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Show * 2m: The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH e ONLY IN UTAH ““You have built an ice rink thatfits the city ofSalt Lake City, which is not a city of25 million.” “* Ottavio Cinquanta, Btesidentof the International *~ Skating Union, on the Olympic Oval in Kearns rae . PUBLIC SAFETY NEWS TOY GUN INCIDENT “A 13-year-old Roy boy has been suspended from school and faces juvenile charges for alleg- edly pointinga toy gun ata police officer. The boy, an eighthgrader at Roy Junior High School, was with a groupof stu- dents getting pictures taken at a dance Thursday night. Some of the students broughtprops from thé drama room to use in the pi¢tures, and the boy founda toy gun, said Roy Police Lt. Greg Whinham. When the schoolre- source officer, a member of the Roy Police Department, walked in,the boyjumped in front ofhim ari aimed the gun at him, said. Whinham said the officer knocked the gun out of the boy’s hands and put him in hdfidcuffs before realizing the wéapon was fake. Avalanche Kills Two Snowmobilers — Sheriff's deputy Ben Pender LSa Nornen: nothing to lose, and we have good attorneys.” would.” — Chris Stanley, seinnm ennae co-publisher of the Ingenon | prosecution West Valley City Welcomes New PowerPlant BY REBECCA WALSH Logan Neighbors Voice Their Disapproval of Proposed Energy Facility ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE California’s energy crisis has touched down in WestValley City. Physically. PacifiCorp plans to builda massive natural-gas powerplantat the city’s West Ridge Commerce Park, 4700 $. 5600 West. By Friday, the company could have building permits for four 80foot stacks and four jet turbines. Andby Labor Day,the plant could be shooting out 160 megawatts — enough to power 82,000 homes. That’s the power industry’s breathtaking pace in the wake of West Coast brownouts. And West Valley City leaders are not aboutto standin the way. “This is where I start singing, ‘God Bless America,” said City Manager John Patterson. “Our country is facing a powercrisis. And we in West Valley City are stepping forward to make sure Utah doesn'tface a similar crisis.” City motivations are not quite BY KRISTEN MOULTON ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. LOGAN — Thecity’splans to build a new powerplantin a central neighborhood typifies the tension between saving money and fostering the intangible “quality oflife” residents desire. For more than three hours one nightlast week, dozens of residents urged the Logan City Council to set aside the first goal for the second. Theylost. Mayor Doug Thompson and othercity ad- ministrators won the council’s permission to build a $10.4 million power plant, which will includethree natural-gas turbines to supply electricity during demandperiods. Three of the five council members also recommended the powerplantbe built at the site of the old diesel generator plant, about five blocks west of the LDS Tabernacle in an older neighborhood edged with decaying industrial buildings. Council Chairman Stephen Thompson, area on thealtar of expediency,” said neighborhood resident John Weldon. Other Logan residents, including several from the east side, said the neighborhood populated by poorer, elderly and minority residents was betrayed by city leaders who had been promising an eventual closure diesel plant and rebirth of the neighborhood. “This is a neighborhood that in many ways has been neglected. This will only 2 ‘d to the neglect,” said Jay Schvaneveldt, a cultural anthropologist at Utah State University. “This almost amounts to neighborhood prejudice.” Councilman Thompson reminded his colleagues that the neighborhood had been zoned and targeted for redevelopment about three who lives in a nearby historical neighborhood, opposed building the plant anywhere, and Councilwoman Jan Pearce supported the new powerplant, but abstained onthe siterecommendationvote. It will be upto the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission to decide whether the 36-foot high power plant will be given a conditional use permitto be built near the old diesel plant. Mayor Thompson argued thatbuilding the power plantthere would allow thecity to shut down the 75-year-old diesel generator, reducing air pollution dramatically because the gas turbines run cleaner. If the city instead built the new plantatits west-side service center, the cost could rise to nearly $15 million because natural-gas lines are not nearby and a transformer would have to be purchased. “It's a matter of dollars and cents,” the mayor told a crowd of more than 100 people whofilled the council chambers and spilled into the hallwaysoutside. Mostbegged to differ. “You're justsacrificing the residents ofthe years ago. “You are going to effectively stifle and maybe kill that process.” Councilman Alan Allred, however, said residents already have been living with the even uglier and more polluting diesel plant. “What we are doing is improving thesituation,” Allred said. e-mail: kmoulton@sltrib.com 11 acres in the business park's redevelopment area for $80,000 an acre. PacifiCorp may buy another’ no reason to pause. seven acres later. And once $70 million in power equipment arrives, the city will collect property taxes equaling about $475,000 a {Peacock rushed to the aid of hig trapped friends, locating and somehow digging them out, Offretsaid. He administered CPR to his dying friends but was unable to‘revive them. Oneof the dead