Comment: People, when you receive the letter, do not open, write on the letter: Return to Sender, Keep the Ban!
By: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 02, 2011
RICHMOND --
A company seeking to mine one of the world's largest uranium deposits is asking Virginia localities to reserve judgment on endorsing the continuation of a 1982 state ban on mining the ore until two key studies are completed.
Virginia Uranium Inc. has sent letters signed by its chairman, Walter Coles, to about 30 cities and towns urging them to "examine the evidence when the results of these studies are available," according to a company official.
First, however, it must convince the General Assembly to end the nearly 30-year moratorium on uranium mining. The company has flown legislators to France to view a closed mining operation as part of a lobbying campaign.
The NAS study will not include a recommendation on whether the ban should be lifted (VUI paid for the study).
Opponents have argued that mining in Virginia, which is subject to extreme rainfall and hurricanes, is a risky proposition. Mining involves milling in which the ore is separated from rock, creating vast amounts of waste byproduct.
The Keep the Ban Coalition, which opposes ending the ban, said more than 50 localities and organizations in Virginia and North Carolina have taken actions to keep the ban in place. The coalition has followed up the Virginia Uranium dispatches with its own letters, arguing that by lifting the ban communities risk inviting mining in their own backyards.
Keep the Ban cites its own study, by Virginia Beach, which raises the risk for contamination of water supplies from uranium waste in the event of a hurricane. The region supplies drinking water to parts of Hampton Roads.
Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/aug/02/uranium-debate-sparks-letters-va-localities-ar-1212466/?referer=None&shorturl=http://bit.ly/rnC1wG
