TV: 'FOUR CORNERS' ENERGY AND THE LAND-Strip mining for coal, uranium, gas

Comment: A wee bit dated but history is repenting itself when it comes to uranium mining all over America! The uranium corporations will be foreign, mostly Canada and maybe France later! France is becoming a Nuke friend to Virginia! France may be chasing uranium in Virginia! Demand our leaders to stop the uranium mining madness and support clean and green power!

By JOHN CORRY
Published: November 15, 1983

''THE FOUR CORNERS: A NATIONAL SACRIFICE AREA?'' is not just another documentary, thank goodness, about the march of technology and its savage effect on the environment. The documentary, even though it comes down heavily on the side of the environmentalists, is more thoughtful than that.

The documentary was produced for public television by three film makers - Christopher McLeod, Glenn Switkes and Randy Hayes.

Whatever the controversy means - not much, one suspects - ''Four Corners'' raises an important question: whether the hidden costs of uranium mining, coal strip-mining and oil- shale projects on the Colorado Plateau outweigh the short-term gains.

The 90,000-square-mile Colorado Plateau, taking in parts of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, the so-called Four Corners area, is rich in coal, uranium and oil shale, all of which produce energy. It is also rich in a history of boom-or-bust economies, some of which have violated the land and its people.

Uranium mines and mills, for example, have left millions of tons of radioactive wastes scattered about the plateau. Although the documentary suggests that these wastes have led to an increase in birth defects, miscarriages and infant deaths. ''Something is going on,'' a doctor says in the documentary. ''There's a good possibility it's more serious than we thought it was.''

In response, the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory has suggested that land in which uranium mining and milling is conducted be rezoned ''so as to forbid human habitation.'' Whatever the scientific or humanitarian impulses for the suggestion, it is clear that energy production is a high-stakes game.

Meanwhile, a National Academy of Science report found that coal strip- mining could permanently damage the plateau, resulting in ''national sacrifice areas'' for energy. A few years ago, the chairman of Exxon suggested that northwest Colorado, rich in oil shale, be declared ''a national energy zone,'' in which the usual environmental protection rules would not apply.

On the one hand, it's easy to deplore all this; on the other, we're still left with the question of how we can best meet our energy needs. The documentary doesn't really have the answer, but it at least asks the question.

''Four Corners'' includes an interview with a representative of Utah International, which wants to mine in Bryce Canyon National Park. He says people would spend more time looking at the ''fantastic panorama'' if they could also see a coal mine. He says ''it would add to the interest.''

The documentary is making us pay attention to a problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/15/arts/tv-four-corners-energy-and-the-land.html