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Sierra Club Lawsuits

Dirty Tar Sands Oil Project Would Wreak Havoc

Case Updates:

January 15, 2009

Tar sands oil development is one of the dirtiest forms of energy extraction in the world. Both mining and processing of tar sands cause significant environmental impacts, including huge emissions of global warming gases (greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands production are three times those of conventional oil and gas production), destruction of wildlife habitat, and impacts to air and water quality. While most tar sands development has been concentrated in Canada, there has been a growing interest, especially in the western United States, in extracting tar sands, which would increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 27 to 126 million tons by 2015. U.S. tar sands deposits are largely concentrated in eastern Utah.

In an effort to prevent these impacts, Sierra Club and the Indigenous Environmental Network filed a lawsuit in Utah federal district court on January 15, 2009, challenging approval of the Antelope Creek tar sands project in eastern Utah. The suit alleges that the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, which manages the land slated for the development, approved the project without conducting a comprehensive analysis of the project’s environmental impacts.

The Antelope Creek tar sands project, proposed by Petroglyph Gas Partners, would drill 300 new wells within 720 acres of tribal land, using energy intensive deep injection thermal extraction techniques unprecedented in the state. The project site is home to 13 species proposed or listed under the Endangered Species Act, and an extensive network of creeks that drain into the Duchesne and Green Rivers. Tar sands activities, including grading, excavation, and extraction, emit a number of hazardous air pollutants that pose health risks to employees and nearby residents, and divert significant quantities of water from ground and surface water resources.

Tar sands development poses a new threat to the region that will deplete water resources, degrade air quality, and exacerbate climate change. Investing in such destructive forms of energy resource extraction represents a stark shift away from investment in clean energy solutions to meet our nation’s energy demands. Tar sands development is harmful to the American people and to the planet as a whole.

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