Utah environmental groups sue federal agency over planned highway through historic canyon
A coalition of Utah environmental organizations has filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management, challenging a plan to pave and realign a five-mile stretch of road through Gate Canyon, a site rich in Native American rock art and wildlife.
Environmental groups in Utah have taken legal action against the Bureau of Land Management, contesting a federal decision to realign and pave about five miles of Gate Canyon Road. The corridor, located on the West Tavaputs Plateau, connects to Nine Mile Canyon, an archaeological area containing over 10,000 rock-art sites. Plaintiffs argue the plan, intended to improve an energy-resource transportation route, would destroy cliff walls, disturb pioneer history, and endanger wildlife, including the threatened Mexican spotted owl.
They claim the BLM approved the project without proper public notice, comment periods, or thorough environmental impact studies, violating federal law. The highway would enable 70-foot oil tankers and potentially see up to 1,000 vehicles per day, half of them heavy trucks, facilitating crude-oil flow from the Uinta Basin to Carbon County. Representatives of the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Center for Biological Diversity highlighted the cultural and ecological stakes, while the BLM and Department of Justice declined to comment.
