Climate Justice Activists Occupy Two Tar Sands Mining Sites in Utah

521886_597282230294554_359607144_n29 July 2013 In a direct action fol­low­ing the Canyon Coun­try Action Camp, hun­dreds of activists have swarmed two min­ing sites in Utah tar sands.

521886_597282230294554_359607144_n29 July 2013 In a direct action fol­low­ing the Canyon Coun­try Action Camp, hun­dreds of activists have swarmed two min­ing sites in Utah tar sands. Activists are cur­rent­ly locked down to machines, stop­ping work.

Canyon Coun­try Ris­ing Tide have joined with the Lako­ta, Dine, and Idle No More in con­demn­ing the tar sands in Utah as a defil­ing of the pre­cious Green Riv­er ecosys­tem, and an assault on fresh air and clean water in the US. The tar sands and oil shale min­ing pro­posed in Utah and neigh­bor­ing states would tra­verse more than one thou­sand square miles.

The first block­ade went up two hours ago, and is still hold­ing. Con­tract­ed Card­well, Inc. con­trac­tors attempt­ed to hit peace­ful pro­tes­tors with their trucks, but the activists were able to lock down, and unfurl a ban­ner that reads, “If you build it they will come.”

Pri­vate secu­ri­ty per­son­nel and three police cars have shown up on the scene, but no arrests have been made yet.

The sec­ond block­ade went up approx­i­mate­ly one hour lat­er, and is still hold­ing.

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