On Jan. 18, 2013, Utah Tar Sands Resistance (UTSR) presented “the Dirty Truth about Tar Sands Mining” to about 50 people at the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City.
Organized against the proposed tar sands mine at PR Springs, UTSR outlined the dangers to habitat, air quality, land and health that this type of mine and oil shale can be.
“We see herds and herds of really healthy elk and mule deer and lots of other animals that depend on this habitat,” says Melanie Martin, volunteer for UTSR. “It’s really a hidden paradise for hunters and other nature lovers.”
The mine proposed by U.S. Oil Sands, a Canadian company, would destroy the ecology of 32,000 square acres and pollute areas downstream.
“Where the mine begins, life just ends,” says Martin. Tar Sands mines have high greenhouse gas emissions, leach toxic substances into the water table, use massive amounts of water in the mining process and produce energy that further pollutes the environment.
The Department of Environmental Quality has given the go ahead for U.S. Oil Sands to dump waste water without any permit or oversight.
“We still have time to stop it,” says Martin. “Tar sands would not benefit Utah. It would not benefit anyone but these companies.”
UTSR has a trip planned to the area of the proposed mine, where work has already begun with a $150 million road paid for by taxpayers from state funds, during the weekend of Feb. 15 to 17, 2013. Contact UTSR through their web site.
See a video of Martin listing some animals endangered by the PR Springs development.
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