RIFLE, Colo.—The vegetation along the Colorado River as it runs next to Interstate 70 is lush in early June, soaking up the tail end of this year’s meager spring runoff as it makes its way West.

But as you approach Rifle, Colorado, splotches of dry grass begin popping up on the slopes above the river’s southern bank. In the second half of the 21st century, oil shale companies began moving into the small town and “bought up the ranches for the water rights,” said Leslie Robinson as she looked out across the river from a well pad near her home. “Oil and gas gets water first,” she said.

Since Robinson, an environmental advocate, moved to Rifle over 50 years ago, she has witnessed the boom and bust of extractive industries on the state’s Western Slope, where they devour local economies and n

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