SALT LAKE CITY It s full steam ahead for another Utah Inland Port Authority bill filed late in the Utah Legislature s general session, this year to create a funding mechanism for low-interest loans for rural port projects.
Even though dozens of public speakers lined up both online and in person on Utah s Capitol Hill Monday filling the Senate committee room s limited capacity due to COVID-19 and multiple overflow rooms the committee s chairman, Sen. Daniel Thatcher, allowed less than 15 minutes of public comment on the bill as lawmakers barrel toward the end of the 45-day session this week. We re running out of time here, Thatcher, R-West Valley City, said as he called on the last few public commenters to speak. Not long after, the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee swiftly voted 6-1 to endorse the bill, with only Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, voting against.
Bill to create state bank for Utah Inland Port barrels forward deseret.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from deseret.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
4:53
You can find Lee and Debbie Elmgreens ranch at a shrubby fork in the narrow canyons of the Book Cliffs. On a recent fall day the greens have a map of southeastern Utah spread across their dining room table.
Lee Elmgreen is reading a new report by the Bureau of Land Management. It s a 1300 page study of a plan to put a massive road in their backyard.
LEE: The scope of this work included a review of available information. And a one day visual windshield reconnaissance of the project.
The 35-mile highway would carve through the enormous stretch of undesignated wilderness that abuts their property. The Elmgreens worry the road is unrealistic in the tight and steep gorges. They also worry it will harm ancient petroglyphs painted on the canyon s walls.