By Admin on Dec 19, 2011
Glen Besa, Virginia Chapter Director for the Sierra Club, issued the following statement on the release of the National Academy of Science’s report on Virginia uranium mining:
For legislators who delayed taking a position on uranium mining in Virginia until this study was issued, the day of reckoning has come. The report is long on scientific information but the fundamental policy question remains the same: Are you willing to risk the health, safety and economic viability of major region of the state including our largest city, Virginia Beach, to enrich a few land owners and create at most a couple hundred jobs. To that question, Sierra Club members from Southside Virginia to Fairfax answer a resounding NO!
The report concludes there are “steep hurdles to be surmounted,” raising the regulatory bar to a standard that Virginia is not accustomed to meeting. Some legislators are considering introducing bills that would authorize developing regulation of the uranium industry before the industry has been proven safe in Virginia. We are opposed to that approach.
This is a question of whether or not to turn Virginia into a radioactive mine waste dump that would put our drinking water, public health and long term economic prosperity at risk. Virginia is a state that is unwilling and unable to regulate the everyday pollution that is killing the Chesapeake Bay, so why should citizens entrust to the state the regulation of radioactive pollutants with half lives measured in thousands of years.
http://vasierraclub.org/2011/12/sierra-club-statement-on-nas-uranium-mining-report/
Glen Besa, Virginia Chapter Director for the Sierra Club, issued the following statement on the release of the National Academy of Science’s report on Virginia uranium mining:
For legislators who delayed taking a position on uranium mining in Virginia until this study was issued, the day of reckoning has come. The report is long on scientific information but the fundamental policy question remains the same: Are you willing to risk the health, safety and economic viability of major region of the state including our largest city, Virginia Beach, to enrich a few land owners and create at most a couple hundred jobs. To that question, Sierra Club members from Southside Virginia to Fairfax answer a resounding NO!
The report concludes there are “steep hurdles to be surmounted,” raising the regulatory bar to a standard that Virginia is not accustomed to meeting. Some legislators are considering introducing bills that would authorize developing regulation of the uranium industry before the industry has been proven safe in Virginia. We are opposed to that approach.
This is a question of whether or not to turn Virginia into a radioactive mine waste dump that would put our drinking water, public health and long term economic prosperity at risk. Virginia is a state that is unwilling and unable to regulate the everyday pollution that is killing the Chesapeake Bay, so why should citizens entrust to the state the regulation of radioactive pollutants with half lives measured in thousands of years.
http://vasierraclub.org/2011/12/sierra-club-statement-on-nas-uranium-mining-report/
