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Show rv1 3aSJ DiSSl inty Volume Ninety-On- MT. PLEASANT, e UTAH (4647 - PRESS flSSO UTAH May 467 E 300 19, 1983 SALT LAKE S UPr.. UT 84 1 1 venty 1 Sanpete declared; disaster area FEMA approves aid to offset Thistle impact SALT LAKE CIT- Y- Sanpete County officially became a disaster area by declaration of Governor Scott Matheson on Monday. The Spanish Fork slide has had a tremendous impact on the entire state, said Governor Matheson. I am pleased that Sanpete County residents will now have the opportunity to apply for economic assistance under the Presidents declaration. Other counties could be added as the need arises. The county was approved to be included in the earlier federal declaration the Federal by Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Tuesday. This automatically puts Sanpete on the presidents list of eligible stricken counties affected by the Thistle slide. Toll free number No field office will be established in Sanpete but the FEMA Disaster Field Office can be contacted on the e The hot line office is located at 465 North University in Provo. Meetings for small business owners and other affected residents toll-fre- of Sanpete will be held in the future, but dates have not yet been set, according to a spokesman for the governors office. ' Available to people who have suffered a loss are housing loans, small business loans, grants and some unemployment pay, all according to eligibility, according to Mike Sweeney of the FEMA team. Small business loans can be made to firms which lose income because of the effects of the Thistle slide. Addition of Sanpete to the disaster list brings to four the total of counties feeling the effects of the Thistle slide which began April 13 when a mountain in Spanish Fork Canyon started to slide. Other counties are Utah, Carbon and Emery. The slide pushed up the Denver and Rio Grande Western railroad track, the Spanish Fork on the River, and Highway U6-5- 0 rocky side of Billies Mountain at Thistle. Railroad crews hurriedly moved protect railroad property, and the State of Utah took measures to insure the safety of the residents of the town of Thistle which soon was in to try to inundated, and of Spanish Fork residents downstream from the rapidly forming lake. The waters continued to rise as the slide continued to move, and large was earthmoving equipment brought in to stabilize the mountain as it continued to pile up across the canyon. r i Waters reach tunnel Within a month, the depth of the Thistle lake had reached over 180 feet and the water spread over Vz miles stretching along Highway toward Price and south along High0 way 89. Army Corp of Engineer personnel began pumping the lake this week to relieve stress on the dam. Barges were put into the lake from the Highway 89 end and floated to the damsite where pumps were secured on them. Water also began flowing through a diversion tunnel constructed by the railroad to carry off any water which might threaten their efforts. The D&RGW started work on a tunnel to route the rail lines around the lake shortly after the waters began to rise. They expect their tunnel to be open to rail traffic soon after July 1. DOT plans roads The Utah State Department of Transportation held off on plans for a road thinking that it might be possible to run one for U6-5- 0 over the Continued on page 3 . Aerial photographs of Thistle Lake reveal the slide area which blocks the Spanish Fork river and closed three highways and the D&RGW railroad. A new rail is being routed via a tunnel through Billies Mountain to restore rail service between Price and Salt Lake City, line 89 bypass needed U-3- 1, to keep traffic moving FAIRVIEW The Fairview with the commitment from the state Canyon Road will be kept open as to try to keep 1 open. He also said Hurley said possible long as possible, but work on the p toward bypass of 89 to U6-5- 0 seems the best construction of an alternative if the canyon road goes. Sanpete from at Nephi is more That was the consensus of opinion encouraging now and the state will of state road, forest, coal, Fairview count the cars using Salt Creek Mayor, Eddie Cox and other officials Canyon for the basis of a study. who took a tour of the road following Commissioner Candland said a meeting in Fairview last week. discussion was also held about completion of a road past Electric Bill Hurley, Director of the Utah Jake from a point where the road Department of Transportation said now under construction goes up following the tour that plans are to Eccles Canyon. put together estimates to get conForest Candland, Hurley, tracts out to stabilize the bad spots, C. Christensen of Reed Supervisor and to put the road in good condition. Price; John Manager of He said, After the thaw when we Governmental Garr, and Public Affairs can see, Im sure we will find much for Coastal States and Rep. more instability and we will do the Nielsen and othersEnergy; at the meeting best we can. took in the discussion on ways In the meantime regular DOT to part travel open from Sanpete to keep maintenance crews are keeping the Carbon and Emery counties. road open doing whatever is needed Angry calls to maintain essential traffic across Rep. Nielsen said his phone has the mountain. been ringing constantly and some Nephi off ramp callers