Overthrust Industrial Association

The Overthrust Industrial Association (OIA) was an organization of 36 oil and gas producers and service/supply firms founded in 1980 by Chevron, Amoco, and Champlin. Its principal office was located in Uinta County, Wyoming. The OIA's mission was to help local governments in southwestern Wyoming, northeastern Utah, and southeastern Idaho manage the range of socioeconomic and environmental impacts accompanying the rapid development of oil and gas resources in the energy-rich geological formation called the Overthrust Belt.

The Overthrust Industrial Association (OIA) was an organization of 36 oil and gas producers and service/supply firms founded in 1980 by Chevron, Amoco, and Champlin, the largest of the Overthrust producers. Its principal office was located in Uinta County, Wyoming. The OIA’s mission was to help local governments in southwestern Wyoming, northeastern Utah, and southeastern Idaho manage the range of socioeconomic and environmental impacts accompanying the rapid development of oil and gas resources in the energy-rich geological formation called the Overthrust Belt.

Utilizing a multi-media, community-based mitigation effort, the OIA developed a coordinated industry approach to the massive impacts occurring across three states, nine counties, and 27 communities as a result of Overthrust resource development. The mitigation effort provided assistance to impacted communities in cash grants, technical assistance, loans, and matching funds. The largest of the communities, Evanston, Wyoming, with a population of less than 7,000, was not equipped to meet the rapidly increasing demands on its schools, housing, and local services. Local officials found that maintaining the quality of life in the area required decisive action to build a completely new and vastly expanded local facility/service infrastructure. The OIA provided the expertise and funding to accomplish this.

The OIA was not intended to be a permanent organization. Rather, it was designed to exist only until affected communities developed the funding and managerial expertise to handle the growth themselves. The organization shut down in 1985. More than $600 million was raised for the five-year effort, which included programs ranging from wildlife habitat enhancement and employee environmental education to community infrastructure development and the expansion of human services programs. It was the largest, most complex mitigation program ever undertaken for an industrial development in the United States.