GALO: Were you frustrated at all by the fact that the issues Ayngel and Jennifer were dealing with couldn’t be reconciled, and there couldn’t really have been a happy ending for everyone?

SB: Ultimately, whether the mill had been built or had not been built, one of our main characters was going to be pretty upset. We knew that would happen. Interestingly enough, we had a screening in Aspen recently, and, right before that, [one] at the Boulder International Film Festival. Ayngel and Jennifer were both at the Q-and-A. The first time they were together on a panel, there was tension. Some of the healing has begun to happen, at least between some of our characters. Our hope is that it’ll also happen between the communities. A group just formed called Stone Soup West. After the film premiered in Telluride, there were citizens who were embarrassed that they hadn’t reached out to this community that was suffering. People from here reached out to community members in the west end. The group that has formed meets periodically to try to come up with ideas for the economy, or different things that can happen in the west end, to help them not put all their eggs in the uranium basket.

GALO: At the end of the film, the developers of Piñon Ridge Mill announced that they’ve delaying construction. How have plans progressed for the mill since the events depicted in the film?

SB: The mill has gotten pretty much all of its major permits. So, it could break ground, but, as you see at the end of the film, the CEO of Energy Fuels announced that until the market improves, they really can’t build the mill. It’s interesting to see how directly the market affects the mill construction. In 2007, when Energy Fuels was first bringing up their desire to put in the mill, uranium had spiked to at about $135 a pound. It was sort of this uranium frenzy going on. Today, the price of uranium is in the $30 range. Economically, there’s just no way they could make the numbers work to build a mill right now. They’re trying to sit on the permits until the price comes back up again.

Fukushima, of course, played a part in all of this. Countries like Germany and Switzerland are really ramping down their use of energy.

GALO: Do you think all this caution is for good reason? Keeping in mind that, as one of the speakers in the beginning of the film noted, it has been 30 years since a mill was last built, and the regulations and technology are completely different now. So are the health and safety concerns legitimate?

SB: From having many conversations with a lot of different people, I think that the health concerns for the mill workers have been really greatly improved. As long as the mill isn’t being run in a slipshod manner, I don’t think it’s a huge amount of health risk, especially compared to other dangerous jobs. In the past, there were no regulations, there was no ventilation. Radon was a huge problem.

I feel more concern on the environmental impact. From what I’ve seen of other mills, even though they are older mills, eventually the linings for tailing ponds do break down. You’re talking about such a long half-life that seems close to impossible to contain radioactive waste.

The amounts of bonds these companies are being held accountable for the purpose of cleanup are always extremely low. This one was $13 million, but cleanup costs hundreds of millions. It’s just a question of who is going to be accountable for these costs at the end of the cycle.

GALO: One of your main subjects, Ayngel, offers a fascinating portrait of small-town life while eschewing the stereotype of the rural Colorado resident. How did you find Ayngel and what drew you to her?

SB: I was doing research online and I found a blog written by her describing life in Naturita and Nucla. I found her writing to be personable. I contacted her and chatted and really liked her family. I liked that they were a little alternative. I didn’t want to push the stereotype of who people may think live in Naturita and Nucla, because there’s a variety of people who live here. I was fascinated by the fact that they were making money through a store in Second Life. I thought that was an interesting parallel that they were trying to escape living in this pretty sad town by participating online in Second Life. She offers a lot of insight into why people who live there would want to stay, and the sense of family and community.

GALO: Can you talk a little bit about the relationship with your subjects? How much time did you spend with them?

SB: We worked on the film for two years and eight months. This may not be a smart thing to do, but the people in the town and I have become friends. They’re letting us participate in their lives, and this is something that’s really important to them, so I saw Ayngel and Jennifer quite often. They have become important to me.

GALO: Through the course of making this movie, has your view on the nuclear industry changed at all?

SB: What keeps coming back to my mind is a certain level of frustration over not having a handle on alternative energy and whether or not it can supply our energy needs, or if it’s impossible and we just need to be aggressive and move forward with a whole array of other energy options. We use every single thing we can get right now. We’ve used all the energy that’s cheap and easy to get to, whether it’s oil, gas, even uranium. It’s going to become more and more expensive to get to these raw materials that are deeper down, further away, more difficult to get to. It leaves me concerned as to how we’re going to supply energy to more and more people.

GALO: This is your second feature-length documentary film. What are some of the challenges you face as a filmmaker?

SB: As with most filmmakers, funding is very time-consuming. A lot of my time has to be devoted to writing grants, meeting prospective donors and looking at budgets. Sometimes, I feel like it does cut into time that I would rather [have spent] thinking creatively. But it’s part of the nature of the beast. Most people who aren’t making films don’t realize how much time is involved in the funding. As far as the actual work, obviously, it’s hard and it’s a lot of time, and it takes an incredible amount of patience and tenacity, but I really do enjoy the production, post-production and distribution. A big challenge is always finding the funds to make the film.

GALO: How has the film been received since its premiere?

SB: We premiered the film in May 2013 in Telluride Mountainfilm Festival and did more work on it over the summer. We are on a festival tour right now. I just got home last night and I leave again tomorrow for Big Sky Film Festival in Montana. The film has kind of gone a lot of places, we were at DOC NYC and the United Nations [Association Film Festival in Palo Alto]. We’ve [been] offered a TV broadcast deal, so it’ll be on television. And we’re hoping the film will be used quite a bit in the educational market, which was also strong for our last film, Bag It. We’re also working on an outreach campaign that will bring the film to communities that are facing similar issues with resource extraction and can be used as a jumping-off point for discussion. We found that, while the film’s about uranium, a lot of communities are facing similar issues and the whole thing of jobs versus health and environment; it’s a big issue happening around the country and even around the world.

The full list of upcoming screenings for the film can be found at uraniumdrivein.com.


Video Courtesy of Suzan Beraza.

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Featured image: Filmmaker Suzan Beraza. Courtesy Image © ReelThing Films.