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Show I successful In expansion Teams represent Roosevelt in All Stars Tournaments Officials hope to cut Local computer business State severance taxes -- See -- See page page 9 The -- Seepage 10 1 O 76th Year No. 30 50 Cents 14 Pages Wednesday, July 26, 1989 Roosevelt, Utah Helicopter crash kills three men Starvation Reservoir was the of a fatal helicopter crash, July 18, killing three men. Passenger Doug Charles Olsen, Vernal, pilot Mark A. Malecker, Salt Lake City, and Jerry Ingles, California, were killed in the accident. ' The men were employees of Deseret Generation and Transmission and left Provo at 9:20 a.m. to check for breaks in the lines when the helicopter got caught up in a power line near the Coch Oil Plant, about three miles east of Duchesne. "We dont know why they got so close, said Sheriffs Deputy Doug Horrocks, the officer at the scene. Between post 338 and 337 they went down and the prop hit the cable line. A lot of G forces tore up the helicopter. The crew went down about 10:40 a.m. that morning. Expecting the helicopter back at 7 p.m., officials reported the crew missing late that night, said Horrocks. scene STARVATION RESERVOIR ACCIDENT-Cre- ws clean up wreckage from a helicopter crash, July 18, that killed three men including one from Vernal The helicopter got too dose to power lines and went down early that morning. One man was deter County assigns EMT operation to hospital mined to be dead on impact while officials arc still speculating as to if the other two men were still alive for some hours and how the accident happened. Water Conservancy District reports Storage water from Stillwater replaced by Starvation Reservoir OREM-ensure that Uintah Basin fanners and ranchers have an adequate supply of water during the dry summer months, more of water than 50,000 acre-fefrom Starvation Reservoir has been released by exchange during 1989 for storage in Stillwater Reservoir, Don A. Christiansen, General Manager of the Central Utah Water Conservancy District, said in a recent press release. Christiansen's goal was to clarify the Stillwater Dam water issue in response to an inaccurate editorial in the Uintah Basin Standard which, in part, read: "While the lands in the Uintah Basin are dry and ranchers move their cattle out of state, water is being diverted to the Wasatch Front. While we wonder where our next water turn is going to come from, Stillwater Dam is being filled to the top for future use outside the area. Christiansen noted that thus far Airing 1989, 50,000 acre-feof water has been released from Starvation Reservoir to replace water stored or diverted behind Stillwater Dam. The Central Utah Project includes Starvation Dam and Reservoir ss one of the first features constructed by the Bonneville source Unit to serve as a of water, said Christiansen. Starvation Reservoir is capable of providing for Duchesne area farmers, late season replacement water which will be diverted through the Strawberry Collection System into Strawberry Reservoir. By replacing water stored or diverted behind the Stillwater Dam with matching water from Starvation, there has been no net loss to Duchesne area water users from Stillwater Reservoir storage or diversion, he said. The water stored in Stillwater Reservoir has and will be completely replaced by releases from Starvation, assuring vested rights to formers, ranchers or commercial water users in the Duchesne area will not be shorted on their water supply as a result of storage or diversions at Upper Stillwater Reservoir," said Christiansen. "The storage of water in Stillwater Reservoir is carefully monitored, as is the replacement water To et et from Starvation Reservoir. Apof the proximately water stored is for replacement d and of the water is for supplemental irrigation purposes two-thir- one-thir- in the Duchesne area. No water is being diverted to the Wasatch Front without equal replacement for water in Stillwater Reservoir. Christiansen also stressed that Ahelicopter from Rocky Mountain Power Plant was able to locate the accident at 9:45 a.m., July 19. Local EMTs were then called in. Although Duchesne County officials speculate that two of the men were alive for some hours after impact, there were no survivors when emergency personnel arrived. Two were transported to Salt Lake City by LifeLine and the third by a the Rocky Mountain helicopter. It was strange that no one in the area heard the crash, said Horrocks. There were several people in that area. The helicopter hit the skid at the Coch field, breaking ofTthe tail section and rolling the helicopter partly on the side. Most parts of the helicopter were found about 100 feet from the impact spot. Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration will submit written reports in about four months. the Vernal and Jensen Units of the Central Utah Project serve as an insurance policy for Uintah County water users for genera-Co- n tinned on page 3 Duchesne County officialshave made what they consider a positive move, by transferring control of the area Emergency Medical mediService to the cal facility in Roosevelt, as of August 1. The responsibility of transporting and responding to emergency medical situations within the county now belongs to Duchesne County Hospital, states DCH Administrator John Jefcounty-owne- fries. d All room care will bo administered through the hospital and billed from the hospital, along with the billing for any primary care that occurs at the hospital. Billing for ambulance service will no longer come from Duchesne County. Responsibility for all county emergency response personnel is being turned over to hospital administration as a result of a decision by Duchesne County commissioners to divest themselves of an area they feel unqualified to administer, says Commissioner Larry Ross. The organization within the county doesnt allow for management of various aspects of the EMS program. Because we commissioners are not many of the issues of concern in the organization are difficult to address, and we prefer to have it managed by those with more expertise, within the medical organization actually owned by the county. Commissioners full-tim- e, Continued on page 3 Government joins with producers Officials form group to help oil industry By L.A. Eaton The Duchesne and Uintah county commissions and several local oil producers have decided to join forces to improve the Basins oil industry in the most feasible pushing for way possible-- by lower state taxes. Its an odd relationship between the county government and producers, said Marc Eckels of Held By Production, Inc. But theyve seen a decline in revenue and weve seen a decline in production. Well do anything we can do to stimulate the industry. Eckels is a representative of states oil and gas taxes. New incentives and rewards are also needed to keep business in the Basin and encourage new drilling, they said. It is no secret that several years of low oil prices and weak gas markets have dealt a severe blow to the economy of the Basin, wrote Eckels in a press release, representing the group. Both oil company and service company employees have felt the effects most directly due to pay-cuand reductions in benefits. Basin residents have also been affected by the declines in property values and business activity that must accompany such a lay-off- s, ts mings and Colorados, said Eckels in the release. These neighboring states have experienced a much more vigorous recovery since oil prices started to climb last again winter." Utah continues to suffer the weakest recovery of any of the significant oil producing states, he arid. There are several reasons for this, but in the end they all come to one down consideration-economi- cs. Unfortunately, there are very few economic factors that can be controlled by the people of Utah or the Uintah Basin. most imporPrice of oil-T-he tant factor is the price of oil and gas, Eckels said. When prices drop below certain levels, as they did last fall, there will be virtually no new drilling activity and very little workover activity. Although prices generally rise and fall throughout the world, several of the Basin crudes suffer relatively large discounts compared to posted prices for other Rocky Utah OU Production Mountain crudes. In addition, he said, the pipeline situation in the Basin limits the marketability of natural gas from the area, leaving many gas wells shut-i-n during most of the year. The Basins traditionally disadvantaged oil prices and weak gas market are mqjor negative factors when oil companies are analyzing the prospects for an investment here. Expensive production-An-Continu- ed on page 3 79-'8- 8 ly Since Utah offers no competitive advantages in the areas of oil prices, gas markets or operating expenses, it could be argued that there is no basis for charging the same tax rates. the Royalties Association along with Commissioner Larry Ross and Zane L. White, manager of the Tesoro Land and Marine Rental Company. The three leaders met with media personnel, July 21, to discuss objectives of the group. While local companies deal with low oil prices and the difficulties of producing the expensive crude of the area, officials hope to educate legislators of obstacles added by the severance tax. The Royalties Association met Norman with ' Governor Bangerter, June 19, to discuss concerns and the posable reduction and restructuring of the massive slowdown. Less obvious, but equally important, stressed Eckels, the local tax base has been significantly reduced by this economic crisis. In Duchesne County alone the assessed valuation of the county has dropped $400,000,000 since 1986. The vast majority of that drop has been caused by lower oil prices and lower oil and gas production, both of which affect the calculation of the oil companies ad valorem taxes. The situation becomes more worrisome when Utahs current rig count, an industry measure of new activity, is compared to Wyo- - In Millions of Dollars - Utah $0 $10 UTAH OIL PRODUCTION-T- he . oil $20 State Tax Commission $30 $40 $50 Utah State Tax Commission released this graph which shows the and gas industries peak in 1985 at $46.45 per barrel. Although this year's price has increased to $25.5 1 per barrel from 1987' $19.73 price, officials say that taxes and a lack of incentives to drill will hurt die industry. |