Estonian oil shale company Enefit American Oil is abandoning its lease to mine oil shale on federal public land in Utah’s Uinta Basin.
Resource Issue: Oil shale and tar sands
The Grand Canyon Trust and Deseret Power signed a settlement agreement over a sizable water right (15 cubic-feet per second, or 3.5 billion gallons per year). Read the settlement agreement.
The Estonian state-owned oil shale company, Enefit American Oil, relinquished a preliminary lease to research the commercial viability of mining and producing oil shale on public land in northeastern Utah.
In November 2021, the Grand Canyon Trust filed a protest arguing a lack of diligence in putting a Green River, Utah water right to beneficial use.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SALT LAKE CITY, UT — The Trump administration pushed forward today with leasing tar sands across 2,100 acres of public lands in northeastern Utah near the Green River, updating a plan from 2013 just weeks before leaving office. Producing fuel from tar sands generates up to twice the climate pollution and requires […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BONANZA, UT — Conservation groups today sued the Trump administration to challenge what would be the nation’s first commercial-scale oil shale mine and processing facility. The lawsuit says officials failed to protect several endangered species when they approved rights-of-way across public lands to provide utilities to the proposed oil shale development. High […]
A lawsuit challenges the decision to green light a massive oil shale development in Utah.
Enefit American Oil’s South Project oil shale development could put endangered fish at risk.
Enefit American Oil wants to build the first commercial-scale oil shale processing plant and strip mine in the United States in northeast Utah.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SALT LAKE CITY, UT— Conservation groups today issued a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration for approving rights-of-way for pipelines and powerlines that pave the way for the nation’s first commercial oil shale development. The massive Enefit project in Utah’s Uinta Basin would drain billions of gallons of water from […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Conservation groups today formally opposed the Trump administration’s plan to facilitate the first commercial oil shale development in the United States, a massive Utah project that would generate enormous greenhouse gas and deadly ozone pollution in regions already exceeding federal air-pollution standards. The Bureau of Land Management […]
Read the comments submitted by the Grand Canyon Trust and partners regarding the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Enefit American Oil Utility Corridor Project.
A map of leasable tar sands and oil shale resources on federal lands in the Colorado River Basin.
A map of land leased for oil shale and tar sands development in the Colorado River Basin.
Read the court’s decision on a challenge submitted by multiple plaintiffs to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for omitting two flowers from the threatened or endangered lists under the Endangered Species Act.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE “Conservation Agreement” Inadequate to Address Threats from Uinta Basin Energy Development DENVER—A federal court yesterday ruled in favor of conservation groups in their challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to deny Endangered Species Act protection to two imperiled wildflowers that live only on oil shale formations in Colorado and […]
This map shows Enefit American’s oil shale rights of way, as well as oil shale and tar sands deposits in northeastern Utah.
Read the comments submitted on behalf of the Grand Canyon Trust and others regarding the Enefit American Oil Utility Corridor Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
Read the letter sent to the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the Enefit American Oil Utility Corridor Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SALT LAKE CITY— The Bureau of Land Management announced this week that it is moving toward allowing dirty oil shale development that could be a double whammy for the environment, unleashing nearly a half a billion tons of greenhouse gases and consuming vast amounts Colorado River basin water. It would be the […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Flagstaff, Arizona—On Wednesday, June 10, 2015, more than 100 prominent scientists from across North America, including climate scientists, economists, geophysicists, and biologists, released a consensus statement entitled “Ten Reasons for a Moratorium” that shows why Canada and the United States should postpone new tar sands development – known as “oil sands” in […]
This interactive map tells the story of Utah’s dirty energy future.
Oil shale and tar sand leasable land in the Colorado River Basin.
