Photo taken by Kat Hickey
Growing up in Utah, I spent a lot of time exploring Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. In fact, over 40% of Utah's lands are managed by BLM. These lands belong to the people of the United States and are ours to explore and protect. However, large areas of these public lands are currently being leased to oil companies for mineral extraction. This effectively blocks public access to enjoy nature for the duration of the lease (usually many years), causes permanent damage to the ecosystem, and contributes to global air pollution and climate impacts.
At the end of March 2025, I was able to go down to Uintah County and see these oil fields for myself with a group of Sierra Club volunteers. Starting in Vernal, UT we drove into the beautiful Uintah Basin. Just past large signs reading “Entering your Public Lands” were hundreds of massive oil rigs.
The oil rigs themselves had no fences or barricades, however there was a large fenced off area that contained a water storage pond filled with polluted water from the fracking and other oil and gas development in the area. As we made our way right up next to the rigs, we saw that the equipment was rusted, oil was leaking around the drill pipe, and containers of bright chemicals sat unattended. The oil companies had made no effort to ensure public safety around these dangerous machines or repair their breaking equipment. As we continued down the road deeper into the basin, we saw hundreds more of these rigs pulling gas and oil out of our public lands and tarnishing our ability to fully experience otherwise beautiful canyons and natural wonders.
This was already happening before Trump took office, but now he has promised to expand oil and gas leases on our public lands even more. On the first day of his administration, Trump signed an executive order to “unleash American energy,” which removed oil and gas regulations and encouraged more energy development on public lands. His administration also recently announced that it will no longer require environmental review for thousands of oil wells across the West. This means that it is likely that far more public lands across the country will have new oil and gas drilling operations like those we saw in Eastern Utah.
BLM-managed lands are our lands, and they belong to all of us. We must stand up to oil and gas leasing and ensure that our lands are protected from these harmful practices.
How can you help?
- Take action to protect public lands from corporate polluters and billionaires!
- Volunteer with Sierra Club’s Public Lands Campaign to learn what you can do to protect our lands from harmful extraction.
