The film Last Rush for the Wild West exposes how impending tar sands and oil shale strip mining would destroy massive, pristine landscapes in Utah and devastate the Colorado River watershed. 

The making of this film played an important role in stimulating and bringing together opposition to the United States' precedent setting tar sands mine. The film also contributed to the ultimate collapse of the company that was attempting to build it. 

When a lawyer from Utah's Attorney General office attended a screening, he was pressed to promise the audience there would be opportunity to weigh in on the proposal. The resulting comment period allowed time for a hydrology report to be submitted, and that report resulted in monitoring wells being required. The wells were one additional expense for the corporation, which soon thereafter went into receivership, the Canadian version of bankruptcy.