Published: April 25, 2010
The chairman of Virginia’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee said Friday in an e-mail that his group will soon hold a public hearing — probably in Chatham — to determine the scope of the “socioeconomic study” of uranium mining and milling.
“It is my conviction that a public hearing on the study’s scope should be held in Chatham,” Delegate Lee Ware, chairman of the subcommittee, wrote in response to questions from the Danville Register &; Bee. Ware’s subcommittee is part of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission.
As for other, separate studies about uranium mining and milling conducted by the Danville Regional Foundation and the city of Virginia Beach, Ware said he would like to know their outcomes.
“It is understandable that they may want to undertake their own review of this subject,” Ware said. “I welcome all serious studies of the ramifications of uranium mining and will be interested in their results.”
However, Ware said his job is to make sure the state’s studies — one analyzing uranium mining and milling’s technical aspects and the other addressing the socioeconomic ramifications — answer all relevant questions.
“My first focus will be to assure the clarity and the comprehensiveness of the studies being undertaken on behalf of the General Assembly,” Ware said.
Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham.
Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining and milling since 1982.
National Research Council is conducting a $1.4 million study — indirectly paid for by VUI — to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the commonwealth.
The Virginia Tobacco Commission’s Executive Committee voted April 15 to recommend the Tobacco Commission provide up to $200,000 for the Coal and Energy Commission to pay for the socioeconomic study.
“When we send out a request for proposals on the socioeconomic study, we will cast a wide net to find the proper research institute,” Ware wrote. “Obviously, we will look for a high-caliber (entity) in order to complement the scientific study now under way.”
The Danville Regional Foundation aims to conduct its own separate socioeconomic study on the Coles Hill project. It would be site specific and focus on a 50-mile radius around the project’s location.
Virginia Beach is undertaking a study examining the effects of uranium mining and milling at Coles Hill on the Lake Gaston water supply in the event of a major weather-related disaster.
Karl Stauber, president and CEO of the Danville Regional Foundation, said his foundation was asked to conduct a statewide study but declined because “we’re a regional foundation, not a statewide foundation.” The study’s results will be shared publicly, Stauber said.
“Our intent is to make this process as open and as transparent as possible,” he said.
Tom Leahy, director of public utilities for Virginia Beach, said the city is conducting a study of what its officials asked the subcommittee to analyze in the statewide technical study. The state didn’t include it, so Virginia Beach is doing its own study, Leahy said.
“As long as all the studies are done by people with strong ethical guidelines, the more studies, the merrier,” Leahy said.
Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/article/official_says_hearing_needed_on_uranium_mining/20459/