men’s father, whose name was Saturday, “This is less acute a concernfor us...you would write much more about them than we black.” so magnanimous. Thecity will sell ies from B-1 not Compiled by Tom Durkin “We have “There is no such thing [as a speed trap]. I don’t trap anybody into breaking the speed limit.” “Tdon 't know whatit’s like to be an un-raced woman or an un-gendered — Activist Angela Davis, speaking at the University of Utah’s Women’s Week Sunday, March 11, 2001 was barely spared from the avalanche because he was farther down the mountain than the others, Offret said. ° They acknowledge the thingis *big.Initially, city planners asked if the plant could be buried, thenif the stacks could be stepped. Perhaps sky-blue paint could camouflage the concrete. They have settled for berms and landscaping. And the plant could be noisy. City ordinances restrict noise to 75 decibels at the property line. The year for 20 years. Some of that money will pay back bonds that built the E Center. PacifiCorp will stage an open house at West Valley City Hall, 3600 S. Constitution Blvd. (2700 West) Tuesdayfrom 6 p.m. to9 p.m. plant is expected to generate 66 decibels 300 feet away. City planners have asked PacifiCorp to build a sound-baffling system. Powerplants are permitted uses And City Council members acting as the Redevelopment Agency are scheduled to approvethe land sale at a meeting Thursday. Pattersoncan rattle off reasons to-build’the plant.It seemsthere is in West Valley City’s manufacturing zones such as the 300-acre “Apparently the slide stopped just a few feet from him,” Offret said. Conditions at the mountain were ripe for disaster because of heavy snowfall in the area over the 12 hours preceding Satur- day’s slide.It is well known that Marchis the peak season for avalanchés. In addition, the U.S. Forest Service Utah Avalanch Center advisory had rated Sat- Energy: Cities Power Upfor Summer Crunch @ Continued from B-1 Even the Heber Valley, which uses more electricity in winter than summer, is ramping up. Heber Power & Light, which serves was not particularly steep, as they had expected, They do not believe the snowmobiling quar- tet had anyelectronic beacons or shovels with them, a recommended precaution for people in backcountry snowareas. Whatrescueofficials had not determined Saturday was whether the avalanche was human-caused or natural. Nor had they discovered the precise cause of death for Wade and Barlow, who were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodies are expected to be sent to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy. A commoncause of death for avalanche victims is suffocation. “It sets up like a concrete wall,” Offret said, “and [the snow] can actually squeeze the air outof you.” Summit County investigators, who closed part of the mountain Saturday, intend to revisit the avalanche site Sunday to continuetheir probe. But Offret said police cannot close access to public Jand, where the slide occurred, The mountain, Offret said, will “probably be open.” powerinstead. Logan, for instance, will get back six megawatts from the Intermountain Power Plant (IPP) at Delta this’ summer. Logan’s typical electrical demand is 50 to 60 megaThecities did not have as many options line by summer,theother twobyfall. urday’s avalanche danger as Yet Summit County rescue officials were struck by one fact of letting California utilities purchase the watts in winter. Usage peaked at 80 megawatts during last summer’s sweltering days. “considerable” for steep slopes at or below 7,500 feet. the mquntain’s shape:Its terrain business park. PacifiCorp will tap into the Kern River pipeline, which runs through the valley at about 5600 Weston its way from Wyoming to Southern California. As the gas burns, the plant will spew water vapor, carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. PacifiCorp will need an air-quality permit. The plant’s proximity to the natural-gas pipeline should reduce the cost ofproducing and pumping the power to users. “There is a need regionwide for additional powergeneration,” said DaveEskelsen, PacifiCorp spokesman. “Natural gas is a way to respondto thatin a very rapid way.” Midway, HeberCity and Charleston,will add anatural-gas turbineby early May to reduce the reliance on market-priced electricity. General ManagerBrent Davis just wishes the power companywere ableto putits proposed hydropower generator at Jordanelle Dam into hyperspeed. Negotiations are under way. with the Western Area Power Administration and the Interior Department, and the turbines probably will not be sending up a current until summer 2002. “I wishit were online three years ago. We wouldn't haveto dip into our reserves to pay thebills,” Davis said. Most Utah municipal power companies also have “called back” powerthat they, as partial owners ofcoal-fired plants in central Utah, have a right to buy. They had been last summer. They had no portable genera- tors, and had to serve notice before they could get back IPP power from California. Almostall the cities raided their reserves, since they were at the mercy of the spot market. “Last summer was terrible,” said Kaysville City Manager John Thacker. Customers who in many cases had not seenprice hikes in more than 15 years, ended up holding thebill. Theeffects varied. Murray,for instance, did notraise electrical rates but dipped into reserves, while Springville residents saw electrical bills double. Logan boosted rates by 24 percentin Jan- uary, “just