(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) "People say open the doors, open the windows and get some fresh air," said Marilyn Holly, 66. "We cannot do that." Holly, a Navajo Nation Red Mesa Chapter vice-president and advocate for clean air, water and soil poses in front of an Elk Petroleum oil pump jack not far from her home in Montezuma Creek, June 24, 2020. "We live with all these [oil] spills and all the stench, year after year."
Zak is the southeast Utah reporter for The Tribune. He has been writing from Bluff, Utah, since 2015 and is the author of Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political On Rivers of the New West. His second book, which will cover the decline of Lake Powell, is forthcoming from Torrey House Press in 2024.