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Show Legislative Report Matheson favors Wayne site A bill introduced by local Senator Ivan Matheson in the Utah Senate last week and presented to Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus, throws its support behind the original "Salt Wash" site for the Intermountain Power Project. Matheson said in an accompanying letter to Andrus the resolution "has broad support in both houses of the legislature. We encourage you to consider it carefully and positively as you deliberate on this important siting question." About one-half of the cities and towns and rural power distribution systems affected by the Intermountain In-termountain Power Project in Utah are in the 29th Senatorial District, Matheson said, which includes Beaver, Iron, Washington, Garfield and Kane Counties. "I will continue my efforts to see that this plant is built, as our southern Utah area desperately needs it," Matheson said. The resolution penned by Matheson states that one-third to one-half of the agricultural lands in the Delta-Lynndyl Delta-Lynndyl area would be taken out of production due to the lack of water created by the Intermountain Power Plants intake. "If the site at Salt Wash, Wayne County, were chosen," Matheson said, "Water for agriculture would be developed rather than taken out of production. The citizens and depressed economy of the southern Utah counties will be greatly assisted by the IPP development and many young men and women will not have to leave their lifelong homes in order to seek acceptable employment elsewhere." |