Letter: Phillip M. Lovelace
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
In the Martinsville Bulletin on Jan. 16, Virginia Uranium Inc. project manager Patrick Wales stated they have 15,000 acres in their control and “probably” would mine less than 15 percent of the 15,000 acres in Pittsylvania County.
At the National Academy of Science meeting in Danville in December, it was my understanding that Virginia Uranium Inc. was only interested in mining and milling Coles Hill and downplayed any interest in deposits anywhere else in Virginia.
Coles Hill is around 3,000 acres; why would you need 12,000 acres more unless you were “probably” going to mine? Is this what the farmers were told — there is uranium on your land, and we want to lease it but we “probably” won’t mine this 12,000 acres?
This is why I am pushing so hard to make sure our water is studied, we don’t know how much land has been leased in our county and in Virginia.
Del. Lee Ware, chairman of the uranium subcommittee, requested to the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C., meeting (that I attended) that the hydrogeology of the state of Virginia be studied. With his help and talking with the NAS committee about the hydrogeology, I am pleased someone with experience in hydrogeology has been added to the National Academy of Science Committee.
The USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) stated at the Washington, D.C., National Academy of Science meeting that it would take a long time to study the hydrogeology of Virginia, meaning several years.
Any attempt to use old study data from the Marline research cannot work to fast track this study. The fracture networks have had to change due to the earth tremors at this location and throughout Virginia in the last few years.
Our Virginia politicians must be patient and not lift the moratorium until a state-wide study of our drinking water is completed. This will take a lot longer than 2011.
Remember we live in a rural area where most of our drinking water comes from wells; they must not and cannot be destroyed.
Phillip M. Lovelace
Gretna, VA
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http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=27148
