The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
Patrick Henry
Comment: Come RIFA, pass the resolution against uranium mining and milling in the park, do not use taxpayer's monies to enable foreign Uranium Corporation! The largest city in Virginia has a resolution about uranium mining, the towns of Gretna and Hurt has a uranium resolution and even Pittsylvania County has a uranium resolution, so what is up? How come the City of Danville, does not have a resolution to protect her citizens if future uranium mining happens? Pass the resolution to ban uranium mining and milling in the Mega Park at Berry Hill! Listed below are the emails of RIFA, email them to demand them to pass the resolution!
By Published by The Editorial Board
Published: February 10, 2010
Pittsylvania County: Danville and the Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facility Authority are spending $222 million to develop the Dan River Region’s largest industrial park.
There may be uranium ore underneath some of the park’s 3,700 acres.
For some reason, RIFA’s board and the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors don’t want to pass a simple resolution against uranium mining and milling in the Berry Hill Road industrial mega park. We have no reason to believe Danville City Council will be any different when its members discuss the issue.
How much uranium is under the industrial park’s 3,700 acres is anyone’s guess. Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine a deposit northeast of Chatham — a good 25 miles from the Berry Hill Road industrial mega park.
What the community has been told about the Berry Hill Road project is that the city and the county are hard at work to find a game-changing, big industrial client — the kind of company that needs a lot of acreage. The Berry Hill Road site is nearly four times the size of the region’s next largest park, Cane Creek Centre.
This is a big deal for the Dan River Region.
This resolution in question started out with an unreasonable 25-mile radius around the Berry Hill site. It was still unreasonable when local leaders were asked to come out against uranium mining within 20 miles in all directions.
But narrowing the resolution down to the actual boundaries of the Berry Hill Road site makes a lot of sense — and the resolution should have passed.
The Berry Hill Road industrial mega park is being built with local tax dollars, for a specific, stated purpose.
What does it mean when both the Board of Supervisors and the RIFA board have no interest in taking the uranium mining and milling question off the table?
It could mean a lot of things, of course.
But before we spend $222 million, shouldn’t we find out if the Berry Hill Road industrial mega park is being built for the uranium mining and milling industry?
Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/editorials/danville_editorials/article/not_now_not_ever_why_not/17844/
Info about RIFA: (Email the board members to pass the Rifa Resolution)
Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility
Meetings
12:00 Noon
Second Monday Monthly
Dan River Business Development Center Conference Room
300 Ringgold Industrial Parkway
Danville, Virginia 24540
Members:
Coy E. Harville: coy.harville@pittgov.org
Henry A. "Hank" Davis Jr.: henry.davis@pittgov.org
Fred M. Ingram, Alternate: fred.ingram@pittgov.org
Sherman M. Saunders: saunders@ci.danville.va.us
T. David Luther: luther@ci.danville.va.us
Fred O. Shanks III, Alternate: fshanks@verizon.net
The Resolution:
Rifa Resolution
Whereas, Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville have invested millions of dollars for the purchase and development of the “Mega Park” in the Berry Hill Community in the Southwestern area of Pittsylvania County through their partnership in the Danville Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority incorporating the acquiring of real estate and consultant designs for environmental impacts, utilities and infrastructure, and
Whereas, it is the intent of Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville and the Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority to continue investment in and development of this park to provide new jobs and enhance the economic stability of the region by locating new industrial prospects, and
Whereas, it is imperative for the industrial prospects to have confidence that their investment in our region will not be compromised by uranium mining if Virginia lifts the current moratorium,
Whereas, it is the responsibility of Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville and the Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority to protect the health, safety welfare and prosperity of the citizens of Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville; then
Be it hereby resolved, that the Danville Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority, will not sell, lease or otherwise make use of mineral rights it owns on at the Berry Hill Mega Park for the mining of uranium or construction of a uranium milling operation.
Date:
Signatures:
