Last night, at the Bright Family Screening Room, passionate advocates for environmental justice gathered to view a screening of “To Use a Mountain” by filmmaker Casey Carter, a visceral documentary featuring communities affected by nuclear waste. 

The project started in 2018, four years after Carter researched Yucca Mountain in a college seminar at Middle Tennessee State University. This began a deep dive that focused on the government’s selection of nuclear testing sites and the struggles felt by the occupants of the land where they are performed. The areas chosen were either composed of minority groups or are low-income, which, to many impacted, are believed to be intentional.

Since the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 was passed, the Department of Energy has been authorized to dispose of over 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste. The sites chosen were inhabited by many indigenous, working-class, and rural communities, and in turn saw their land exploited, damaged, and stolen. Nine different sites throughout the United States were chosen as possible repository locations; Carter focused on six of those sites in his film, showcasing the resilience of locals who fought against the placement of nuclear waste near their homes and the contamination it would cause.

According to Carter, he chose “to follow the structure of the project”, which jumped from one site to another, so the order of focus was as follows: Dome, La.; Richton, Miss.; Davis Canyon, Utah; Deaf Smith, Texas; Hanford, Wash.; and Yucca Mountain, Nev. 

Each section of the film was unique and impactful through its personalized focus. 

Churchgoers in Richton had a strong connection to the seized land because it was first owned by their enslaved ancestors, while a uranium miner in Davis Canyon grew up surrounded by the substance, which was an integral part of the site. 

Ian Zabarte, a member of the Shoshone tribe in Nevada, is a lifelong advocate against the placement of nuclear waste in this nation’s territory, and said in the film that “a genocide began with the testing of weapons of mass destruction.” According to a treaty from 1863, the Shoshone tribe owns Yucca Mountain and the surrounding land, yet their ownership has been violated by the government in the years that followed.

Although each town has its own issues that arose from the testing, every ecosystem was damaged and contaminated, every human felt the effects of radiation, and every site was deemed unusable, except for one: Yucca Mountain.

Carter believes that the best way to dispose of the nuclear waste is through geological repositories, but needs “to involve consent, transparency, and sound science,” in order to be ethical. 

When asked about the future of nuclear waste, Carter informed the audience that nuclear testing is mentioned in Project 2025, the Republican Party’s plan for the future of the country that drew criticism across the political aisle ahead of last year’s election. Yucca Mountain is explicitly stated in the over 900-page document as a site for nuclear disposal, showing a continued disregard for the ownership of the mountain under the Shoshone Nation and the negative impact the chemicals have had on the environment. 

Amid the uncertainties and atrocities caused by the 1982 act, Carter’s documentary highlights each community’s resistance, which proves how effective citizens can be when fighting against harmful environmental laws. Past demonstrations have halted the government’s disposal of nuclear waste. Demonstrations are still happening today throughout the country to prevent the continuation of repository sites, which Carter said “is the best way to make their voices heard.”