Scoles opined in a Popular Science article of early September, 2021 that after a flowery build-up of the natural beauty of Utah, she introduces "the gremlin" as uranium mining of decades past. Moab, she wrote was was "home to the Atlas Uranium Mill, one of the most productive processing facilities for the raw radioactive ore. The site was one of a couple dozen in the US that transformed the stuff into the refined material that seeded power plants and weapons during Cold War times."
Then, a NRDC lackey, {from an infamously known "environmental" group that is a paid anti-uranium mining and and anti-nuclear public relations firm that feeds off well-meaning member fees to supposedly protect the environment while heavily investing in the oil and gas industry over the years and paying NRDC management (mostly attorneys) outrageous salaries and benefits}, inserted the "indented" paragraph:
"The taint on the land, and harms to human health, were the effects of shortsighted thinking. They were born of a perceived national security need, a lack of understanding, and a lack of regulation."
This is the NRDC's mantra ...
Scoles then picked up the dialogue about a sleepy town turning into a boom town leaving radioactive waste on the surface containing radium and radon gas, god-forbid. From here on she recounts numerous lines of misinformation, exaggerations, and fear-pandering by mixing the discussion with nuclear bombs. Then even admitting:
"The Moab site appears pretty unobtrusive unless you already know what’s going on. Sure, there’s a giant red-dirt scar on the landscape, with trucks wheeling toward railcars. But that looks like any number of active extraction-industry spots in Utah for metals, natural gas, oil, and coal."
Further on she doesn't miss the current drumbeats of surface-water shortages in the western U.S. (and the drought) by interjecting the problem with groundwater contamination issues. The former, of course, is regional, while the latter is of only localized concern and easy to remediate. She then wraps up the article with mental visions of the distant past:
"It’s fitting; the Moab region reveals its past more easily than most places. Geologic strata lie exposed. Canyons snaking across the landscape display water’s long-ago flow. One can mentally re-place piles of fallen rock right back into the cliff from which they came. A few miles up the road from Crescent Junction, petroglyphs from almost 2,000 years ago etch the cliffs near the roofless buildings of a tiny mining town abandoned in the middle of the last century. In this extremely dry climate, even footprints stick around. Very little, here, has ever left no trace at all."
The only question this editor has is what the hell is this article doing in Popular Science? There is no science here, only mussing from an anti-uranium pundit attempting to pander to a decreasing number of nuclear-power opponents. Nice photos though.
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