Conservation Groups Sue U.S. Government Over Plan to Blast Utah's Gate Canyon for Oil Truck Highway
Conservation groups sued the U.S. government this week over plans to blast the cliff walls of an eastern Utah canyon and build an oil truck highway through an area covered in historic inscriptions and near world-renowned Native rock art, Reuters reported on October 8. The 50-page lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, says the project would destroy 100-foot cliffs holding at least 47 historic sites.
Gate Canyon runs north off Nine Mile Canyon, described by the BLM as the 'world's longest art gallery' — home to the largest concentration of Native rock art in the United States, with more than 1,000 sites and over 10,000 images, some dating to prehistoric times. The canyon walls also bear 19th-century inscriptions by Black American 'Buffalo Soldiers' and European pioneers, and provide habitat for threatened species such as the Mexican spotted owl, according to the suit.
The plan would replace a winding dirt track with a paved road as an alternative truck route to the Uinta Basin oil fields, potentially turning Nine Mile Canyon into a busy oil highway and damaging one of Utah's most important cultural and scenic areas, the lawsuit claims. It also accuses the BLM of rushing its April 2026 approval while hiding the process from the public.
A U.S. Department of the Interior spokesperson declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The case is the latest in a series of legal battles over development in Utah's canyon country.
The complaint also argues that federal agencies approved the road without adequately assessing damage to cultural resources, in violation of the National Historic Preservation Act.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：犹他州尤因塔盆地印第安峡谷的公路与峡谷地貌，运油铁路规划走廊所在区域。摄影：Don Barrett，CC BY-SA 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
