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

Carbon Capture Is Booming. So Is the Push to Shift Oversight to States

BySarah Hofmann

onSep 11, 2026 @ 10:36 PDT

As hundreds of CO2 storage wells move toward development, the EPA is handing more regulatory authority to states — despite concerns about safety and long-term liability.