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Wayne & Garfield County
INSIDER
Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Bryce • Tropic • Antimony • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder • Fremont • Loa • Lyman Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville
Agency Staff Take Recon Trip to Little Valley Wash Oil Spill Site
Garkane Energy Commemorates 75th Anniversary With a History Book
WGCI Photo
Members of the group that went to look at the oil deposits in Little Valley Wash last Friday pause to discuss their observations. Field trip members were: A reporter and photographer from the Deseret News; Dr. Julie Sueker, Vice President/Technical Expert for Arcadis-U.S.; Sue Baughman, Mineral Specialist and Joe Harris, Public Affairs Officer for the Dixie National Forest; Sarah Schlanger, Interim Monument Manager, Terry Tolbert, Biologist, and Larry Crutchfield, Public Affairs Officer for the GSENM; Mark Bing, Central Region Manager for Citation Oil Corp., and Insider staff.
GRAND STAIRCASEESCALANTE N.M. - Last Friday, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service agency staff, along with representatives of Citation Oil and members of the press including Insider and Deseret News staff, went on a field trip to Little Valley Wash to investigate the conditions in the wash following reports of oil in the wash. The eleven-member troupe hiked approximately four miles up the wash to the point where it climbs a steep slope to a road that leads to Citation Oil’s well #27. “I’m an archaeologist by training, so I want to dig into this, to find out what’s going on,” said Sarah Schlanger, who is serving as Interim Manager for the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, as the group gathered around a six- to eight- inch thick deposit of oil in the bottom of the wash. “This isn’t the kind of thing we like to see in the Monument.” The thickest oil deposits, particularly at the lower regions of the wash, are the result of a decades-old spill, or perhaps series of spills, though the exact incidents and dates that led to those deposits have not been determined. There are many Escalante residents who recall working at the Tenneco Oil fields (the same fields now owned by Citation Oil) during the late 60s and the 70s—no
one denies that there was a substantial oil spill 30 to 40 years ago in Little Valley Wash. By all reports, the oil spill was reported and handled in a manner that was in compliance and consistent with mitigation regulations and methods in place at that time. However, there is also evidence of a recent spill. In the upper reaches of the wash, oil was discovered clinging to young branches and twigs above any apparent high water mark, which suggests an oil spill occurred recently during a time when there was heavy snowpack and the oil was likely migrating below, on top of, and through various layers of snow and ice leaving some but few fresh traces of oil on the ground. These deposits were small and sporadic and the visible evidence suggested that the oil spill was nowhere near the size of the flow that occurred 30 to 40 years ago. Most members of the group elected not to make the last steep climb to the top of the wash, but five members of the group, including Citation Oil’s central region manager Mark Bing, petroleum scientist Julie Sueker, Insider staff and GSENM biologist Terry Tolbert, climbed approximately 500 vertical feet of elevation to a road in the Citation Oil fields, where recent oil deposits were
evident in the vicinity of a road culvert. At this location on the road and downhill of the road culvert there is what appears to be recently deposited oil on a now snow-free road in a pattern consistent with the braiding behavior of liquids migrating through layers of snow and ice. From the culvert, the trail of oil still remaining in the bar ditch leads back uphill directly to the area in the middle of the road where there had been a recent repair of an underground oil transmission pipeline. “We are the last people that want to see an oil spill,” said Mark Bing. “That makes the whole industry look bad.” What’s unclear at this point is just how long the pipe had been leaking or how much oil from the leaking pipe came down the wash. One mystery that presented itself to the group was whether oil deposits on younger and green vegetation in the lower part of the wash is from “old” oil, or from the recent spill. Test results taken by two environmental scientists, North Wind—retained by the BLM, and Arcadis-U.S.— representing Citation Oil, may provide some answers to this question. One additional question that remains; what is the appropriate remediation to this most recent incident, if any at all. —Insider
Sign Up Now for Leadermete! WAYNE CO. - If you read last week’s Insider, you know that the 4-H Leadermete 2014 Conference will be held in Wayne County this year April 24, 25, and 26!! Local residents are invited to check out the schedule of classes, workshops, and events and encouraged to participate. You’ll need to register so go to the website now to gather more information and to register, at www.utah4h.org. Go to the bottom of the page and click the link for more information or to register. Any questions feel free to call GaeLynn Peterson, 435-
836-1313 or Mary Sorenson 435-8391312 Fees are $15.00 plus the class fees for county residents. Write something like “I’m local, reduce my fee” or something else clever in the special needs box you will see on the registration page. The presenters will be arriving from all over the state. This is a great oppor-
Thursday, April 10, 2014 • Issue # 1043
tunity for our community! The office would like to thank all of the sponsors involved in this major event. —USU Wayne County Extension
TROPIC - Lighting The Plateau is a seventy-five year history that follows the electrification and transformation of southern Utah & northern Arizona, from rural farmland to its modern-day incarnation. The 236 page hardcover volume was written by Carl Boyd, Jr., a Kentucky native who now resides in Tropic. It is packed with photos and stories of how Garkane grew from a handful of farm accounts in Garfield and Kane County, into a cooperative that now serves more than 13,000 meters in six counties throughout South-Central Utah and Northern Arizona. “Without Carl Boyd’s time and dedication, a book of this magnitude may not have been an easy option for us because of our budget and time constraints,” said Neal Brown, the co-op’s Manager of Member Services and Marketing. His work included dozens of hours of interviews, meetings with the co-op to review chapters, and pouring over hours and hours of board meeting minutes. The result has turned into a great history, not only of Garkane Energy, but also for all of the Southern Utah communities that have benefited from the electrifica-
Carl Boyd Jr. of Tropic (left) author of Garkane’s recently published 75 year history, Lighting the Plateau, with Carl Albrecht, Garkane’s CEO. tion of rural Utah and Arizona. “As a current Garkane board member, former History Professor, Attorney, and Author, he was the perfect man to write Garkane’s seventy five year history.” Said Carl Albrecht, CEO of Garkane Energy.
