible dust Several sources say the standard was mainzero-toleran- ce tained to a good degree, been progressing steadily since That work has been funded by a trust set up during the Atlas Corporation hanjmuatcy-t- wo years ago. But now, with the work only partially completed and the tailings in an unfinished state, thos funds are almost gone and workers are being laid off. A representative of Atlas tailings trustee PricewaterhouseCoopers says they expect the money will be gone bethough neighbors close to the fore the first of the year. pile reportedly did voice comThe company is concerned that uncertainplaints at times. And windstorms did pose a minimal ties surrounding the problem. next presidential adminThose are the basic facts, in istration have thrown a nutshelL But the real story is Continued on Page A2 in the details. To begin with, whats in the pile that could potentially harm someone if it attached itself to a dust particle and became airborne? A person driving past the site Continued on Page A2 Tribe receives title to oil shale reserves In an historic ceremony Monday in Fort Duchesne, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson handed over to representatives of the Ute Indian Tribe the title for the Naval Oil Shale Reserve (NOSR) II from the Department of Energy, an act authored by U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon as H.R. 4165 and signed by the President earlier this year as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill. Moab Repertory Theatre CThe two-par- Moab on the bank of the Colorado River. Its sides and top are being reshaped in an effort to dry the toxic mud buried at the center of the heap of waste. If the river, will from moved the pile is eventually away over waft dust Moab, exposing citiclouds of radioactive cancer? of risks zens to increased This fall Congress gave the Department of Energy control of the Atlas tailings pile and there are strong indications it will be moved, though funding has not yet been secured even to begin the project. But if and when crews do begin loading up the toxic material and hauling it away, should Moab residents worry about adverse health effects from windblown radioactive dust or other hazards? Over the past year The has invesTbe issue. the research, tigated though not exhaustive, seems by Franklin Seal to indicate the risks are ministaff writer mal, with the possible exception Work on the first ofdust kicked up during strong phase of the Atlas tailstorms. ings pile cleanup has Times-Independe- B12 Dec. Dec. Dec. Dec. Dec. t series. a by Franklin Seal staff writer The Atlas tailings pile sits just two miles north of This is the first installment in Sunday Thursday, December 7, 2000 www.moabtimes.com Number 49 The amendment included a provision that transferred control over the Atlas tailings pile site near Moab from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Department of Energy. Richardson was on site to ceremoniously transfer reserve ownership to the Ute Indians who live on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation surrounding NOSR 11. Richardson thanked Cannon for his driving force in getting this legislation passed. U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett also played a key role in getting the amendment passed by attaching it to the Defense Authorization bill. In 1927, the Department of Defense took the oil reserve from the Ute Tribe to meet oil shortages during World War II. Cannon said this land belongs to the Tribe, and praised the transfer as long overdue. I am pleased that the U.S. government is now returning land that rightfully belongs to the Ute Indian Tribe. The oil reserve was used to protect our country in a time of crisis. But that time is over, and now the Tribe deserves to have control of its land. This transfer will help the Tribe develop its economic base, benefiting both its community and financial infrastructure." A percentage of the royalties collected from the reserve will be used to clean up the Atlas Uranium Mill tailings pile next to the Colorado River in Utah. Cannon said this will not only protect the environment surrounding the River, but will also reduce the taxpayers burden. We have proven that protecting the environment and strengthening our economy can be accomplished simultaneously," Cannon said. poor COPY j Moab hikers pass by a pool in lower Kane Springs Canyon at the beginning of their annual Thanksgiving Day hike. Recent weather in the Moab area has seen crisp mornings and sunny afternoons with mild temperatures prime conditions for late fall canyoneering. As you consider outdoor activities this weekend, dont forget Moabs Electric Light Parade Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. Photo by Franklin Seal. Working up an appetite: County appoints McLeod to water board by Lisa Church staff writer On Monday night, the Grand County Council unanimously appointed council member A1 McLeod to the board of the Spanish Valley Water and Sewer Improvement District McLeod will fill a vacancy created when board member George White retires at the end of this year. McLeod also was appointed to the county's Solid Waste Management Special Service District. He is also a member of the Airport and Library boards. At a council meeting two weeks ago, mid-ter- m the possible appointment sparked a heated exchange between some council members and staff and board members of the water agency. At that meeting, agency board member Paul Morris told McLeod he should not bypass the application procedure to fill a board seat and suggested that if McLeod were appointed without doing so, the board might not accept him. Council Member Harvey Merrell reminded Morris and Agency Manager Dale Pierson that the county could dissolve the board at any time. This week there were no signs of animosity on either side. Pierson and several members of the Spanish Valley board attended the council meeting but did not object to McLeods appointment and said the council had the right to assign one of its members directly to the board. On Tuesday, both McLeod and Pierson characterized the disagreement as a simple misunderstanding. Some of the things I had said were taken out of context," Pierson said. We didnt go to that meeting prepared for that discussion because it wasnt on the agenda. And we were following the procedure that had been set by the council in the past. Everything the council did last night was fine. Als a board member and thats fine with us. McLeod said he was pleased that the council and the water agency had put the disagreement behind them. It kind of diffused itself over time," he said. I think it was a misunderstanding over how the board interacts with elected officials, and from what I saw last night thats resolved and things are back on track. McLeod joins the board in January. Moab teachers m ; ' ' talk the talk but don't walk "7'AS. s mu V' V ' ' , . w... .J, V. t v jWw.; 'T) Ji-x " c '.(. V )y m m. -.- i jf, ' Vs ... . ;wJ participate in the strike, and local .v Erosion control Mike Randall cleans out a trench Tuesday at the top of a Utah Department of Transportation erosion-contrproject along Highway 191 south of Moab. The project, which employs wire cages filled with rocks, is designed to stop erosion in a wash next to the highway and is nearing completion. Photo by Franklin Seal ol Many Utah teachers walked off the job Tuesday in an effort to draw attention to the need for a long-terfunding plan for the states public schools. The one-da- y statewide job action was called by the board of directors of the Utah Education Association - the states largest teachers organization - after a legislative task force failed to produce a long-terfunding proposal acceptable to the Association's 19,000 members. Grand County teachers opted not to schools were running as usual on Tuesday. Grand was one of 14 of Utahs 40 school districts not participating in the strike. The Grand Education Associa- tion voted to remain in school that day, and to work in other ways to educate the community regarding the needs of pub- - Continued on Page A3 |