US sued by conservation groups over plan to blast Utah canyon walls to build highway

Source: New York Post

Conservation groups sued the US 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. The project to replace a winding dirt ‌track with a paved road through Gate Canyon would destroy 100-foot (30-meter) cliffs with at least 47 historic sites, including 19th-century inscriptions by Black American “Buffalo Soldiers” in the US Army and European pioneers, according to the lawsuit against the US Bureau of ​Land Management. The cliffs are also a habitat for threatened species such as the Mexican ​spotted owl, the suit claims.