By: The Editorial Board | GoDanRiver.com
Published: January 22, 2012 Updated: January 22, 2012 - 6:00 AM
It didn’t take long for this year’s uranium mining debate to lead to attacks against the Dan River Region’s conservative Republican legislators.
Dels. Danny Marshall and Don Merricks and state Sens. Bill Stanley and Frank Ruff wanted the state to take more time to study the uranium mining studies that have been released over the past two months.
One writer to this page said they, "… have decided instead to follow the beat of Obama and his liberal environmental policies instead of the sound economic principles of conservatism" and "… if Obama gets re-elected, will these five be standing in line at the Inaugural Ball waiting to get their dance card punched by Barack himself?"
Another wrote that Marshall and Merricks "… support job-killing measures that keep unemployment levels in southern Virginia high" and asked "… why are Merricks and Marshall siding with the socialists and pursuing policies that harm their constituents?"
The answer, of course, is they’re not.
Marshall and Merricks have spent the better part of the entire adult lives trying to bring new jobs and investment to the Dan River Region. Stanley is new to elective office, and Ruff is new to representing parts of Danville and Pittsylvania County.
The attacks made against them are false, misguided and revealing.
It’s shocking that anyone thinks Virginia Uranium Inc. is the short-term solution to the long-term problem of joblessness in Southside Virginia. Even if the General Assembly were to approve uranium mining tomorrow — and all the other steps were to fall into place just as quickly — it would take the better part of a decade before the company could hope to reach the level of promised jobs that its supporters tout.
"… You can always tell a leader — he’s the one with the arrows in his back …," Merricks said in a YouTube video of him speaking during a news conference earlier this week.
Merricks, Marshall and other local political and business leaders picked up plenty of arrows from supporters of uranium mining this week for their principled stand, but the studies released so far have not given Virginia Uranium the green light it needed. The National Academy of Sciences study talked about "steep hurdles" that needed to be overcome before mining could begin in Virginia and other studies have raised serious questions that demand real answers, not knee-jerk reactions, false associations and vitriol.
Last March we wrote, "The National Academy of Sciences study that so many local people have put their faith in will be out for just a month or two before the 2012 General Assembly session begins. … as it stands right now, we’re not going to have enough time to ask questions about the results of the four uranium-related studies being done."
Last week, we got another year to ask those questions, but we also saw the kind of attacks our legislators will endure if they don’t follow the script others want them to follow. That’s OK; suffer the arrows and keep doing what you were elected to do — represent us to the best of your abilities.
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2012/jan/22/they-stood-their-constituents-ar-1627987/?referer=http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgodanriver.com%2Far%2F1627987%2F&h=qAQHaUECnAQGAwS-bUt3ErT4eoZQZWbWgM21DRxONYg_wCg&shorturl=http://bit.ly/y95DD5
Published: January 22, 2012 Updated: January 22, 2012 - 6:00 AM
It didn’t take long for this year’s uranium mining debate to lead to attacks against the Dan River Region’s conservative Republican legislators.
Dels. Danny Marshall and Don Merricks and state Sens. Bill Stanley and Frank Ruff wanted the state to take more time to study the uranium mining studies that have been released over the past two months.
One writer to this page said they, "… have decided instead to follow the beat of Obama and his liberal environmental policies instead of the sound economic principles of conservatism" and "… if Obama gets re-elected, will these five be standing in line at the Inaugural Ball waiting to get their dance card punched by Barack himself?"
Another wrote that Marshall and Merricks "… support job-killing measures that keep unemployment levels in southern Virginia high" and asked "… why are Merricks and Marshall siding with the socialists and pursuing policies that harm their constituents?"
The answer, of course, is they’re not.
Marshall and Merricks have spent the better part of the entire adult lives trying to bring new jobs and investment to the Dan River Region. Stanley is new to elective office, and Ruff is new to representing parts of Danville and Pittsylvania County.
The attacks made against them are false, misguided and revealing.
It’s shocking that anyone thinks Virginia Uranium Inc. is the short-term solution to the long-term problem of joblessness in Southside Virginia. Even if the General Assembly were to approve uranium mining tomorrow — and all the other steps were to fall into place just as quickly — it would take the better part of a decade before the company could hope to reach the level of promised jobs that its supporters tout.
"… You can always tell a leader — he’s the one with the arrows in his back …," Merricks said in a YouTube video of him speaking during a news conference earlier this week.
Merricks, Marshall and other local political and business leaders picked up plenty of arrows from supporters of uranium mining this week for their principled stand, but the studies released so far have not given Virginia Uranium the green light it needed. The National Academy of Sciences study talked about "steep hurdles" that needed to be overcome before mining could begin in Virginia and other studies have raised serious questions that demand real answers, not knee-jerk reactions, false associations and vitriol.
Last March we wrote, "The National Academy of Sciences study that so many local people have put their faith in will be out for just a month or two before the 2012 General Assembly session begins. … as it stands right now, we’re not going to have enough time to ask questions about the results of the four uranium-related studies being done."
Last week, we got another year to ask those questions, but we also saw the kind of attacks our legislators will endure if they don’t follow the script others want them to follow. That’s OK; suffer the arrows and keep doing what you were elected to do — represent us to the best of your abilities.
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2012/jan/22/they-stood-their-constituents-ar-1627987/?referer=http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgodanriver.com%2Far%2F1627987%2F&h=qAQHaUECnAQGAwS-bUt3ErT4eoZQZWbWgM21DRxONYg_wCg&shorturl=http://bit.ly/y95DD5
