Tribune file photo by Scott Sommerdorf Rikki Hrenko-Browning, left, a former executive with American Enefit Oil, and mining engineer Ben France inspect a freshly broken piece of oil shale. The ore cut from Enefit's test pit is rich in a hydrocarbon known as kerogen. Enefit plans to mine the Uinta Basin's "mahogany zone" deposit in the hopes of producing up to 50,000 barrels of refinery-ready crude a day. The mine would operate on 9,000 acres of private land, but would use a right of way across public land to bring water and power to the site and ship out oil. An environmental suit filed this week seeks to invalidates the Bureau of Land Management's decision to grant the right of way. Wednesday, August 7, 2013.
Brian Maffly has worked for The Tribune off and on since 1994. Maffly roams Utah, covering public land and environment.