Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Governor Olene Walker is declaring a drought disaster in Utah.
Walker issued an Agricultural Drought Disaster Declaration for the state today following six consecutive years of below average rainfall.
State agriculture officials project the drought will have a 133 (m) million dollar negative impact on Utah's agricultural economy.
The governor is urging the U-S Department of Agriculture to declare a national "Agricultural Disaster" for the 21 qualifying Utah counties.
She's says Utah is one of the hardest hit states by prolonged drought and she is asking for financial relief from the federal government for farmers and ranchers who face crop losses.
State agriculture officials say drought conditions exist in 21 of the state's 29 counties.
Counties qualifying for drought disaster designation:
Beaver
Box Elder
Cache
Carbon
Emery
Garfield
Grand
Iron
Juab
Kane
Millard
Piute
Rich
Salt Lake
San Juan
Sanpete
Sevier
Summit
Tooele
Washington
Wayne
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
