ABSTRACT

As our nation is confronted with the need to utilize its natural resources, considerable attention is being directed to the development and appropriate uses of its vast mineral resources. This awareness is fully underscored by the emergence of several new communities that have appeared virtually overnight in remote areas of Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, and more recently Idaho. Most of these communities have displayed a phenomenal growth which has resulted in describing them as “boomtowns.” These communities have arisen as a response to the need for uranium, copper, and molybdenum. As the seventies came to a close, it was unclear whether environmentalism was an idea for enhancing the continued quality of American life or whether it simply sought to maintain the status quo; at a time when the world resource situation was dramatically changing along with the social climate in the United States.