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<br />002734 <br /> <br />Keyes: We will now here about the activities in Utah. <br /> <br />C. Current Activity in Utah - Paul Summers, Utah Division of Water Resources <br /> <br /> <br />Let me give you some background on what has happened in Utah since our <br /> <br /> <br />last meeting with this group. A great deal of interest has developed in <br /> <br /> <br />weather modification due to the extended drought. Around the 1st of January, <br /> <br /> <br />the ski areas wanted to know how a cloud seeding program could be developed <br /> <br /> <br />to help the snow situation. The Traveler Association and the Ski Basin Associ- <br /> <br /> <br />ation asked the Governor of Utah to provide necessary funding to start an <br /> <br /> <br />emergency program on the Wastach Front. Half of the necessary funding was <br /> <br /> <br />provided by the Governor. with some coming from the Four Corners Commission, <br /> <br /> <br />and half by the Division of Water Resources. <br /> <br /> <br />Since this was an emergency program, the Director of the Division of Water <br /> <br /> <br />Resources, Dan Lawrence, waived the license procedure according to law and <br /> <br /> <br />North American Weather Consultants starting aircraft seeding around the seven <br /> <br /> <br />Counties on the west edge of the mountain range. The seeding began on the 5th <br /> <br /> <br />of January and will continue until April of this year, <br /> <br /> <br />Also, the three Bear River Counties expressed interest in expanding their <br /> <br /> <br />summer program to a year-round program. The Unita Basin expressed interest in <br /> <br />a winter program. A spokesman from the Bear River area and our office met with <br /> <br /> <br />a legislative committee to obtain funding for the entire State, A resolution <br /> <br /> <br />of the appropriations committee included a $500,000 recommendation for appro- <br /> <br /> <br />priations to finish out this winter (only $100,000 was in the present budget), <br /> <br /> <br />To make a long story short, we obtained $390,000 for the regular program and a <br /> <br /> <br />recommendation from the Governor to allow 10% of the Divisions entire appropri- <br /> <br /> <br />ations for emergency weather modification ($500,000). The legislative committee <br /> <br /> <br />recommended an additional $300,000 to finish out the present program during <br /> <br /> <br />this year. I really see this as about $100,000 for the winter Bear River cloud <br /> <br /> <br />seeding and the rest for possible summer seeding in other areas. <br /> <br /> <br />As far as the regular appropriations of $390,000, part of it would be used <br /> <br /> <br />for the Unita Basin Project that would be part of the Colorado River Weather <br /> <br /> <br />Modification Project of the B~reau's. What we would like to do is coordinate <br /> <br /> <br />how the Unita Basin winter project should be designed in connection with the <br /> <br /> <br />Bureau's Demonstration Program. We would like to get with the Bureau repre- <br /> <br /> <br />sentatives, some outside scientists, our advisory committee, and possible <br /> <br /> <br />contractors to set an operational project up for the Unita Basin as soon as <br /> <br /> <br />possible, <br /> <br />35 <br /> <br /> <br />E <br />~ <br />t <br />r <br />F <br />t <br />" <br />I <br />e <br /> <br />I <br />