"Humans really aren't affecting the environment in any significant way," said J.J. Brown, a Hatch aide on natural resources issues, contending the Earth's emergence from a minor ice age is responsible for rising global temperatures, not emissions from industrialized societies. "The conclusion that humans are causing global warming is bunk."
He also said that oil shale reserves in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming are the panacea for the country's energy needs and would have far less impact than other solutions advanced by Democrats who have adopted the anti-energy policies of environmental extremists.
"They're anti-human activity, anti-coal, anti-oil . . . They don't want anyone on the land. They don't want humans to progress," said Brown, adding he was being "pretty conservative" in his characterization of environmentalists.
Ethanol is not the solution, he argued, contending it requires far more water than oil shale, disturbs much more wildlife habitat and, through soil disturbance, releases far more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
While lambasting Democrats for stalling offshore oil drilling and oil shale development, which he contends could produce 1.6 trillion barrels of oil, Brown said Republicans squandered an opportunity to set the country on the right energy course when they controlled both the White House and Congress in the early years of President Bush's administration.
"The Republicans took the majority the American public gave them and threw it down the toilet," he told more than 350 people attending the convention at The Canyons Resort.
In a videotape, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. praised the 93-year-old Utah Mining Association and its members for their contributions to the state's economy. A backbone of Utah's economy since the 1860s, mining accounted for half of the state's $8 billion in exports last year, Huntsman said, predicting the industry's influence will continue as more clean coal and carbon capture technologies are developed.
The association presented its lifetime service award to Vernal Mortensen, longtime coal company official whose family founded the Southern Utah Fuel Co. Its Sufco mine outside of Salina is one of the state's leading producers. Distinguished service awards were given to retiring state Sen. Mike Dmitrich of Price and University of Utah mining engineering professor M. Kim McCarter.
Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon and Price Mayor Joe Piccolo also received awards for their handling of last August's Crandall Canyon mine disaster in which nine miners died.
mikeg@sltrib.com