Garkane Energy’s Annual Meeting Schedule:
* Carl Albrecht Retirement Reception: 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. * Carl Boyd Jr. Book Signings: 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. * Free catered meal: 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. * Musical entertainment: 6:00 – 6:45 p.m. * Business Meeting for all Garkane Members: 7:00-8:00 p.m. Tuesday April 22, 2014 – Kanab High School, Kanab Wednesday April 23, 2014 – Bryce Valley High School, Tropic Thursday April 24, 2014 – Wayne High School, Bicknell
Op - Ed
The Opportunity to Improve Grazing Is Now by Norman Mckee
A few weeks ago, members of the National Riparian Restoration Service Team presented an excellent workshop, held at the Escalante Interagency Office, on The Principles and Practices of Riparian Compatible Livestock Grazing. Many thanks to Tyce Palmer, our local Resource Coordinator for the Utah Association of Conservation Districts and others who helped him plan this training that is so important to our area. The Service Team is made up of livestock and grazing experts with decades of experience in grazing management throughout the intermountain west. “It’s not so much the numbers of cattle grazed, but more the intensity and timing of the grazing,” said Floyd Reed, a leader of the National Riparian Service Team. This was the key point which the workshop presenters time and again drove home during the two-day training. Several dozen participants representing many local, state, and federal agencies and organizations were in attendance. Two local ranchers’ input was greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, absent were many other invited ranchers and biologists and/or managers of the state wildlife and school trust land management agencies. All attendees received critical information and provided input to understanding the importance
of future grazing on both public and private lands. Since settlement times we have observed the effects on livestock grazing on our landscape. This impact, combined with the lost stream stability that occurred with the earlier large-scale trapping of beaver, led to mass stream erosion, especially in the era beginning in the 1890s. The historical wetland vegetation along the riparian (streamside) zones changed
Thurs. APR. 10 - wed. APR. 16
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. —Frank Zappa
IF YOU WERE GOLDILOCKS, you might say this coming week is “just right.” Not too cold. Not too hot. Maybe slightly breezy, but you can’t have everything. Sunny to partly cloudy all week, beginning of the week highs in upper 60s, nearing 70, and cooling about 10 degrees as the week progresses, to the mid to upper 50s. Lows in the 30s. No rain is currently projected.
THE WAYNE & GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER is owned and operated by Snapshot Multimedia, LLC and is distributed weekly to all of Wayne and Garfield Counties, Utah. Its purpose is to inform residents about local issues and events. Articles submitted from independent writers are not necessarily the opinion of Snapshot Multimedia, LLC. We sincerely hope you enjoy the paper and encourage input on ideas and/or suggestions for the paper.
dramatically. The overgrazed vegetation could no longer provide the stability for soils in canyons and valleys. The longtime presence of beaver slowed the water and allowed soils to be deposited, thus creating thick vegetation that also aided in capturing the sediment. With beaver gone and heavy unregulated grazing, rampant erosion Grazing Improvement Cont’d on page 2
We Have a Winner!
BICKNELL - Bicknell Town held a contest offering $100 to the winner who designs the best logo and slogan for the town. West Saunders of Bicknell was selected the winner by the Town Council for his slogan “Bicknell, Where Beauty is Everywhere.” Shown in the photo is Mayor Gil Hunt presenting West with the check for $100. —Bicknell Town Phone: 435-826-4400 Fax 1-888-370-8546 PO BOX 105 Escalante, Utah 84726 snapshot@live.com
REGIONAL Weather forecast for some but not all regions represented in our newspaper coverage area
Free book signings by Carl Boyd will be held in conjunction with Garkane’s annual meetings. The history book will be given out free to all interested members who attend the annual meetings. —Garkane Energy
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BOXHOLDER
PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122