Reposted from Canyon Country Rising Tide Website.
Update June 12th, 8AM:
All ten individuals were released from the Uintah County Jail at roughly 4:45AM this morning on bail. They are tired but fine and the parents are eager to reunite with their children.
Update June 11th, 9:00 PM:
Ten people Have been taken to Vernal County jail on charges of Criminal Trespass, a class B Misdemeanor
June 11, 2016 3:45PM
Seepridge Road, Uintah County, UT – Ten participants of Utah Tar Sands Resistance’s
family camp out on the Tavaputs Plateau have been arrested after completing
biodiversity studies close to the country’s first tar sands mine. A number of children
and adults walked to the wooded area next to the Children’s Legacy Mine to count
plants and identify different species, returning to an area that several members of
the group had camped at freely in previous years. Upon returning to their vehicles
they were met by Ronald Barton, police officer salaried on the public buck to police
the area for fossil fuel companies. Mr. Barton proceeded to detain the group for
trespassing and even threatened parents with reckless child endangerment. He also
instructed a news reporter who had wanted to follow the group that she would be
arrested if she attempted to do so.
Canadian company US Oil Sands is hoping to extract tar sands – a fossil fuel even
more polluting than oil and coal – at the Children’s Legacy Mine, and leasing SITLA
land (which is public land). Protesters have been holding a vigil by the mine for
several years, and documenting the ongoing destruction to land and wildlife.
Shea Wickelson, who led the biodiversity lesson, is a science teacher in Salt Lake
City: “I have been camping here with my family for the past four years. Last year, we
took some biodiversity data with my son and others. This year we wanted to see
how the mining expansion has impacted the area and take new data. We were
surprised to see the area so razed because we had read that US Oil Sands was ending
development, but it looks like a significant expansion to us. I am disappointed to
find out that my family and I are no longer allowed to be on the public land that we
have been visiting for the past four years.”
Natascha Deininger of Wasatch Rising Tide: “It’s ironic that local law enforcement is
so concerned with protecting industry interests, when the land in question is
actually public, and was ultimately stolen from the first nations of this area. It is
outrageous that a science teacher is being detained for teaching kids about
biodiversity on public land, when US Oil Sands is destroying hopes of a livable
future.”
Raphael Cordray of Utah Tar Sands Resistance: “We have a responsibility to the
public to document and witness the damage to the area. We are investigating a
crime scene and making records of what is happening here, as the decision makers
and regulators are ignoring the real concerns about this project.”
For Media, Please call: Lauren Wood (801) 647-1540