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Show Cedar area still considered for missile base Although rumors that a large permanent missile base will be established in Iron County are not true, the Cedar Ce-dar City area is one of a number num-ber of locations being considered consid-ered for construction of a $41.8 million prototype hardrock missile silo, according to Representative Rep-resentative Sherman P. Lloyd, R-Utah. The Utah Congressman Congress-man said , the silo would be used for various tests to determine de-termine the feasibility of locating lo-cating future offensive missile systems in hardrock formations forma-tions to give them greater protection. "A decision on the location I for this test site will be made, sometime in September", Rep. I Lloyd said. "Besides Cedar City Ci-ty the Air Force is considering a site near Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as other sites on existing Federal installations." installa-tions." The Second District Congressman Con-gressman said he has been trying for weeks to track down persistent rumors that Cedar City would be the site of a major Air Force Missile Base. Rep. Lloyd said he first heard about the hardrock silo development program through a colleague, Rep. James B Utt, R-California, who owns land in the Cedar City area. "The proposed test silo does not mean a permanent missile base will be established, establish-ed, and any increase in employment em-ployment in the area, such as ' the construction industry, will probably be only temporary," temp-orary," Rep. Lloyd said. He said the Air Force has already awarded a contract to the Bechtel Corporation of Vernon, California for design, construction, testing and eval. uation of the test silo. Cedar City was the site ofi a series of high explosive" lefstft in April, May and June. Rep.J Lloyd said the tests were being be-ing conducted to simulte shock effects of nucleur blasts in granite rock, using conven-j conven-j tional explosives. j |