Public Lands, Private Profits: A Grand Threat (2012)

The Center for American Progress, in partnership with the Sierra Club, undertook a series of video mini-documentaries that revealed special places held in the public trust that could be threatened by energy development. In this story we profile the new rush to mine for uranium around the Grand Canyon and the advocates who are fighting back against it. Despite the popular belief that lands surrounding the canyon are off-limits to development, a Canadian company is currently excavating uranium on the North Rim. Among the characters that we meet are a tribal leader whose people's sacred lands are under threat by increased mining activity and a former park supervisor who warns of the risks of water contamination in the canyon's fragile ecosystem.