New tourism director gets down to business

While there are a lot of people in the area that feel tourism doesn't have much impact on the local economy, new Carbon County Tourism Bureau Director Shalee Johansen sees it differently.

Johansen, who is originally from American Fork and recently relocated to Carbon County from Wasatch County, sees tourism as the engine of the economy in the area that has been barely tapped. Her experience in marketing venues in the resort industry in the Park City area and background on securing grant money to help promote tourism in the area will be very helpful in bringing people to the community.

"One of the things I think that is most important is that we set up a concierge service for the community," she stated. "I am setting up an electronic system and we will also use the information center at the USU Prehistoric Museum for that."

The system that Johansen imagines will supply answers to tourists' questions about everything from where they can get a pizza to where they can buy auto parts. It is her intention to be sure those who come to town are well taken care of. It is also her intention to see that they come back. Sun Advocate

Improving the Emery County business climate: Lunch and Learn explores economic activity

The Emery County Business Chamber is planning its March Lunch and Learn meeting. It will be held on March 15 at noon at the Museum of the San Rafael. The featured speaker for this lunch will be Alan Christensen who is an expert on marketing your business on the web and making sure your business has a web presence and email.

Mike McCandless, Emery County Economic Development Director spoke at the previous Lunch and Learn, he gave an update on economic development in Emery County. He has been working with Blue Castle Holdings on the proposed nuclear power plant near Green River. McCandless spoke of the rural fast track grant program. These grants can be used by an established business to expand; the business must be in business for two years and show they are turning a profit. One million dollars has been put into local businesses in rural Utah through the program.

McCandless said Emery County cannot rely on what we've done in the past. We can't always rely on coal. We need to think of things outside of the energy realm. McCandless said they work to match the resources available with the entrepreneurs. Everybody wins when there is a successful business in the county. It brings in tax dollars. It provides shopping opportunities. We want to help businesses get a leg up and get them going." McCandless outlined the film projects which used Emery County as a backdrop. Star Trek, 127 hours, TJ Maxx and others. "The film industry is a nice industry. It's low impact. We are doing a lot of things to promote Emery County including a spot on Delta airlines. We are here to promote you and we play a support role. We want to help people succeed," said McCandless.

The next Lunch and Learn for the Emery County Business Chamber will be on March 15 at noon at the Museum of the San Rafael. Call the Emery County Progress at 381-2431 to reserve your spot. The luncheon is $12 and will be catered by Kent Wilson at BKs.
http://www.ecprogress.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=10544

Green River nuclear power proposal sparks big questions

Utah-based Blue Castle's plan to build a 3,000 megawatt nuclear power plant near the Green River in eastern Utah is generating more questions than answers. Presently, none of the plant's $16 billion to $20 billion construction cost is in hand. Rather, Blue Castle plans to secure the Green River water, then obtain a license from the NRC before it begins to raise money to build the plant. Should the Green River plant be built -- a fast-track scenario would put it online in 2020, although historically such projects have taken longer. The Salt Lake Tribune