Blockade at First Tar Sands Site in US Challenges 'Brazen Disregard for Climate Crisis'

Twenty-one protesters were arrested Monday at a blockade set up to thwart construction work on the first tar sands mine in the United States—a project the activists say will cause irreparable damage to water, land and the climate.

According to a statement from Utah Tar Sands Resistance, roughly 80 climate justice activists took part in the direct action, some of whom locked themselves to equipment. Others unfurled a banner reading “You are trespassing on Ute land,” referring the project’s encroachment on native land, and “Respect Existence or Expect Resistance.”

Rising Tide North America is coordinating donations for legal support for the activists that were arrested.

The plans for the extraction in the Book Cliffs of Utah by Calgary-based US Oil Sands have drawn years of resistance from land defenders.

Monday’s action challenging the company’s PR Spring project comes at the tail end of a week-long Climate Justice Summer Camp, which takes place at a permanent protest vigil organized by Utah Tar Sands Resistance and Peaceful Uprising.