The Daily Sentinel from Grand Junction, Colorado • 9

Section TelevisionCrosswordLandersObituaries Friday. December 18, 1809 Exxon to try new shale-mining method Bob Sllbmagl Daily Sentinel The three-phase, research-and-develop-ment project began in February this year. During the first phase, an engineering design was developed for a water-jet-assisted rock cutting system to work with conventional mining equipment, said Peter Mygatt, spokesman for the Energy Department's Grand Junction Projects Office. In the second phase, is currently under way, the new equipment is to be assembled and factory tested at the Pennsylvania headquarters of Alpine Equipment. People also will be trained in the use of the equipment, and preparations will be could help make shale oil more competitive, said Mygatt Up to 40 percent of the cost of shale oil is in the mining so you can see why companies are interested in finding new techniques From a mining research standpoint, its an exciting project, said Ekstrand "It has the potential of being a significant advance by increasing the amount of resource that can be recovered and making the mining more cost-efficient The test program is scheduled to run until February 1990, Mygatt said.

made for using the equipment in an actual mine. That part of the project, the third phase, is scheduled to begin next spring at Exxons Colony project, said Mygatt. At the Colony mine the new equipment will be tested during at least 200 hours of rock cutting. Officials with the Energy Department and Alpine Equipment hope the tests will lead to development of commercial mining equipment using the water-jet-assisted method, and that the equipment will help reduce mining costs. If you can cut down the mining costs, it Colony Shale Oil Project.

Theres a limited number of mines available for this kind of testing. Ours was developed 20 years ago and has been used to test a number of different technologies. The cooperative project between the Energy Department and Alpine is estimated to cost $1.5 million, according to a statement from the Energy Department. The technique being tested is called the water-jet-assisted mechanical cutting method. It uses a high-pressure water stream to help cut sections of rock during mining.

A new oil-shale mining technique now being tested will be used to mine shale at Exxons Colony Oil Shale Project near Parachute next spring That doesnt mean Exxon is ready to move the Colony project back into production, however. The test is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy and a private firm, Alpine Equipment Corp. Were basically just hosting the test, said Bill Ekstrand, resident manager of the Ban on policy likely will end by fire season SMOolatadPrMa The panel was assembled last September after the worst fire season ever in drought-primed Yellowstone National Park. Some 249 fires seared 706,278 acres within the park boundaries and 40 percent as much again in nearby national forests.

Residents in the fire vicinity complained bitterly that the park, tourism and the very air they breathed were being ruined by the failure to control the fires. The review team was asked to look at policies throughout the national parks and wilderness areas, not just Yellowstone. However, it did not consider policies in other areas such as ordinary national forests, where the Forest Service tries to protect commercial timbering. The panels report will remain open for public comment for 60 days before any recommendations are adopted. The report said no fires in national parks and wilderness areas should be allowed to burn until government fire-management plans are improved.

It said -actual fire-management plans often have not spelled out when natural fires would be allowed to burn and when they would be put out. WASHINGTON A recommended halt to the governments "let it burn forest-fire policy probably would be over by the start of the Western fire season next spring, according to the co-chairman of a panel that suggested the moratorium. The panel, in recommendations Thursday to the secretaries of agriculture and interior, said there were environmental benefits to allowing fires in national parks and wilderness areas to burn. Expert? say fire renews forests, giving new species a chance to grow, encouraging wildlife and recycling nutrients. But it also said that in some cases the social and economic effects of allowing a forest fire to burn may be unacceptable.

The panel suggested a temporary halt to the policy, saying the Forest Service and the National Park Service needed more time to refine their fire-management plans. My guess is that the moratorium would be finished by the beginning of the Western fire season, which is the middle of May, Charles Phil-pot, co-chairman of the review panel, told a news conference. Its getting late to send those gifts, shippers warn Bob aiibwMflrt Daily Sentinel Mail carriers to deliver safety service Oary Harmon Daily Sentinel York and New Hampshire, and those areas, said Charles Huffak-er, owner of and Shipping at 2923 North Ave. We use UPS (United Parcel Service) almost exclusively, and most of the rest of the country is all right for UPS ground service. But if you want to go to New York and New England, youll probably need to go by air.

