Environmentalists protesting over oil and gas drilling near Great Salt Lake

Environmental groups are protesting over oil and gas drilling near the Great Salt Lake.

Ryan Beam of the Center for Biological Diversity was one of the protestors who gathered at the Utah State Capitol yesterday.

The groups are opposed to a plan from the Trump administration to auction off nearly ten-thousand acres of public land west of the lake.

That area is in and around the foothills of the Hogup Mountains.

The groups argue drilling there will damage historic artifacts and harm wildlife.

Beam said environment issues affecting the Great Salt Lake also affect everyone living along the Wasatch Front.