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Editorial: Uranium group will keep secrets
The working group created by the governor to study uranium mining will hide much of its work from the public.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/306123Editorial: Panel's work belongs in the open
Last month we asked this question about the cost to taxpayers of developing
regulations for the uranium mining industry: "(W)e have to wonder why Virginia
will now spend money developing regulations that will be used by a single
company at a single site for something that’s currently not allowed in the
commonwealth."
This month, we got one of the first answers: They’re going to cut corners.
Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Health, and Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy don’t have experience with uranium mining, but they do have a mandate from Gov. Bob McDonnell to develop regulations.
Why are they developing regulations? It’s obvious the governor wants to push this project as far along as possible while he’s still in office.
For a state that has no experience with uranium mining and milling, that should be troubling enough.
As this issue moves forward — whether we want it to or not — the lack of public meetings by the UWG isn’t the only thing the public should be concerned about. Members of the UWG will only take questions and comments from the public through a website; letters will be accepted.
What’s wrong with that?
Ray Reed, a reporter for our sister newspaper, The News & Advance of Lynchburg, recently reported that Del. Don Merricks of Pittsylvania County asked Cathie J. France, Virginia’s deputy director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy and leader of the study group, if the public’s questions and answers would be posted on the group’s website. Merricks was told the questions, but not all of the answers, would be on the site.
Here’s the exchange Reed reported:
"The responses will be incorporated into our work and will be reported," France said.
"I think it would be nice to not only show the questions, but I’d like to see the responses," Merricks said.
"I just don’t think we have the resources to do it the way you are suggesting," France said.
If they don’t have the resources to post all the UWG’s answers to the questions Virginians have about uranium mining, what makes anyone think Virginia will one day have the financial resources to properly and consistently regulate a uranium mine and mill in rural Pittsylvania County?
The last thing we need are government bureaucrats meeting behind closed doors to draft proposed uranium mining regulations when they apparently can’t afford to update a website with answers to the public’s questions.
The Uranium Working Group must do its work in full view of the public. That’s not happening right now.
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2012/mar/14/panels-work-belongs-open-ar-1762721/This month, we got one of the first answers: They’re going to cut corners.
Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Health, and Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy don’t have experience with uranium mining, but they do have a mandate from Gov. Bob McDonnell to develop regulations.
Why are they developing regulations? It’s obvious the governor wants to push this project as far along as possible while he’s still in office.
For a state that has no experience with uranium mining and milling, that should be troubling enough.
As this issue moves forward — whether we want it to or not — the lack of public meetings by the UWG isn’t the only thing the public should be concerned about. Members of the UWG will only take questions and comments from the public through a website; letters will be accepted.
What’s wrong with that?
Ray Reed, a reporter for our sister newspaper, The News & Advance of Lynchburg, recently reported that Del. Don Merricks of Pittsylvania County asked Cathie J. France, Virginia’s deputy director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy and leader of the study group, if the public’s questions and answers would be posted on the group’s website. Merricks was told the questions, but not all of the answers, would be on the site.
Here’s the exchange Reed reported:
"The responses will be incorporated into our work and will be reported," France said.
"I think it would be nice to not only show the questions, but I’d like to see the responses," Merricks said.
"I just don’t think we have the resources to do it the way you are suggesting," France said.
If they don’t have the resources to post all the UWG’s answers to the questions Virginians have about uranium mining, what makes anyone think Virginia will one day have the financial resources to properly and consistently regulate a uranium mine and mill in rural Pittsylvania County?
The last thing we need are government bureaucrats meeting behind closed doors to draft proposed uranium mining regulations when they apparently can’t afford to update a website with answers to the public’s questions.
The Uranium Working Group must do its work in full view of the public. That’s not happening right now.
Editorial:Shine Light on Uranium Mining Study
By: | The News & Advance
Published: March 14, 2012
In the closing days of the General Assembly session, legislators — and the public — discovered that state officials conducting a uranium mining study for the governor want their work shrouded in secrecy. They will hold no public hearings and keep many of their papers secret.
That was the word from Cathie J. France, deputy director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. She is leading the study, known as the Uranium Working Group. Their work could result in not only lifting Virginia’s moratorium against uranium mining, but also the first draft of regulations on that mining.
France told Media General News Service that various documents generated by the study group, including reports from expert advisers the group plans to hire, will be kept as “confidential governor’s working papers.” She added that the papers “are prepared for him, at his direction, for him to make a decision.”
That’s hardly the transparency that Virginians have come to demand of government at the local and state levels across the Old Dominion.
The study group’s decision could have a profound impact on the public down the road. The study could lead to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s approval of a proposal to mine and mill radioactive material from what has been called a 119 million-pound deposit in Pittsylvania County worth about $7 billion.
Lawmakers on the uranium-mining subcommittee of the state Coal and Energy Commission responded last week to the veil being thrown over the study with some questions about the team’s transparency and how it will design its task to keep the public informed.
Del. Donald Merricks, R-Pittsylvania, asked France whether the public would be able to see questions raised about the mining proposal and the answers posted on the website. France said it would be possible to post the questions, but the work group would not post all the answers.
She said those responses would be “incorporated into our work and will be reported” to legislators and the public at four meetings to be held this summer.
Merricks wasn’t satisfied with that. “I think it would be nice to not only show the questions, but I’d like to see the responses,” he said. France suggested that would not be possible. “I just don’t think we have the resources to do it the way you are suggesting,” she said.
Read more:
http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2012/mar/14/shine-light-uranium-mining-study-ar-1762797/
URANIUM WORK SHOULD BE PUBLIC
THE ISSUE The governor’s working group will be exempt from open records laws.
WHERE WE STAND That will undermine the group’s credibility and obscure its deliberations.
NO ACTION stirs more suspicion than needlessly restricting the public’s access to government records that should be open for review. http://epilot.hamptonroads.com/Olive/ODE/VirginianPilot/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=VmlyZ2luaWFuUGlsb3QvMjAxMi8wMy8xNA..&pageno=MjI.&entity=QXIwMjIwMA..&view=ZW50aXR5
