This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, R-Vernal, is seeking money for an environmental study that could advance a controversial proposal to convert a dirt road in the Book Cliffs into a paved highway to help tourism.
He asked appropriators for $1.5 million on Wednesday for a study to connect the Seep Ridge Road in Uintah County to I-70, 42 miles to the south. Some Grand County officials have opposed that as possibly hurting wilderness values in the Book Cliffs, and as something that would mostly help the oil and gas industry.
But Van Tassell said those 43 miles — where dirt roads exist — are a hole in what he envisions as a paved "national parks highway," that could connect Dinosaur National Monument with Arches and Canyonlands national parks.
He said the same highway could also connect in a straight line Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area to the north — and parks to the south including Hovenweep, Natural Bridges and Canyon De Chelly national monuments and Petrified Forest National Park.
"This highway for the Uinta Basin, with the downturn in the oil industry, helps us" with tourism, he said.
"We have moved away from any of the environmental and sensitive areas. So we believe it will be very possible to complete this" once an environmental study is completed, Van Tassell said.
"We did a study that was completed earlier this year that says the economic impact to the state of Utah over 20 years will be in excess of $200 million," he said.