Dear reader,
The people of Paradox don’t want your pity.
This small town in Western Colorado is home to former uranium mining and mill workers and their children.
They’re dying of cancer and lung disease. They buried many loved ones over the years.
Some of them can barely breathe and depend on oxygen tanks.
It’s a common story in rural America today.
But when a public hearing was held on whether a former uranium mine was allowed to reopen near Paradox, the only critics were activists from outside of town.
The people of Paradox want to get back to work.
And after an 8-year ban on uranium mining in Colorado, a judge finally lifted the ban in 2019, which opened up 31 former mines.