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Show Environmental SUWA WATCH MURRAY - Rural county commissioners, sick and tired of the efforts of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to create wilderness, have launched what they call "SUWA WATCH!" to counter efforts by the environmental organization. SUWA WATCH! is affiliated with the Utah Association of Counties. Its first action was a broadside at SUWA for misrepresenting the issue of historic rights-of-way in Southern Utah. SUWA claims rural counties are remembering roads where there are none, in order to stop wilderness designation. But the counties claim SUWA is misrepresenting the issue. Emery County Commissioner Randy Johnson said SUWA is purposely misleading the public to make political gains. Attorneys for Hard Rock, which now has some 78 cafes worldwide, allege that the Moab cafe owners are trading off the name for its prestige and recognizability. Hard Rock Cafe spent over $5 million in promotion in 1996, alone. Slick Rock Cafe owners actually paid $5,000 to the man who had registered rights to taken to the name "Slick Rock Cafe," according to court documents. According to the Moab cafe's owners, "Slick Rock" is the natural result of Moab's mountain biking boom and. was not meant to trade off the name Hard Rock Cafe SKI RESORTS BANNER YEAR SALT LAKE CITY - The exception to Utah's windshield tourism is skiing, where the average tourists spends about $20( ) a day. spent some $362 Last season, tourists million in Urah. During the 1996-97 season, skiing tourists collectively spent over 3 million days gliding down Utah's slopes, according to the Utah Ski Association. Some 54 percent of Utah's skiers are from out of state and spend an average of $226 per person per day. Out of state tourists spent $193 million on lodging, $60 million on lift passes, $46 million for food and beverages, $21 million for ski and equipment tenets and $12 million on lessons. Of the out of state skiers, 35 percent were skiing Utah for the first time last season. DEAD BIRDS SPELL TROUBLE NEWPORT, Ore. - Dead seabirds are washing up on the Oregon coast in numbers eight times the average, potentially signally huge environmental problems. The common mure is starving to death during its nesting season, apparently not finding enough plankton to feed upon. Upwelling of the seas, brought about by northerly winds, is not occurring. Nutrients, usually brought to the surface by the phenomenon, feed the birds as well as other sea life. Because it is nesting season for the mures, it is expected that the number of offspring MORE INCINERATOR TROUBLE TOOELE - The third former supervisor at the Army's chemical weapons incineratot says the plant is haunted by abysmal prac tices that will lead to environmental and health problems Irina Allen says serious problems invol\ ing arsenic and Lewi site have turned up at the incinerator, 40 miles west of Salt Lake City. If that is true, the Army could be vi lating state environmental permits. Previously, other plant officers, including plant general manager Gary Millar and former safety chief Steven Jones have said the incinerator is unsafe. and the Environmental The FBI Protection Agency said they will review the allegations. EARTH SUMMIT FRUSTRATION NEW YORK - Five years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, represento: review tatives from 170 nations met progress and make specific targets, disappointing many commitments to cut under existing agreements. Specific commitments to reduce house gases will not be made December in Kyoto, Japan. MOVE MO, MOAB Service a The has ait INGS U.S. Fish spicata that tons of radioactive tailings the near Colorado River and verything heavy m the agency's from Moab uf ion neath th biological the could ings opinior o jeopa fish sotopes I { millio banks radioactiv { be Wildlif 10.5 on dize four species of endangered proundwate! greenuntil I in centl The contaminants are a threat Colorado squawfish, razorback sucker humpback chub and bonytail chub. Th opinion is only a draft and could be changed after comment from the U Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Atlas Corp. The Atlas uranium mill tailings should be moved rather than cappéd in place, accordIng to the recommendation. But Atlas Minerals has said that moving the tailings is too costly. @ [to Here! [His] Weekly www.slweekly.com 4 eee will be much lower than usual. It also means that the natural cycle of the ocean is out of balance. CANCER AND POWER WASHINGTON, D.C. LINES - The largest study of its kind has found no link between high-voltage power lines and childhood leukemia. Some earlier studies had suggested that long-term SLICK ROCK SUIT MOAB - The owners of Hard Rock Cafes have filed suit against Moab's Slick Rock Cafe for infringement of trademark. mit at the meeting. Environmentalists had suggested a 20 percent cut by 2005. A dispute erupted between the European nations and the United States on the issue of rainforest logging. The Europeans want a new treaty, but the U.S. and environmentalists say that would delay action that could be F JUitee ON the agency had been criticized on its environmental assessment of the drilling pro- birt TOURISM SALT KE CITY - After years of promoting Utah’ Gagne and other national parks, the Utah Travel Council now wants to turn away from what it calls "Windshield Tourism Harkening back to the days when the family would hop into the station wagon for a drive through the parks, Utah's tourism trade is made up of motels, drive ins, and T-shirt shops. But that only brings about $28 a day per tourist, according to the Travel Council. And that doesn't cut it in the age of bigspending destination tourists. What to do? The Travel Council says communities must create special destinations for visitors, rather than places they just drive through for a brief stay. But old habits, apparently, are hard break and county governments in Utah aren't easily accepting the new paradigm for tourism after becoming entrenched in the old-style 'see the USA in your Chevrolet’ tourism. green-house gasses. The 15 nations of the European Union proposed reduction in emissions of 15 percent below the 1990 levels by the year 2000. But President Clinton declined to com- Capsules O’S Escalante National Monument has been put on hold by the BLM. An agency spokesman said BLM needs more time to review the environmental impacts ofa 14,500-foot well. Previously, posal. Of major concern is that if oil is found, trucks will have to drive 50 miles over rugged roads to haul the crude out. EPA officials have said that the BLM did not address the cumulative impacts of truck traffic in the area. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is required to comment on the proposal. News exposure to power lines could triple the risk of leukemia in children. But the latest study by the National Cancer Institute found that there is little, if any, association between the magnetic fields set up by power lines and the most common form of childhood cancer. The $4.5 million study was based on 638 children under the age of 15 who had acute lymphoblastic. leukemia. Their exposure to high voltage lines was compared to that of 620 children who were healthy. (Formerly The Private Eye Weekly) SL IDVd ° SAWIL NIVLNNOW OIL WELL DELAYED SALT LAKE CITY - The decision on whether to allow Conoco to drill an exploratory oil well in the Grand Staircase- |