SandBoxUtah: Deseret News "FreedomWorks endorses Mia Love, Dan Liljenquist"

 Lisa Riley Roche and Dennis Romboy:
"SALT LAKE CITY — A national tea party organization has endorsed Utah Republicans Mia Love in 4th Congressional District and Dan Liljenquist in the U.S. Senate race.

Meantime, Gov. Gary Herbert declined again Thursday to back Sen. Orrin Hatch, saying he likes both the longtime senator and his primary election opponent Liljenquist.

Though FreedomWorks didn't formally back Liljenquist before the state GOP convention last weekend, it has actively organized opposition to Hatch's re-election campaign for the past year. Liljenquist forced Hatch into a primary runoff, the six-term senator's first since being elected in 1976.

“We have been working with Utah conservatives since last May to elect the strongest and most consistent advocate for conservative economic policy, and Dan has proven himself to be the man for the job," said Russ Walker, FreedomWorks national political director...."  (Read more? Click title)

SandBoxUtah: Red State "Mia Love’s (R CAND, UT-04) Saturday convention speech"

SandBoxUtah: ABC News "Mia Love: black, conservative, Mormon, GOP House candidate from Utah"

Chris Moody:
"Amid the crowded field of House candidates across the country in 2012, expect to hear a lot about Mia Love, a Republican who is an African American and a Mormon and who  on Saturday defeated a handful of rivals to clinch the party nomination in the campaign for Utah's fourth congressional district. Love is preparing to face incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson. Victory in November would make her the first black Republican congresswoman in history.

A Brooklyn-born Mormon convert, Love is a marathon-running mother of three and the daughter of Haitian immigrants who came to the United States with $10 in their pockets, she says. Her mother cleaned houses and worked as a nurse at a retirement home while her father worked for a painting company, toiled as a janitor at a Catholic school and drove a school bus to support their growing family.

"I am a product of that hard work," she said in an interview with Yahoo News, "a product of the American dream."..." (Read more?  Click title)

SandBoxUtah: Salon "Beware the Romney boys"

(Photo Credit: iStockphoto/gmnicholas/Salon/Benjamin Wheelock)

Sarah Laskow:
"If Barack Obama beats Mitt Romney in November, the political prospects of the Romney boys will take a hit, as well. But if their dad wins, whatever ambitions Tagg and Josh have will get a boost. And there will still be time enough for Matt, Craig or Ben to decide to give politics a try. Given how American dynasties work, “the odds are very great that at least one of them is going to go into the family business at some time,” says Hess...." (Read more?  Click title)

SandBoxUtah: CBS News "Utah leaders back ski lift connection"

"SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce is organizing a coalition to push for a ski lift that would connect two Utah resorts if Congress goes along with a sale of national forest land.

The chamber is enlisting notable Utah figures who say it's the start of something big — the first lift connection among the cluster of Wasatch resorts. Together they could make for North America's largest skiing complex.

Jake Garn — former U.S. senator, Navy pilot and astronaut — says a gondola connecting the Canyons and Solitude resorts would allow people to ski both sides of the Wasatch mountains without driving around.

The LIFT UTAH coalition was announced Tuesday as 40 backcountry skiers and environmentalists stood outside the Salt Lake chamber to protest the development of high alpine terrain where the snow piles deep....."  (Read more?  Click title)

SandBoxUtah: Market Watch Intrepid Potash, Inc. Announces BLM Approval of the HB Solar Solution Mine Project and Commencement of Construction"

"Intrepid Potash, Inc.  announced today that on March 19, 2012, the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") issued its Record of Decision ("ROD") approving the HB Solar Solution mine near Carlsbad, New Mexico and, with the BLM's approval, Intrepid immediately commenced construction activities on the project. The ROD became final this month.

Intrepid's Executive Chairman of the Board, Bob Jornayvaz, stated, "We are very pleased to have begun construction of our HB project after more than three years of the BLM's careful review and study of the project's environmental impacts. This project is a game changer for Intrepid that will allow us to capitalize on our solution mining and solar evaporation expertise that we have developed from our current operations in Moab and Wendover, Utah. The HB Solar Solution mine will be one of the lower-cost potash mines in North America with cash costs estimated to be between $60 and $80 per ton, improving our overall cost profile and margin opportunity. We also expect the mine to increase our potash production by approximately twenty-five percent." Mr. Jornayvaz continued, "The tremendous support for the project from the Carlsbad community; local, state, and federal government; and the oil and gas operators in the area was integral to our successful navigation of the Environmental Impact Statement process required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The ROD validates that the project meets the requirements for balanced management of public lands."..."  (Read more?  Click title)

SandBoxUtah: Salt Lake Tribune "Utah sues over bird refuge boundaries "

Judy Fahys:
"A decades-old quarrel about the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge has landed in court.

The Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands is suing the U.S. Interior Department, along with its agencies, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City on the question of where state land ends and federal land begins at the 83-year-old refuge on the Great Salt Lake...."  (Read more? Click title)

SandBoxUtah: Salt Lake Tribune "Utah extends public comment period for refinery expansion"

Judy Fahys:
"State regulators have again extended the public comment period for Tesoro’s proposed refinery expansion.

On Monday, the Utah Division of Air Quality said it was extending the deadline to June 7 — partly to accommodate critics who have a beef with the Salt Lake City plant’s expansion and who will be required to pursue their concerns in a new appeals system that begins May 8. The comment period was originally set to end in March...."  (Read more?  Click title)