Anne Armistead
Armistead is a retired social worker living in Floyd.
Ray Ganther's article "Don't prejudge the safety of mining" (May 31 commentary) almost came off as reasonable until you look closely at some pertinent facts that he conveniently left out.
Virginia Uranium calls its opponents "unreasonable" because they aren't waiting for the Virginia Uranium-paid-for National Academy of Sciences study. Ganther seems to have forgotten that Virginia Uranium is not waiting for the study. It has paid many lobbyists to meet with our General Assembly members.
Nor does Ganther mention the fact that Virginia Uranium has told its shareholders that it expects to have a legislator to sponsor and introduce a bill to our General Assembly in January.
So with its paid-for NAS study coming out in December and a bill being introduced in January, the company wants people like me to wait? This appears to be a rigged game.
I was not surprised that Ganther chose to "take particular exception to the recent curious assertion by Mary Rafferty of the Sierra Club that uranium mining policy is being made behind closed doors in Richmond." Ganther believes, "This is cynical demagoguery, not serious community leadership."
I believe he is deliberately addressing only the parts of the issue he wishes to placate the public with -- to its detriment.
Ganther made a point that the NAS study panel is holding five public hearings so that Virginia's citizens can have input. Again, Ganther omits that only two of those five hearings were held in Virginia.
I find it more curious that there are a total of three meetings being held out of state (in Washington, D.C., Colorado and Canada). That's showing a great design by the NAS study panel to get Virginia citizen input. How many Virginians will be able to attend the upcoming meeting in Sasakatoon, Canada?
No wonder the only study that counts for Virginia Uranium spokespeople is the NAS study. This is not an unbiased, objective study. The company wants us to wait for only the one scientific study paid for by Virginia Uranium. Science is no longer as independent as corporations would like us to believe.
Ganther does not mention how many jobs in Virginia's agricultural or tourism sectors will be lost if uranium mining and milling is allowed in Virginia. He also does not mention how many companies will consider leaving Virginia for a healthier climate, nor the industries that will not even consider locating their business in a state that mines uranium.
I suspect that the Virginia Uranium-financed study is not going to answer any questions about how many jobs Virginians will lose if uranium is allowed to be mined here.
Maybe Ganther doesn't see any contradictions here. There are important questions that all Virginians should ask Ganther and Virginia Uranium. Where exactly has uranium been mined safely? And has uranium been mined safely in a climate like Virginia's?
If Ganther truly wants a right and proper dialogue, why doesn't he present an example about safe mining in the real world?
Read more:http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/288988
