"We had some strong support from many of our industry leaders in the Basin," said McKee, adding that IPAMS (Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States) has climbed aboard the bandwagon. "These people all came forth and said, 'We support you in what you are trying to do to bring this money back to the Basin.' We have had numerous industry leaders tell us they are 100 percent behind this thing."

That's why it was baffling that although the majority of independents were rooting for the counties, the major oil companies did not reciprocate by supporting efforts to move legislation through the 2005 session. In fact, they opposed the severance tax legislation, according to Ross. As for why, "I don't have a good answer," he said.

Uintah Basin commissioners said they are already working toward changing any negative attitudes or misunderstandings. They aren't alone. There are nine coalition counties which organized several years ago to lobby lawmakers for financial aid after the oil boom went bust in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Although the 2005 severance tax measure won approval in the Senate, it got hung up in the House because the funding allocation was debated and never attached.

"We didn't even get a vote in the House — we couldn't get it out of Rules (Committee) to get on the floor for a vote," Ross said. "Of course, there wasn't any money attached, so in short the bill died. For those reasons, we simply came out empty-handed on the severance tax."

Almost three years ago, Rep. Jack Seitz, R-Vernal, sponsored a scaled-down version of what was requested in Evans' severance tax measure. In 2002, the bill was approved by the House and Senate, only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Mike Leavitt two months later. The denial of severance tax revenue to the counties was seen as slap in the face by the Basin's elected officials, who felt betrayed by Leavitt, even though his veto wasn't totally unexpected.

"He thought the severance tax money belonged to all the people in the state of Utah, because it was from natural resources," Seitz said at the time, adding that the same severance tax legislation would not be resurrected while Leavitt was in office.

County commissioners and Basin legislators aren't wasting any time in promoting their new plan and are pinning their hopes on a new governor and an entirely new severance tax measure.

"In our way of looking at it, that money leaves through here and we would like to see some of it come back here," McKee said. "We definitely could use some help."

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