By The Editorial Board
Published: February 22, 2011
To the editor:
I had an e-mail exchange with Whitt Clement, who is the lobbyist for Virginia Uranium Inc. I asked him, if VUI wants to mine uranium for the benefit of this country, will VUI guarantee that none of the uranium will be sold outside of this country.
To me, 35 years of digging for two years’ supply does not seem to create enough to sell to any other country. This is supposed to be for our energy needs, so they want us to believe.
The company has “Fuel for America” on its website with an American flag next to it. It also has this on its website: “Energy Independence. The United States is at a critical crossroad in its energy needs and dependence on foreign supply. Domestic energy sources have never been more important. The Coles Hill uranium deposit is believed to have the amount of raw materials needed to supply fuel for existing nuclear energy plants in the United States for a period of nearly two years.”
I asked Clement this question: “Will VUI guarantee they will not sell one ounce of uranium outside of this country if they mine in Chatham?”
His response to me was: “Being that the company is locally owned — predominantly — provides tremendous advantages to ensure that domestic sales are given first priority. I suspect, however, that even if VUI could ensure that their product was sold only to domestic sources, uranium is a global commodity and in theory could be transferred by that utility to another end user outside the U.S.”
If they are so concerned about our energy problem and, as they say, “Domestic energy sources have never been more important,” guaranteeing us they will not sell any uranium outside of this country should not be a problem.
Feels like a bait and switch. Either they are going to only use it here for our energy needs as they state or they are going to sell it to the highest bidder for their financial greed at everyone’s expense.
Either it is to help the United States’ energy problem or it is for their profit. Which is it?
BERKELEY BIDGOOD
Danville, VA
Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/feb/22/who-will-benefit-mining-ar-857986/
