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Show hti fiiitfnririiiiiiftiiitfiiiinionirwyfr A 'Ifri'wii'tiri Price 50 Cents Wednesday, April 17, 1991 Volume 69 Number 16 Mine officials comment on JT wHs. dust sample tampering issue Last week the Department of Labor accused more than 500 coal companies of tampering with respirable dust sample tests. The tests are used to determine air quality within woridng areas of the mines. Every mine but one in the Carbon-Emer- y area was cited for violations, along with Southern Utah Fuel Company, SUFCo, Salina Canyon - and Skyline, near Fairview. The allegations did not surprise most miners, who say they are familiar with ways to alter dust n testing results, according to Fillmore, editor of the Sun Advocate. United Mine Workers President, Richard L. Trumka, told Fillmore that the dust sampling structure was structurally flawed and said violations will continue as long as companies are allowed to monitor their own compliance with the law. On the other hand, two mining companies in the Carbon area challenged the validity of the allegations, questioning whether visible damage to a small percentage of sample filters constituted proof of fraud. The samples in question are taken when miners wear a small pump with a cassette attached to their shirt near their face. The cassette contains a filter which collects s sample of the coal dust the miner would be breathing while performing his work. The pump and cassette are also hung in designated work areas to monitor concentrations of dust in those areas. Samples are sent to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for analysis. If a sample exceeds MSHA standards, the area is retested. If an average of the tests exceeds standards, the mine company must adjust ventilation, water spraying, etc., in order to bring dust levels into compliance. In the course of its 20 month MSHA checked investigation, 120.000 samples, submitted by about 2.000 coal mines. Nearly 5,000 Ro-san- ATV School this Saturday in Salina Vehicle School An will be held in Salina on Saturday, April 20. The school will be held in the area south of North Sevier Jeep Posses Shooting Range. The training is required of youth 8 through 15 years of age who want to operate OHVs and ATVs on public lands. A parent or guardian must be present during the entire 6 hour class. Call Police Chief Gordon Kie-s1 for more informa at tion. Another class may be held April 27th if enough interest is shown to justify it. in el 529-331- Aurora's citywide cleanup April 22-2- 7 Aurora residents are reminded that the annual city-wicleanup week will be held April 22 - 27th. Saturday, the final day, the city will host a dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the city park for all residents. de Hearing screenings for kids up to 8 yrs. Hearing screenings and evaluations will be given by the Utah School for the Deaf on Friday, April 19, between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The hearing van will be at Pahvant Elementary School, Richfield. Children between the ages of 6 months and 8 years can be tested -the test is free. Contact Janet Curtis, 896-628-6 for more information. Cyprus Minerals and Energy West Spokesman, David Eskelsen, both pointed out that the number of questionable samples were a very small percentage of the total samples collected and submitted. Eskelsen said that in a two year period more than 1 300 samples were collected and analyzed at Energy West Mine. Five are suspected of tampering. It doesnt make much sense for a company to tamper with five, with that kind of volume, he said. David Scott, spokesman for the Coastal Corporation, parent company of SUFCo and Skyline mines. citations were issued to 847 coal mines. MS HA intends to propose a civil penalty of about $1,000 for each violation, according to Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin. I am seriously concerned over the potential health consequences of elevated coal mine dust levels going undetected due to sampling fraud. For the sake of the miners health, we must act decisively to end tampering without delay, Martin said. Bob Jennings, UMWA safety director noted several ways the samples can be altered. In some The health of too many coal miners is at risk" Richard L Trumka, United Mine Workers President cases a miner may wear the cassette with his coat zipped over it. In other cases he may simply hang it in the lunchroom area - away from the work site. It is also possible to recalibrate the pump itself. Company officials could also vacuum or blow out the samples as filters were removed from the cassette to be shipped to MSHA for analysis, Jennings said. Dick Hagman, spokesman for said that any abnormality of samples is definitely accidental and not intentional. We do not tamper with samples, he emphasized. He