SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The environmental damage from oil sands production in Utah will endure long after deposits run dry, advocacy groups protested.
Canadian energy company Earth Energy received approval from the Utah government in 2009 to develop a 62-acre oil sands deposit in the eastern part of the state.
Government officials deliberated over the project for months, however, after environmental groups challenged the state's decision. Utah said this week that it followed appropriate guidelines in granting the permit.
Advocates with the environmental group Peaceful Uprising said they might consider an appeal to the Utah approval and vowed to continue their opposition to the plans, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Environmental groups in Utah said it takes at least two barrels of oil worth of energy to extract one barrel of oil from oil sand deposits. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil sands, meanwhile, are too great of a risk, opponents said.
Earth Energy said it would move forward with the best environmental practices in mind as it lays out its plans to extract oil from eastern Utah.