to stop the hemorrhaging,” Saville said. Meanwhile, Heber Valley hiked rates by 30 percent, while Bountiful had a 10 percent rate increase and Kaysville 9 percent. St. George is considering an 11 percent jump in The plant’s neighbors will include FritoLay and Banner Aerospace.. We want to make this as nonobtrusiveas possible. Butit’s a powerplant,” said Joseph Moore, the city’s community development director. “The only drawbackis visual. It’sclean.It’s not noxious,” he said. “You don’t need policeto protect it. They only have five employees.It doesn’t generate traffic. It won’t impact this city, but it gives us revenue that a shopping center would. And we need the power.” Even Kearns residents, whowill live next to the plant, are resigned the residential electricity rate, and Hurricaneraised rates in Octoberby 17 percent. “Last summerput everybodyin a hole,” said Fawcett, the Hurricane city manager. Therate increases “got us kind of outof th hole.” Customers of PacifiCorp, the state’s biggest electrical utility, are paying 9 percent more for electricity this winter. PacifiCorp wanted a 19 percentincrease, but the Public Service Commission has granted less than half thatso far. The power shortage has moved some long-simmering plant plans to the front burner, even though theywill not be finished in timefor this summer's peak demand. Last week, Logan’s City Council approved construction of a power plant with three natural-gas turbines, which could be operating by mid-October. Logan has called back a whopping 40 megawatts from IPP, whichit will get beginningin April 2002. Butit wants to use the new turbines instead and sell the big block of powerfora pretty price. City Council Chairman Stephen Thompson was the lone opponent of the new power plant. “What our city is doing is speculating on power futures,” said Thompson, who op- poses city-owned utilities. “We are rushing to necessity. “T use power,” said Alan Ander- son, ChamberWest president and Kearns resident. “If it means we can avoid blackouts,I’mall forit.” Kearns Town Council Chairman Craig Whatcott is more concerned about the way he learned about the power plant — not from WestValley City. The city’s plans for a 17,000-seat amphitheater at West Ridge Golf Course are more troublesome. “The power plant is nothing,” Whatitcott said. “That's the least of our worries.” e-mail: walsh@sltrib.com to get these generators in to cover our peaks so we'll have a block of powerto sell on the open market.” Logan will end up taking advantage of othercities, he said. “We don’t intend to be gougers,” Saville responded. “We are being gouged now, but that doesn’t mean’we have to play that stupid game.” City financial officers warn thatif Logan does notfire up newturbines,it could mean a 777 percent increase in property taxes to makeuptheshortfall in the city’s general fund. The power companytraditionally has supplied the city with $1 million to $2 million ofits operating cash. Thompson figures there are other ways the city could meet its power demands.It could rent more generators or simply raise rates again. As painful as that mightbe, Thompsonsaid, it may be the only wayto spark conservation. Logan already has done more than most cities to prod residents and businesses to conserve. The city has placed ads in newspapers and on the radio, and sponsored an “energy-less” day last month. ‘The result, however, was not encouraging: 5 percentless electrical usage. e-mail: kmoulton@sltrib.com Hardy Dogs Steal the Show in the Snow at Park City Resort Competition Snowboarders canines wereout in force for the second of the two-day Incredible Dog Challenge, drawing competitors to take part in a charity event stopped with mouths agape to celebrating the many wintertime BY KARLCATES ‘THE SALTLAKE TRIBUNE PARK CITY — talents of man’s bestfriend. Dogs ofevery ilk were on hand. Nita, a pit bull sporting a color- watch, a television boom camera panned with the action and hounds tied up in a nearby parking lot bayed as mushers urged ful bandana, happily ignored a their sledding heat as she chewed on a Frisbee supplied by her master, Jay Bird ofParkCity, one ofdozens ofowners on handto show off their teamsthrough the turns in an unlikely Saturday race at the bottom of Park City Mountain Resort. Where skiers usually tread, “Flying Disc Challeng “She'll eat anything,” observed Bird's girlfriend, Michelle. Afew feet away, Gary Langford ofTaylorsville prepared his border collie, Pooper, for the upcoming “skijoring” event, in which crosscountry skiers were tugged around the course by their faithful companions, That event, popular in Europe, bonds canine and master perhaps like no other discipline, requiring untold one-on-one hours of practice. “We go up Mill Creek Canyona lot,” explained Langford. “We've done over 500 miles together this winter.” Hard-core dog enthusiasts drove hundreds of miles to participate. “If you're going to compete, you've got to have sled dogs with attitude,” advised Tom Cygnar of Denver, who showed up with a four-dog team. “They've got to wantto get out andstaystraight and run.It’s not something you can teach.” Al Valletta of Kiowa,Idaho, said he andhis 12 canines made thetrip outof a devotion to the hobby. “You do it because you love dogs,”said Valletta, noting that the Park City event was held to raise $100,000 for Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation through a sponsoring grant from Purina Chow. 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