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Show THE ZEPHYRSEPTEMBER PAGE 89 An Open Letter To Western Association Of Land Users: It Is refreshing to be reminded now and then that freedom of both speech and press still prevails. This In regard to your ad In the ZEPHYR, August Issue, 1989. Editor Jim Stiles, whose camp Is not among the Pharisees, Is to Either way. be commended for publishing your appeal without comment According to your own concepts, and rewording a bit, one Is given to understand that 39 12 million acres (68,000 sq. miles) Is already designated Wilderness, and another 32 12 million acres of land (51,000 sq. miles) Is likewise congresslonally trended this way. The former area Is about 34 the size of the State of Utah, and combined with the latter possible addition, there would be set aside a wilderness area slightly larger than the State of ALL-AMERICA- AGENCY 505 No. Main Arizona. Considering that the combined area of all States west of the 102nd longitudinal marker Is about 1.1 million square miles, the projected wilderness area would be 10 - 11 of this. Not being committed either way, at the moment, I can still wonder If that's enough land for the deer and the antelope to play In. Not much, I'm thinking, particularly If It's Just bits and pieces of useless, unattractive nowhere scattered throughout all that hell and gone. Part of the upper reaches of the Green River, particularly the drainage from Uintah, and Dagget Counties In Utah, southern Sweetwater County In Wyoming, and Moffat, Rio Blanco, and Garfield Counties In Colorado, outline the limits of the second largest oil shale deposit In the world. Therein lie an estimated reserve of several billions of petroleum barrels of combustible crude oil. In order to net that prized content, the shale must be mined or occasionally strip mined), crushed, and (block and pillar tunneling This derives a waxy, heated to an excess of 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. malodorous crude oil ready for further refining. Alike with petroleum crude oil, shale oil contains Its component of sulfur, but unlike petroleum crude oil, shale oil contains very significant quantities of coaltar-ll- ke products (phenols), and nitrogen based compounds. These materials (but not all of and would be considered them) might be removed In the refining process valuable commercially byproducts. Depending on depletion of world petroleum resources, and the economic effect of political maneuvering, It Is easy to forecast an early, overwhelmJust to ing temptation to exploit this veritable mountain of reserves gratify (cheaply) the Insatiable demand of gasoline guzzling machines operated by a transportation and a speed crazed society, the likes of which can not be expected to change Its ways nor Its life style. Nor will all the wit, the political subterfuge of your conservationist; the trepldaclous warnings of your most fractlos environmentalist be anything but naught. Here, then, Is a stab at reminding the Western Association of Land Users that there Is an aspect of consequentially to the use of land, and that the citizens of Moab should be substantially Informed about land changes to be made In their Immediate future: ... within the next quarter of a century, a compilation of this planet's biggest (and maybe ugliest) mine slope will begin. Two or three thousand square miles of It. The richest stratum of American oil shale will yield only one petroleum barrel (42 U.S. gallons) of crude oil per ton of shale. A conservative overall estimate of 20 gallons per ton would be more realistic. A billion barrels of shale oil leaves nearly a billion tons of shale rubble (spent shale) plus unaccountable tonnage of overburden behind It A stupendous magnitude that will confuse even the most unbogglable of minds. Conceivably, crushing, and retorting can be done Inside the mine, and much of waste material loosely redeposlted In the mined out space. An oversize Imagination Is welcome to describe the distribution of the necessary excess. Oil shale mining, shale retorting, and shale oil refining require a deal of water, and what better source of this than that available from the Green and Colorado Rivers or their tributaries. With the same assurance that God made those little green apples. He has decreed that thou shall not make certain streams of effluent gasoline out of oil shale without waste water, otherwise known as pollutant material. The genius of technology continues to prove Itself Inadequate toward control and regulation In this N 259-649- 3 Meet Our Real Estate Team Doug McElhaney owner Delbert & Glenna Oliver Norma Nunn 259-687- 8 259-737- 0 259-727- 5 Ray Tibbetts 259-636Julie Bierschied 259-5671 Randy Day 0 259-628- 3 Castle Canyon Nursery Do You Need More Shade? co-produ-cing department The consequences subsequent to earth damage In erosion from natural causes Is Imponderable, but In this Instance It will be silt, sludge, muck and ooze, and with the waste water will become part of the flow that passes Moab .... Glen Canyon ... Grand Canyon ... downstream along a channel already poisoned by Inadvertent misuse by agrarian land users ... And so, onward to Baja de California. In another millennium, maybe: "The (mountain) lion and the lizard will Almost as Omar keep the plots, where the land user gloried, and drank deep" the tentmaker versed It long, long ago. Wilderness back to Wilderness. G. Duncan Globe Willows Populars Weeping Willows Cottonwoods $7EA or 5$25 Henning, TN Free SUN COUNTRY REALTY Moab, Utah 1016 Wilson Mesa 223 level to rolling acres. Most has been farmed. 682 water shares. Cabin, spring, corral and loading shute. Priced at only $500.00 per acre. SEE NOW. 1015 Home in quiet neighborhood 3 bdrms, walkout basement with nice family room, swimming pool in back yard. Full fenced. 1006 Radiator Repair shop and wrecker and towing business. Includes shop equipment, 3 wreckers (2 are big k.w. units). (801)259-632- 6 Mobile home on acreage for living. 1018 Executive home, first time offered. Spanish style home with large living room, family room, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths. Master bedroom suite has walkout sun-dec- k over looking city plus many other is, Gro-Gree- n With Purchase Creators of Fine Landscapes Ken and Alice Drogin, owners 259-827- 4 call anytime. MTh, complete landscape service Fri & Sat: Nursery Open Where High-Te- c Irrigation HQ and Common Sense Meet. 31 |