would not comment on the number of samples taken nor the alleged possibilities of how the one sample at SUFCo and three at Skyline may have been altered, as per the MSHA charges. THE SNOW: Last week's snowstorm was a good one, covering most areas locally with 4 to 6 inches. State climatoligists now say that we are caught up with last year's totals on precipitation, but are still well below aveage - as the five year BLOOMING drought continues. Continued on Page 2 General Manager of SUFCo addresses Salina Chamber PATRONS TELL DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD School baseball shouldn't go into summer months A crowd of disgruntled patrons told die Sevier District School Board that they were concerned over the of activities planned for District schools, last week. Ivan Rowley, Principal of RHS , is a representative to the Region 1 0 Board. He said Region 10 made the changes, and saving instructional time in the regular school day was a major reason for the change. Brent Rock, superintendent of the district said that this district proposed moving baseball and softball back to Fridays and Saturdays, with some girls games n Thursday nights. However, Region 10, did not adopt this plan. The plan adopted includes that: All football playoff games be held on Saturdays; Volleyball be held in the Fall on Fridays and Saturdays; Cross Country activities in the Fall; Wrestling on Thursday nights. Rowley noted that on April 3, Region 10 recommended that baseball and softball begin practice March 23 with the first game to be held April 3, and games to be held on Fridays and Saturdays with quarter finals and semi finals being held on Saturdays and the first part of June, with championships games to be held June 13. He said Region 10 has recommended this compromise, and pointed out that many other schools still want all activities held in the summer. Patrons questioned why the schedule needs to be moved into the summer if games are to be played on Friday and Saturday. They said school activities in the summer will cause many scheduling conflicts for students, coaches, and parents. There are senior class trips, church history tours, Utah Summer games, summer jobs, lighting problems, and scheduling problems, for just a few reasons, the patrons emphasized. The patrons suggested keeping the schedule as is, and playing games on Fridays and Saturdays. President Jerold Johnson said that it was evident that the School Board and local patrons are actually in agreement, and suggested contacts be made with individuals in other regions to help change their feelings about these summer activities. What are we going to do when everyone else says go, and we say whoa? asked President Johnson. CITY COUNCIL MEETING Trees on entry road of PioneerCemetery must go From the unapproved minutes of the Salina City Council April 1, 1991 meeting. Kirk Learning from the Salina Fire Department asked the council how much money would be available for fireworks for Salinas 4th of July celebration. He was told that $3,775 had been set aside for the entire 4th celebration, with $500 going to games, etc., and $3,275 for fireworks. Learning will be placing the order for the fireworks soon. Robbie Pierce representing the Pony League, asked if the City would help fix up the middle school ball diamond. He added that they needed a schedule for the Park ball diamonds. Councilman Roy Cooke will work with him on the park schedule. Karren Glover suggested that he get a committee to work on the middle school diamonds. Councilman Cooke will represent the city on the committee. Mayor Nyals Andreason reported on the progress of the grant application for City Hall addition. Recorder Gayle Nielsen asked permission to transfer funds in the accounts. general government Approved. Delinquent business licenses will be turned over to the Court for collection. Supervisor Scott Holt discussed the trees at the Pioneer Cemetery. The Council voted to remove all of the trees on the entry road at the cemetery. Bruce Winn was hired for seasonal work at $5 per hour with no benefits. Chief Gordon Kiesel reported that the police department is going door to door to ticket owners of unlicensed dogs. It was decided to publish a list of citizens who have purchased dog licenses. Continued on Page 2 IN ' Ken Payne, General Manager for SUFCo, was' the featured speaker for the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce in April. Payne talked about the present as well as future commitments the mine had and to the stability it has brought into the Valley. SUFCo recently leased an additional 10,000 acres that surrounds their present leases and northward. Presently the office and main portal is 5 12 miles to the furthest penetration which is nearly to the Muddy if you talk in terms of topographical locations. He