From Deseret News archives:
Bear Lake residents oppose power plant
Company says dam project will produce clean electricity
"In all the time we've been around Bear Lake, it's the most frightening thing I've seen yet," Merlin Olsen said over the phone Friday from his home in Park City.
Olsen made himself available to media to talk about Bear Lake and a proposal by Symbiotics LLC.
Olsen, 67, was born in Logan and graduated from Utah State University, where he also earned a master's degree in economics. In the NFL he played for the Los Angeles Rams and later gained TV fame as a character on "Little House on the Prairie."
As a child, Olsen said he couldn't wait for visits to Bear Lake. One of the first cabins built on Bear Lake belonged to the grandfather of Olsen's wife, Susan, to whom he's been married for 46 years.
The cabin, which Olsen said is still in the family, remains a popular destination for the Olsens' children and grandchildren, who spend lots of time during the summer months boating, fishing and relaxing on the banks of Bear Lake's clear blue waters.
"That's a special place for us as a family," he said. "I have lots of emotional ties to the lake."
Former NBA coach Dick Motta operates a bed and breakfast on the Idaho side of Bear Lake. Utah Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson spends time at his cabin on the lake and his wife is on the Bear Lake Watch board.
A host of critics, including Olsen, are already worried that Symbiotics' dam and pump project will change the lake's look and alter its ecosystem by disturbing Bear Lake's bottom. Symbiotics also has been accused of wanting to do the project primarily as a money-making scheme, buying energy at a low price during the night to operate its facility and selling electricity at a higher cost to consumers during the day.
"It's not the right project for a lake like Bear Lake," Olsen said. He and others believe there will even be a net loss of energy in the marketplace when factoring how much power the plant will consume for its operations compared to how much electricity it will sell.
Recent comments
I'm a conservative politically, and have agreed with very few "tree...
Conservative | April 10, 2008 at 12:32 p.m.
The residents of Garden City, Laketown, Fish Haven et al should...
Karen Smith | April 9, 2008 at 9:19 a.m.
The theory behind pump storage can be debated at length. But why put...
Realist | April 8, 2008 at 11:45 a.m.
- Steelers lead Broncos at halftime 8:13 p.m.
- Jazz win in N.Y. for 1st time since '04 8:02 p.m.
- Suns outlast 76ers, 119-115 7:51 p.m.
- Quilt auction aims to benefit lives 7:44 p.m.
- Eating fruit not a cause of weight gain 7:44 p.m.
- Charcoal, cat-box filler help with odors 7:44 p.m.
- Wife and friend are too close 7:44 p.m.
- 'Brain' seems scattered 7:44 p.m.
- Locklear at 'Melrose Place' again 7:44 p.m.
- Tuesday on TV 7:44 p.m.
- TCU showdown has big implications
- Seniors helped BYU regroup
- Lambert surprisingly tops news
- Hope for single moms
- Bystanders framed for child porn
- Korver and Miles to be evaluated
- Prep girls soccer MVPs named
- Utah Jazz Extra: Whose hot/not
- GOP blasts Matheson after vote
- Newhouse Hotel, an explosive end
- Gay advocates trek to LDS office
269 - House passes health care bill
224 - Lobo suspended
180 - TCU showdown has big implications
175 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
154 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
131 - TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
112 - Thousands protest health bill
110 - RSL rallies to advance
103 - No 'backlash' for pioneers, gays analogy
94
Meghan McCain, the daughter of former presidential candidate John...
Why do so many people live so close to refineries in Utah and elsewhere?
hey Sj Mag zac adams was a senior lst year so he wont be back so camron...
Is because they are the underdogs and they have never lost as underdogs at...
"but who is ranked higher utah or BYU???" the real question is, Who...
The AFHSMB is raising money to give 225 students the indescribable experience...
Looks like celebrity and creative lawyers have once again managed to get...
um, Zack Adams graduate already. and San Juan took 2nd in 91 and 2000. Their...
I think the wasatch JD game is going to be a great game. I will be a pretty...
Of coarse we are feeling good. PG just won the state championship! quit bein...
I can't comment on your medical system...only on my experience here. I had...
For all the smack talk that has been said we are sorry from bingham we know...


