The Center for American Progress unveiled the three-part documentary series, “Public Lands, Private Profits”, produced in partnership with the Sierra Club, yesterday at its offices in Washington, D.C. Part two of the series, entitled “Boom or Bust”, examines the “uniquely western battle over whether tourism and extractive industries, like mining, can coexist” through the case of the proposed expansion of a coal mine just outside of Bryce Canyon National Park. Citizens of the tourism-dependent area and park staff voice concerns that the quintupling of Coal Hollow Mine will mar Bryce Canyon’s vistas and dim the park’s signature view of the starry sky, and choke the area’s tourism sector. While the federal government has begun to reassess the environmental impacts of the proposed mining expansion, residents of the nearby town of Panguitch remain fearful of the “bust” that commonly follows the “boom” of a mining town.

Watch the video below: