Erda Residents at Forefront of Utah Water Rights Battle
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FRONT PAGE A1 www.tooeletranscript.com TUESDAY TOOELE Mark Pratt plays frigid RANSCRIPT game at Rice T Eccles Stadium See A12 BULLETIN December 4, 2007 SERVING TOOELE COUNTY SINCE 1894 VOL. 114 NO. 57 50¢ Erda residents at forefront of Utah water rights battle Use-it-or-lose-it policy often leaves landowners high and dry with no recourse except costly courtroom appeals by Tim Gillie an appeal of his water right forfeiture STAFF WRITER with the 3rd District Court in Tooele. The rights to the 16 acre feet per year would Bruce Simon worked at the Tooele be worth $160,000 today, Simon said. Army Depot as a safety engineer. In 2000, Unable to pay the roughly $350 an hour at the age of 44, Simon was forced into that a water rights attorney would charge, early retirement when retintis pigmen- Simon will face off in court alone with the tosa destroyed his vision. Nearly blind, state engineer and a state attorney. he turned to a five-acre plot of property Simon is not alone. Several other Erda in Erda he had purchased in 1994. His residents claim they have had their water plan was to build a home on the land and rights taken away by the state engineer spend his retirement there. without notification or opportunity to Simon was delayed in building on his present their cases. Most say their only property due to medical and financial remedy now is through the judicial sys- problems. In the fall of 2004, he decided tem — a process that can be time-con- to sell the property. Afraid his rights for 16 suming and expensive. acre feet of water per year would soon be “It’s sad, most of these people were forfeited because of non-use, Simon con- doing what they thought was right, tacted the state Division of Water Rights and all of the sudden they are told they and was told by an engineer that he had have lost their water rights,” said Tooele five years to go before his rights would be County Commissioner Jerry Hurst, who forfeited. has heard several such water rights com- In early 2005, Simon found a buyer for plaints himself. his property. Then he was notified by the However, Jerry Olds, state engineer and state that his water rights had been for- director of the State Division of Water feited due to non-use. Rights, defends his office’s forfeiture pol- “I was given no prior notice, no hear- icy. ing, no opportunity to present my case,” “I am following the statutory process said Simon. that requires people to make beneficial photography / Troy Boman Simon sold his property at what he use of their water or apply for non-use,” Tyler and Angie Roberts stand in the kitchen of their Erda home with a glass of drinking water on the counter. The Roberts nearly lost said was a below-market price, since the Olds said. “The principle of beneficial use all of their water rights, but have secured enough water for their domestic and irrigation needs. They can now no longer have more than land had no water rights, and moved to one horse on their property. Highland. In the meantime, he has filed SEE WATER PAGE A9 ➤ Farm Bureau head fighting WINTER WONDERLAND Western Climate Initiative Hogan says reducing coal usage would hurt farmers in Tooele County and across the West by Sarah Miley cap on the amount of pollut- because farmers and ranch- STAFF WRITER ants emitted but allows enti- ers are major users of energy, ties that exceed the limit to the adoption of a policy to A Western states initiative purchase credits from those decrease greenhouse gases to combat greenhouse gasses who pollute less — could would make it more expen- will have a negative impact cost Utah billions of dol- sive for them to operate. on farmers and ranchers in lars in economic output, as Many agriculture produc- Tooele County and across well as tens of thousands of ers in Tooele County must the West, according to newly jobs, mostly due to the fact pump water, he said, and re-elected Utah Farm Bureau that coal, which currently coal is what generates the Federation President Leland produces 85 percent of the electricity to pump that Hogan, a Stockton rancher. state’s electricity, would be water. Hogan said the Western used less and less. “If the Western Climate Climate Initiative — an agree- “We’re a carbon-based Initiative goes forward, we ment made earlier this year state that produces a lot of can look at a doubling of that between governors from sev- coal and oil,” said Hogan. cost, and that would basi- eral Western states, includ- “The Western Climate cally shut us down,” Hogan ing Utah and two Canadian Initiative is going to impose said, of ranchers and farm- provinces, to reduce green- restrictions upon industry ers throughout the state. “It house gases by 20 percent that will require us to go out makes agriculture totally of 2005 levels by 2020 — will and purchase green credits, cost-prohibitive.” have negative consequences or else quit using coal and oil Randy Parker, the farm for the agricultural indus- to be within CO2 emissions. bureau’s chief executive offi- try. He cites a recent study That process will drive up cer, said energy costs are the done by the Massachusetts the cost of energy for Utah.” single largest cost to farmers Institute of Technology and Hogan, who was recent- in producing the low-cost, Penn State University that ly re-elected to his fourth safe foods that Americans showed a regional cap-and- two-year term as president enjoy. trade policy — which sets a of the farm bureau, said In a traditional market, there are few producers and many buyers. However, with photography / Maegan Burr agriculture it is the inverse — many producers and few Kids play at the Tooele City Hall Saturday morning while they wait for the Christmas parade to pass by. The snowy parade brought Santa to City Hall for kids to meet. According to the buyers, according to Parker. National Weather Service, the next snowstorm could arrive on Thursday. “So the producer side doesn’t have the ability to be the price-maker, but has to be the price-taker. When you start increasing input costs, whether it be diesel fuel or Wastewater plant expansion kicks off electricity or fertilizer, those by Suzanne Ashe Currently, the plant can pro- several phases in the longer- are very difficult for farmers STAFF WRITER cess 2 million gallons of waste- term expansion of the plant. and ranchers to extract back water per day. When the expan- “We are thinking, ‘What are out of the marketplace with A $3 million expansion of sion is completed next fall, the we going to do 50 years out?’” the increase in consumer Tooele City’s Wastewater plant will have a processing Hansen said. price.” Treatment Plant that began capacity of 3.2 million gallons The Bountiful-based firm Parker said keeping those last month will increase the a day. The expansion will be Aqua Engineering has been production costs low is also current plant’s capacity by 60 paid for by a combination of working on the plan for about photography / Troy Boman a matter of national secu- percent and update its inner impact fees and sewer revenue two years, Hansen said. Utah Farm Bureau Federation President Leland Hogan guides cattle into rity. workings. funds. The current wastewater an holding pen before taking them to market. Hogan recently attended the “We want to make sure The expansion of the seven- According to Tooele City treatment system is still one bureau’s annual convention where effects of the Western Climate Initiative that our country has the year-old plant will take about Engineer Paul Hansen, this (WCI) on agriculture were discussed. A study suggests WCI could harm farm- a year. expansion is only the first of SEE PLANT PAGE A5 ➤ ers by driving up energy costs. SEE FARM PAGE A7 ➤ WEATHER OPEN FORUM A6 HOMETOWN B1 INSIDE Cloudy with a chance of showers OBITUARIES A7 BULLETIN BOARD B4 Local lawn bowler earns medals at on Tuesday, highs in the upper 30s TV LISTINGS B6 CLASSIFIEDS B8 Huntsman World Senior Games to low 40s. See B1 Complete Forecast: A2 SPORTS A10 ANNOUNCEMENTS B7 A2 A2 TOOELE TRANSCRIPT-BULLETIN TUESDAY December 4, 2007 Utah & The West Valley Weather Forecast List of mentally ill banned from buying guns growing Local Weather by Brock Vergakis and Lara Jake Jordan ASSOCIATED PRESS Tue 45/31 12/4 PARK CITY (AP) — A federal list of Cloudy. High around 45F. Winds mentally ill people barred from buy- SSE at 5 to 10 mph. ing guns has doubled in size since the Virginia Tech shootings, and U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey encouraged more states to add infor- Wed mation to the database. 44/24 In his first policy speech since tak- 12/5 ing over as attorney general early Mix of rain and snow. Highs in the this month, Mukasey told a gathering mid 40s and lows in the mid 20s. of attorneys in Park City last week that states have now reported 393,957 mentally ill people to the federal data- base used to screen the backgrounds Thu of potential gun-buyers. As of last 40/30 July, three months after the Virginia 12/6 Tech shootings, states had submitted Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the only 174,863 names to the database. low 40s and lows in the low 30s.