mining

2012 marks the third year since we launched our Mountainfilm Commitment Grant program. Our goal is to help creative individuals tell stories that represent the spirit of Mountainfilm in Telluride. We’ve watched the number of applicants grow each year and been impressed by both the quality and diversity of the proposals. This year, the five grantees are working on films that range in subject from climbing to gold mining:

2012 Mountainfilm Commitment Grant Winners

Ben Knight and Travis Rummel of Felt Soul Media brought the story of Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay to Mountainfilm audiences in 2008 with their film, Red Gold. The issue of whether a copper and gold mine will wreck this pristine salmon run is still up in the air with many groups trying to prevent it, including a major push by the NRDC. Even though they have enlisted Robert Redford in this battle, it's an issue that could still use help.

Congress is poised to gut protections on 1 million acres of public lands around the Grand Canyon — if we don’t take action right now to protect this national park from uranium mining.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION HERE!



The Grand Canyon is ground zero for a new uranium-mining boom. New mining would industrialize iconic wildlands and threaten irretrievable pollution of aquifers and the biologically rich springs and creeks they feed — springs that harbor up to 500 times more species than adjacent lands.

In June, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited Grand Canyon, announcing that he favors enacting a 20-year ban on new mining across Grand Canyon National Park’s 1-million-acre watershed.
Days later, a bill was introduced in Congress that would strip the Obama administration’s authority to enact those protections — sacrificing the Grand Canyon’s magnificent lands for more destructive uranium mining. The House of Representatives votes on that bill in late July or early August.