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Show 36 Energy Guide March 2004 Consolidations challenge: (Continued from page 32) office's latest production evaluation report. Coal extracted from state lands declined by more than one million tons or 60 percent of Utah's production loss during 2002, according to the most recent finalized data available. In the future, state lands will produce substantially more on the strength of Deer Creek and the rise of Dug-ou- t Canyon mine, continued the state energy office report. As recently as 1998, state lands accounted for as little as 1.1 percent of the coal produced in Utah. Coal production on private land declined approximately 636,000 tons statewide, but retained a market share of 9.1 Underground employees work to extract coal from the Standardville mine. Recognizing the risks associ- with working in the industry, the U.S. govern- ment gave 100,000 acres of federal lands to Utah 1896 and 1929 to fund a hospital for injured percent. Production on county lands has been minimal, with little prospect for change, continued the state energy office. Deer Creek's federal lease production dropped more than one million tons. Combined increases at Crandall Canyon, Dugout Canyon, Skyline, Sufco and West Ridge made up the difference, explained the state energy office. On state land, Crandall Canyon production decreased by 848,000 million tons and Dugout Canyon was down 185,000. private or fee land coal production decreased by 297,000 tons, while Dugout Canyon increased by 100,000 tons, concluded the state energy office report. Co-op- 's miners. In 1957, the Utah Legislature directed funds accrued from the trust lands to the U of U rehabilita-atetion center. Several plaintiffs later petitioned the courts for medical services expressly tailored to meet spe-i- n cific health-car- e needs of miners. d Court ruling endorses settlement negotiated in miners hospital suit Issued in January 2004, a 3rd District Court ruling will enhance and expand medical care for disabled miners at the University of Utah Health's sci- ences center. The negotiated settlement agreement will not only allow miners access to the services available through the university health system, but create new programs in different parts of the state. The university has been the officially designated provider of medical services for miners for more than 40 years. In 1957, the Utah Legislature mandated that funds accrued from trust lands gifted to the state by the federal government for a miners hospital be directed to the U of U rehabilitation center. In recent years, several plaintiffs have petitioned the courts for medical services expressly tailored to meet needs of specific health-car- e miners. The first step in personalinvolves izing services changing the U of U facility's name to the rehabilitation center and miners hospital. "University hospital has long been the de facto hospital for Utah's miners. This agreement makes it official," said Dr. Phillip Bryant, who was named to direct the facility. With the court's approval of the settlement, the university will hire an assistant medical director and case manager exclusively devoted to miners hospital patients. The expanded services are supported by the miners land grant Trust Fund. The money comes from the sale and lease of 100,000 acres of land given to the state by the United States government in the interest of the miners in 1896 and 1929. Services to be offered by the university's rehabilitation center and miners hospital include: e Scheduling an clinic two days a month in Orem, allowing miners to receive medical care closer to home. Presenting annual seminars on mining-relate- d health issues in Price, Magna and possibly other locations. Offering an interdisciplinary clinic at the university's hospital where specialists in rehabilitation, pulmonary, orthopedic and occupational medicine will offer specialized off-sit- care for medical ailments common to miners. Outreach coordinators from the university will work with communities in the Carbon-Emer- y area and elsewhere which have large miner populations to coordinate diagnosis and treatment of related illness and injury. Disabled miners who use the hospital will receive ongoing needs health assess- ments to document their medical needs, both for epidemiological purposes and to ensure that they continue to receive appropriate treatment and education to prevent illness. Pending the necessary applications and approvals, the miners hospital will be a certified provider of the Federal Black Lung Program. For additional information regarding the medical services available at the rehabilitation center and miners hospital, Carbon County residents n should contact Sunny at the university in Salt Lake City. The administrative director of rehabilitation services at University of Utah's hospitals and clinics, may be reached by calling Vance-Lauritze- 1. Standard workers show off a huge huge of coal retrieved from the mine. Coal is the most plentiful fuel in the fossil family and it has the longest and, perhaps, the most varied history. NMA releases estimates: (Continued from page 32) A combustible mineral, coal can trace its ancestry back to the time of the dinosaurs. Coal deposits developed from the remains of trees, ferns forand other plants that existed and died in tropical-lik- e ests between 400 million and 1 million years ago. During vast spans of time, many layers of plants were buried under prehistoric forests and seas, explains the National Mining Association. Geological processes involving pressure and temperature compressed and altered the plant remains, increasing the amount of carbon present. Millions of years later, the material that once had been living plants was transformed into what modern man knows as coal. Coal that was formed in swamps covered by sea water contains a higher sulfur content. Low sulfur coal was generally formed under freshwater conditions. Coal's complex chemical structure contains other elements as well. Elements contributing to coal's chemical structure include primarily carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Coal deposits located in U.S. also contain nitrogen and variable trace quantities of aluminum zirconium. |