环保组织起诉联邦政府 阻止爆破犹他州 Gate Canyon 崖壁修建运油公路
据路透社 10 月 8 日报道，环保组织本周向美国犹他州联邦地区法院提起诉讼，状告美国土地管理局（BLM），要求阻止爆破犹他州东部 Gate Canyon 崖壁、修建运油卡车公路的计划。诉状长达 50 页，指该项目将摧毁至少 47 处历史遗迹所在的百英尺高崖壁。
根据诉状，Gate Canyon 是九英里峡谷（Nine Mile Canyon）北侧的支峡谷。九英里峡谷被土地管理局称为“世界最长的艺术画廊”，拥有全美最集中的原住民岩画——1000 多处遗址、逾万幅图像，部分可追溯至史前时期。Gate Canyon 崖壁上还留有 19 世纪非裔“野牛士兵”（Buffalo Soldiers）与欧洲拓荒者的题刻，以及墨西哥斑点猫头鹰等受威胁物种的栖息地。
该项目计划将一条蜿蜒土路改建为铺装公路，作为通往尤因塔盆地（Uinta Basin）油田的替代运油通道。环保组织称，这将把九英里峡谷变成繁忙的运油走廊，危及犹他州最重要的文化与景观区域之一。诉状还指责土地管理局在 2026 年 4 月仓促批准项目，且未充分公开程序。
内政部发言人以诉讼 pending 为由拒绝置评。这是近年来围绕犹他州峡谷地区开发与保护之争的最新一起诉讼。
（来源：路透社）
Conservation Groups Sue U.S. Government Over Plan to Blast Utah's Gate Canyon for Oil Truck Highway
Conservation groups sued the U.S. government this week over plans to blast the cliff walls of an eastern Utah canyon and build an oil truck highway through an area covered in historic inscriptions and near world-renowned Native rock art, Reuters reported on October 8. The 50-page lawsuit, filed against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, says the project would destroy 100-foot cliffs holding at least 47 historic sites.
Gate Canyon runs north off Nine Mile Canyon, described by the BLM as the 'world's longest art gallery' — home to the largest concentration of Native rock art in the United States, with more than 1,000 sites and over 10,000 images, some dating to prehistoric times. The canyon walls also bear 19th-century inscriptions by Black American 'Buffalo Soldiers' and European pioneers, and provide habitat for threatened species such as the Mexican spotted owl, according to the suit.
The plan would replace a winding dirt track with a paved road as an alternative truck route to the Uinta Basin oil fields, potentially turning Nine Mile Canyon into a busy oil highway and damaging one of Utah's most important cultural and scenic areas, the lawsuit claims. It also accuses the BLM of rushing its April 2026 approval while hiding the process from the public.
A U.S. Department of the Interior spokesperson declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The case is the latest in a series of legal battles over development in Utah's canyon country.
(Source: Reuters)
图片来源：图：犹他州尤因塔盆地印第安峡谷的公路与峡谷地貌，运油铁路规划走廊所在区域。摄影：Don Barrett，CC BY-SA 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