are getting real mean. They Following the meeting and tour want to know what is going to be Sanpete County Commissioner done about the road, he said, and Willis Candland said he is pleased some have accused him of only U-3- about the miners and not the businesses in Sanpete. Nielsen went on to say he is concerned for the jobs of Sanpete coal miners and feels if there are people working, the businesses will be better off. If 1 goes down, those jobs will be taken by miners in Carbon and Emery, and Im afraid the Sanpete miners will never get their jobs back, Nielsen said, Rep. Nielsen said following the tour that he was extremely with the promise of pleased cooperation between the State Road Department and the Forest Service 1 to keep open. He also said a suggestion that limited traffic be allowed to pass on the newly planned U89 bypass which will join with US6-5- 0 east of Thistle Lake, at the very earliest possible time, will be taken under advisement by the UDOT. Miners praised At last weeks meeting following Nielsens comment about the Sanpete miners possible loss of jobs John Garr said, The coal industry continued on page 2 being concerned Checking connections on the pipe which is used to carry water being pumped from Thistle Lake, over the dam, and into Spanish Fork River. Pumping began Monday, but could not keep up with rapid rise of water which reached the diversion tunnel on Wednesday morning. U-3- U-3- Hearings postponed for UP&L Two coal companies reported to be LT LAKE CIT- Y- Additional Lawyers for the parties in the tarings before the Utah Public case, which was heard at two weeks providing large quantities of coal to ervice commission on the of PSC hearings in April, are in- IPP have agreed to provide the PSC lanagement of Utah Power and terested in determining how much with figures on how much they will ight Co.s five Emery County coal the Intermountain Power Project charge the IPP for the fuel. lines have been postponed until uly 11. The additional time will give in the case time to review ast figures for coal produced by Utah mines. rivate One of the main questions in the earings is whether UP&L could ave saved its ratepayers money by uying coal on the open market istead of producing it at its own mines. ompany-owne- arties free-mark- d now being built in Millard County, has agreed to spend for coal to fire its massive generators. UP&L officials maintain that by comparison with IPP UP&L is getting a good deal on the coal it burns ar supplies from its own mines. The company says that it can fuel supplies guarantee long-terwithout being subject to fluctuations in the supply and cost of the coal. free-mark- et The companies, however, are asking for a protective order to protect their bargaining position with other prospective clients and are asking that the information not be made public. Critics of the UP&L coal operations have alleged that the utility could have saved millions of dollars in generating costs purchasing free-mark- by coal. Among the officials meeting and taking a tour of the Fairview Canyon Road last week were, back left: Howard Richardson, District 3 Director of the Utah State Rep. Ray Department of Transportation; Nielsen - D. Fairview; Sanpete County Commissioner Willis Candland, and front left, John Garr of Coastal States Energy Company; Bill Hurley State Director of Transportation; and Reed Christensen, Forest Supervisor of the Manti LaSal National Forest. Other road and forestry personnel joined in the discussion of 1 how and what to do to keep open and prevent further isolation of Sanpete County U-3- Railroad undecided on rebuilding line While Denver MT. PLEASANT md Rio Grande Western railroad (fficials told the Sanpete County mpact Committee May 11 that the ail line through Sanpete and Sevier vill be opened, there were some :omments made which left some loubt. The Marysvale line which comes iouth through the two counties was t at Thistle shortly after Manager of D&RGW told the when a landslide caused committee. formation of what is now known as He went on to say that realigning Thistle Lake. will be necessary because the rails were taken up before the lake began When and if the lake tap is drilled to rise, and also added that there is through the bottom of the dam to bridge damages, from silt and expose the Marysvale Branch, we debris. Line under utilized will do something about reBob added however, that the Nance General it, Nance, connecting inundated April 13 i line for a long time had been un- derutilized." Commissioner Newton Donaldson Manager LaMont Blackham summed up the situation by saying, Well get by this year, but were ducks without the railroad. expressed concern about the loss of the railroad and how it affects the Nance told the committee that turkey growers who are now hauling in feed by truck at greater expense there is no consideration of abanafter losses due to previous bad doning the line, but if the lake is not drained officials would need to take years. Moroni Feed Company General a hard look and do what is economical. The mileage cost to reroute the track the five or six miles needed, would cost in excess of one million dollars per mile, according to Nance. In answer to a question Nance said the old alignment from Moroni to Nephi could not be used since DRGW no longer owns the right-of-wa- y. |