Children Discover and Play With Toxic Bitumen Tar Sands at America’s First Approved Commercial Oil Sands Mine

(EnviroNews Utah) – On the weekend of June 21, 2013, families gathered together at the PR Springs area to learn about tar sands as part of the educational campout organized by Utah Tar Sands Resistance.

Children were able to see what leaking tar looked and smelled like and to examine different forms of bituminous deposits. They also learned about the effects that tar sands mining can have on animals and the environment.

The weekend included a trip to the abandoned Leonard Murphy Mine that is about a mile away from the U.S. Oil Sands’ (a Canadian company) tar sands test site, a workshop on peaceful direct action protests, and an opportunity to put those new skills to use.