This Academy Award-winning documentary examines the cultural and environmental impact of energy development in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. The film takes its title from a National Academy of Sciences report which concluded that strip-mining in the fragile arid environment could permanently damage the land, creating "national sacrifice areas." Four Corners explores the hidden cost of uranium mining and milling, coal strip-mining and oil shade extraction in the "Golden Circle of National Parks" - the homeland of Hopi, Navajo and Mormon cultures.