Matthew Weller, with UPS in Commerce City, agreed. It would be difficult for packages sent by UPS ground service to reach most of the East Coast before next Friday, he said. However, packages sent by either UPS second-day or next-day service would do fine. UPS offices are located at 777 Road 21 a. UPS will pick up packages at ones home for a flat charge of $3.75 for one week unlimited pick-ups, Weller sqid Sending by the least-expensive method with the U.S.

Postal Service also would be cutting it close. On parcel post, were running about four days for delivery, coast to coast, said Joyce Hurlbut, director of marketing for the U.S. Please see Packages, page 2B Buffa said the program has had a lot of success nationwide, and is being brought into the area because of the growing population of retirees. We get to know the people, their habits, customs and we certainly notice suspicious things, she said. Information about the program is available by calling Buffa at begin in January whereby residents can apply to have letter carriers watch for unusual or suspicious circumstances at their homes.

If a letter carrier notices something unusual, the postal service will report it to a designated fi-iend or relative, whose name will be kepi bn file by the Grand Junction Chapter of the American Red Cross, Buffa said. So youve got the Christmas shopping done. Now youve just got to figure out how to get that sweater to Aunt Miriam in Minnesota, and the toys to the nieces in nephews in New York in time for Christmas. The bad news is it may already be too late to reach some of those locations by conventional shipping methods. You can still send the packages there by Christmas, but it will cost you more.

Its getting real late for New The same folks who deliver the mail will soon be keeping an eye out for the health and safety of the people along their routes, especially the elderly, handicapped and those living alone. U.S. Postal Service carrier Cheryl Buffa said a campaign will GJ attorney 1 of 6 nominees to court Bride gives birth after saying vows aoWd Ptm which takes in Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. Ruland, a graduate of Colorado College and Southern Methodist, served on the court of appeals from 1973-1980. Dubofsky is a Stanford graduate and earned his law degree from Georgetown University.

He is in private practice and resides in Boulder. He was licensed in 1970. Allott graduated form Loretto Heights College and earned her law degree from the University of Colorado. She has practiced law since 1965. Coats earned his law degree from the University of Colorado and serves as chief appellate district attorney in Denver.

He was admitted to the bar in 1977. Roan is a graduate of the University of Denver and attended law school at the University of Denver. He has been a district judge since 1980. Steinhardt graduated from New York University and earned her law degree at the University of Denver. She is currently chief judge in the 18th District, and was appointed to the bench in 1979.

DENVER Edwin C. Ruland, a former Colorado Court of Appeals judge now in private practice in Grand Junction, is one of six nominees for two vacancies on the state appeals court The Supreme Court Nominating Commission submitted the six names to Gov. Roy Romer on Thursday. The governor has 15 days to announce his appointments. Ruland couldnt be reached for comment this morning.

Others nominated were: Frank Neal Dubofsky, whose wife, Jean, was Colorados first woman State Supreme Court justice. Ann Allott, a former deputy district attorney in Adams, Jefferson and Denver Counties, now in private practice. Nathan B. Coats of Denver, a former assistant and deputy attorney general. Chief Judge Philip F.

Roan of Adams County, also a former deputy district attorney. Joyce S. Steinhardt, chief judge in the 18th Judicial District, VAIL When Christina Staples and Robert Hardin got married in the maternity ward of Vail Valley Medical Center, there was no organ music, no wedding party and no time to lose. Staples, 17, was in labor and wearing a blue hospital gown when she said I do in the impromptu ceremony Tuesday. A few hours later, her first child, 5-pound-15-ounce Robert Zachary Hardin, was born.

The Edwards couple had planned all along to get married before the baby was born, and Staples had a wedding dress in layaway. But premature labor pains caught them by surprise Tuesday morning. We really wanted the baby to have my name. It just seemed important to get married, said Robert Hardin, 23, the father. The wedding ceremony took Robert Hardin and Christina Staples were married in the maternity ward at the Vail Valley Medical Center Tuesday, hours before the birth of their son.

Pastor Don Rohting performed the ceremony. in Columbia, Mo. They moved separately to Edwards about a year ago, she from West Palm Beach, and he from Columbia. Staples cousin and aunt stood by as witnesses. The Hardins are planning a traditional wedding with bridesmaids and everything on March 4 just five minutes and was performed by Pastor Don Rohling, who was called away fi-om fixing his car.

He wore a sweatshirt, and eyeglasses dotted with motor oil. I A faihi rfTri flu i rt irtr rin rlrrll tj.