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Show Basin Group Sponsors Substitute Gas, Oil Bill For Utah Legislature A substitute bill has been prepared pre-pared under the direction of the Uintah Land Owners Protective Association by their attorneys,. R. Earl Dillman, of Roosevelt and Olin Wellborn, Los Angeles, which will be introduced into the present session of the state Legislature as a substitute for H.B. 29. The present bill was prepared by the Rocky Mountain Moun-tain Oil and Gas Association and was patterened after the one in effect in Colorado. The local landowners felt the bill that is now in the sifting committee of both the Senate and House was not applicable to the Utah area which provides that five-man commission be set up to administer the statutes which regulate conservation and development of oil and gas in the state. The new bill agrees with this phase of the old one, but feel that the powers of the commission should be regulated to such an extent that non-consenting land owners would not be forced into drilling units on a large scale where no maximum maxi-mum exists. The new measure would set a 40-acre maximum. The commission would be appointed ap-pointed by the Governor and would consist of five men over 30 years of age who had lived at least five years in the State of Utah. They would . serve without compensation. Instigators of the new oil bill are of the opinion that unless un-less the bill that was introduced intro-duced into the Senate and House by Senator B. H. String-ham, String-ham, (R., Vernal), and Rep. Wm. D. Brotherson, respectively, is modified there will be no chance for legislation this term, since the bill is caught in the sifting committees of both houses. hous-es. Another measure sponsored by the Utah Land Board has been introduced that would delegate del-egate the matter of conservation and development of qil and gas in the state in the hands of the present land board. Their bill would not provide an impartial commission, which is felt very necessary by oil companies and land owners. Both Mr. Stringham and Mr. Brotherson have assured the people in the Uintah Basin area that their desire is to give the people . what they want and what is best for the state. In the meantime those who are opposed to H.B. 29 should not relax in their fight to have it remain in the sifting committee, commit-tee, and the new measure introduced in-troduced in its place. |