10/10/2026
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Three conservation groups sued the Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday over a plan to rebuild 6 miles of Gate Canyon Road in eastern Utah for oil tanker traffic.
Gate Canyon leads into Nine Mile Canyon, known for its dense concentration of rock imagery and archaeological sites.
The Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity say the work would blast away 100-foot canyon walls and damage Native rock imagery and pioneer history.
Duchesne County proposed the project as a new route to move oil from the Uinta Basin to Carbon County. The BLM approved it April 28.
"It's like constructing a highway through the Louvre Museum," said J. Michael Hansen, president of the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition.
The county tried similar plans in 2015 and 2022. Both were dropped after public opposition.
