With the backing of local leaders, the Utah Inland Port Authority board on Monday approved the creation of the Black Gold Project Area in Duchesne County.
The project area, spanning approximately 2,780 acres in Duchesne County and Roosevelt, will establish a framework for coordinating infrastructure improvements and economic development tools within the designated acreage.
Local land-use authority, however, would remain under the jurisdiction of Duchesne County and Roosevelt. Both the county and Roosevelt previously adopted resolutions supporting the establishment of the project area.
“The Black Gold Project Area is designed to align infrastructure planning and economic development tools with the needs of Basin communities,” said Ben Hart, executive director of the Utah Inland Port Authority. “This framework supports long-term economic resilience, encourages private investment, and helps position the region for a broader range of logistics-supportive and value-added industries.”
Governmental support
Duchesne Mayor Deborah Herron, who also serves as the county’s economic development director, said the inland port will help an area that has long been sustained by energy and agriculture build a “more resilient and diversified economy.”
“This project area helps diversify our economy by expanding opportunities beyond traditional extractive industries, while energy production will remain important in the Uinta Basin, the inland port framework allows us to intentionally recruit complementary industries,” Herron said, specifically mentioning logistics, manufacturing, warehousing and information technology.
She lauded the port’s ability to attract new businesses to the area while also emphasizing the importance of the county’s communities maintaining local control — a point echoed by Drew Eschler, Roosevelt planning director.
“This initiative supports a coordinated approach to economic development and infrastructure planning while preserving local decision-making authority,” Eschler said. “The Black Gold Project Area helps ensure that future investment aligns with the needs of our residents and contributes to long-term economic opportunity.”
Eschler added that the project could help the area better navigate the inevitable busts that accompany the booms of the extraction industry.
“Local businesses in downtown Roosevelt and throughout Duchesne County struggle when workers leave and spending declines. This is why creating a project area ... is so important. An inland port project area would help attract new industries such as manufacturing, commercial logistics, energy services and agriculture, processing. These industries create year-round jobs that stabilize the local economy, even when oil markets fluctuate,” Eschler said.
Unanimously approved, the Black Gold Project Area joins 14 other established project areas across the state.