Uranium Drive-In is a haunting story of a hardscrabble community striving for one last chance at survival. The film follows a proposed uranium mill in southwestern Colorado-the first to be built in the U.S. in 30 years-and the emotional debate pitting a population desperate for jobs and financial stability against opposition from an environmental group based in a nearby resort town. The lives of the community members and the role of intervening "outsiders" parallel resource extraction stories from across the globe, where individuals and communities struggle to survive.—Anonymous
Over 60 miles from the nearest traffic light is the town of Naturita, Coloradopopulation 519. Until the mid-1980s this area was booming from decades of uranium mining. Today, it is practically a ghost town. Many of the businesses are boarded up, unemployment is rampant and even the elementary school is for sale.
Enter a company called Energy Fuels, which brings plans to build a new uranium mill in the area. Most of the residents couldnt be happier. The Piñon Ridge Uranium Mill will be the first to be built in the U.S. in 30 years. Its construction promises to bring back prosperity to a region with a proud and powerful history: the uranium mined in the region served the original Manhattan Project which built the atomic bomb for World War II that ushered in the nuclear age. Old timers, known as Cold War Patriots, fought to protect our country and now welcome the opportunity to join in another patriotic battleone championed by the President himselfto find greener, domestic energy that would help free us from dependence on foreign oil.
An environmental group from a nearby resort town steps in to stop the mill from being built. The region is still struggling with the severe health and environmental consequences of yesterdays boom and the superfund cleanups it necessitated. While industry spokespersons and many residents insist todays mining and mill methods will now be clean and green, not everyone agrees.
Uranium Drive-In is a character-driven story addressing some of the most important and controversial issues facing our nation. What happens when a community, suffering a devastated economy, is presented with an opportunitywith risksto create jobs and reclaim its lost prosperity? The film offers no easy answers but aims instead to capture personal stories and paint a portrait of the lives behind this nuanced and complex issue.
