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Show Wednesday, January 26, 1977 supplement to the National Enterprise by Mary McMillan Gaber Review Staff Writer OSHA Winged We are going to have two great years, back-to-bac- k! predicts Thayne Robson, director of the University of Utahs Bureau of Business and Economic Research. And almost everyone else in Salt Lake with a crystal ball handy is in consensus. The only negative vibrations emanating from the local forecasters come from The Utah Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1973 was found unconstitutional last week by Third District Court Judge In his Bryant H. Croft. decision, Croft said the act is indeed unconstitutional as it involves procedures authorized in the act which I deem to be in violation of constitutional rights and a clear denial of due process of law. The decision stemmed from civil action brought last fall against the state of Utah and OSHA by R. LaMar Baird, a Bountiful contractor in which Baird claimed the the ominous unknowns surthe rounding present drought. We have already lost about $10 million because of the drought, estimates Mike Miller, director of In- dustrial Development for the state. No one knows what the ramifications of the drought are going to be. But it could be devastating for the small businesses. state deprived him of his constitutional right to due process by entering his place of business and levying fines for infractions of OSHA reg- Jobs Will Increase Despite the rumblings of impending disaster, Robson is predicting an increase of 24,000 new jobs in the state during the year, and an 11 percent rise in personal income. Hes predicting a 5.5 or 6 percent rate of inflation, and he thinks Utahs low ulations. Bairds attorney, Lorin D. Martin, attacked OSHA bankruptcy rate will conAs long as Utah tinue. keeps growing, well have employment growth and ris ing income, and the bankruptcy rate will stay down, he says and points to the suburbs as the major growth Robson predicts center. retail sales will appreciate by 11 percent. (See CRYSTAL, page 4b) UP&L Mulls Nuclear Power Plant Utah Power & Light Company has signed a contract with Idaho Power Company to study the feasibility of building a nuclear power plant in one of the two states. The contract will determine the management and possible siting of a nuclear power plant, explained Grant Pendleton, spokesman for the Utah utility. Its still very preliminary, he added, saying energy generated by the proposed plant would probably be shared by the twro power companies. Target date for starting construction is in the 90 s. Utah Power & Light has not asked permission of the Utah Public Service Commission to enter into the agreement. However, according to a Commission spokesman, the utility is n ot required to ask permission to act unless the cost of the proposed activity exceeds $25 million. It is common knowledge that nuclear power will probably be one of the major types of power by the year because the 2000," said Ray Pruitt of the Commission, will go up as wages continue to increase. price of coal Right now, the cost of uranium, environmental concerns and fears of the public are running up the cost of building nuclear plants, he added. Solar Agreement In an effort to develop additional sources of energy, the Utah utility has entered into another agreement with the University of Utah, to study the effectiveness of solar heating . elements presently operating in Utah homes. According to Dr. Kent Evans, research engineer for Utah Power, the four-yea- r study is expected to determine how much electricity is being used to operate a solar system, as well as the amount needed to provide supplementary heat to the houses. The study is the first of its kind in Utah, although similar ones have been conducted in other states, Evans said. We need to know how a solar system operates in our particular climate, he explained. We need to know what percentage of heating load a solar system can accommodate. The two homes presently being studied are located in Terracor's Stansbury Park and in Salt Lake City. (See UTAH POWER, page 3b) on the grounds it combined the legislative, executive and judicial authority of government into a single entity. Martin maintained this vio- lated the separation of powers guaranteed in the Utah constitution. Croft, in summarizing his decision, concurred with Martin's argument. He said it seems . . . that the act authorizes the occupational safety and health division to establish or enact its own laws, to investigate its own beprosecutions for any lieved" violation, to conduct its own hearings and to mete out punishments therefore in the guise of civil assessments, if not criminal penalties, with or without hearings, and in my opinion, this adds up to a violation of the principal of the separation of powers and a serious denial of due process of law." Croft delayed the implementation of his order for 30 days, however, to allow time for the Utah Attorney Generals office to appeal the decision. Harry McCoy II, counsel for OSHA, told the Review he has filed for an intermediate appeal which allows the higher court to review' the correctness" of Crofts ruling without regard to the legal issues such as refunding of fines, suitability of class action, and other relief. McCoy said if the (See OSHA, page 6b) |