stated that the longwall coal miner will move in September of this year to an adjacent section of coal and then would be moved in January of 1992 to the areas furthest from the main portal. Presently it takes about 20 to 25 minutes of underground travel time for the miners to get to work. Presently there are no plans for other loadout facilities. The present ones are made to handle four to five million tons annually. There are 256 employees at the mine and they are producing about 3 million tons of coal annually. This compares to twenty two million total tons of coal produced in all of Utah last year. This breaks down to UP&L producing 13, SUFCo and Skyline producing 1 3 and all other mines in the state producing 13. It was not too many years ago that SUFCo installed their first longwall miner. They were used to an average production schedule of 800 tons of coal in an eight hour shift with an eight man crew. The longwall has increased production to 6,000 tons of coal in an eight man, eight hour shift Payne stated that when sales start reaching 350 million tons a year they would begin looking at the feasibility of another longwall miner. SUFCo has an estimated 118 million tons of recoverable coal reserves which is about a 30 year supply with mining plans going to the year 2020. Present coal contracts are Kennecott, EPP, Geneva, Sierra Pacific, foreign and smaller companies around die area. In Utah power production is the main demand on mined coal. Presently crews are working on two additional breakouts for a total of nine where ventilation fans are located. These fans pull about 600,000 cubic feet of air a minute. Chamber members asked about the amount of overburden where die mine is located. Payne explained pay $2.50 to $3.00 a ton of coal produced in royalties to the state which some of it ends up in the Community Impact Board funds. They paid $2.1 million in taxes in 1990. that the mine is the deepest near the Big Duncan where there is 1800 feet of overburden. Where the longwall is digging now there is 1600 feet of overburden. SUFCo does have an impact on the local economy. In 1990 $10.4 million were paid out in the form of salaries with an additional $1.8 million paid as benefits and $1 million more in bonuses. SUFCo also pays its fair share of taxes and royalties. The new coal lease SUFCo just was awarded cost them $16 million just for the rights to mine the coal. They also Payne was asked about the mines long term contracts. He explained that presently market conditions define a long term contract to be about five years and yes they do have several of these. A film showing the environ- - Contir.ued on Page 2 Salina hosts State High School Rodeo Apr. 19,20 roping, goat tying, pole bendbarrel racing. and ing A Queen contest will be held on The Sevier County High School Rodeo Club is hosting a state rodeo meet to be held April 19 and 20 at the Salina Riding Club Arena, in Salina. More than 250 contestants from around the State will be in attendance over the weekend, with more than 400 entries having been received for the following events: bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, bull riding, team roping, breaka way Friday. Performances will be Friday, April 19,at6p.m. Saturday morning at 11 a.m. will be the slack performance (no rough stock), and the final performance will be held Saturday night at 6 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend, see some great rodeo action, and support our rodeo club. NSHS Track Team sets Community Track Meet Attention all North Sevier Residents! Spring is here, and summer is not far behind, so let's get in shape. To help you achieve this, the NSHS Track Team is sponsoring a Community Relay Meet undo- the lights. May 9, 1991 at 8 p.m. Our challenge to you is to get all of your teams together to represent your business, company, organi-zaitoetc. We expect participants f om SUFCo, all school faculties, Robinsons, Barney's, Farmers, House wives. Chamber of Commerce, Local dentists, Bishops, Wards, Churchs, Towns, including Lost Creek, Salina, Redmond, and Aurora, Riding Clubs, Firemen, Lions, Golfers, Families, anyone and everyone from this area. There will be three divisions: Women's Open Mens Open n, Co-E- d Relays will include 4 x 100; 4 x 200, 4 x 400; Spirit Medley, 100 x 100x200x400 Winners in each division will receive an activity pass to all NSHS Home Games for the 1991-9- 2 season. Special door prizes will be given for: Funniest uniforms Best Baton Exchange s Most Team entries will be $12 per team, per relay thats $3 per perlook-alike- - son. If you don't want to run, please come watch. We need your support. All proceeds go towards our equipment shed, for track equipment. For entries contact: Juan Hendrickson, Jill Porter, Kathy Slack, S'eve Camp, or the North Sevier High school Office. |