Direct Action Protest Temporarily Shuts Down Utah Tar Sands Project

onJun 28, 2014 @ 11:35 PDT

An environmental group called Women of Action Against Violent Extraction (WAAVE) shut down U.S. Oil Sands’ mining operation in Utah temporarily on June 16, citing tension around whether the project’s permits are legal.

The women swarmed a bulldozer on the site and asked the operator to stop working. A two and a half minute YouTube video posted June 19 by PeacefulUprising.org shows the bulldozer operator asking them to talk to his supervisor.

The protest was at the U.S. Oil Sands project at PR Spring on the Tavaputs Plateau in eastern Utah, about 50 miles west of Grand Junction, Colorado. The project is the first tar sands mine in the U.S.

Three protest groups, Peaceful Uprising, U.S Tar Sands Resistance and Canyon Country Rising Tide, have set up a permanent protest vigil at the site and are encouraging such direct action protests of the project.

By Anne Landman

uk/Kemi Badenoch Accepted £7,500 Retreat from Chair of Climate Denial Group

BySam Bright

onMar 24, 2026 @ 11:07 PDT

The Tory leader spent a week at the home of a major party donor.

Series: Defending Democracy from Dirty Money

Series: Defending-UK-Democracy

Climate Disasters Hit Homeowners Through Insurance Bills, and States Want Big Oil to Pay

BySharon Kelly

onMar 24, 2026 @ 08:50 PDT

After surviving a California wildfire, one family saw premiums quadruple — as states consider laws to force fossil fuel companies to pay for the soaring costs of climate catastrophes they helped create.