State urged to reject uranium mining
Local
Source: Gainesville Times
FRIDAY, AUGUST 24 2012
One after another, they urged a gubernatorial-appointed committee to oppose uranium mining in Virginia.
On Aug. 15, the "uranium working group" received public comments about the topic in The Barn at Lord Fairfax Community College near Warrenton.
About 50 people attended and 19 spoke at the two-hour meeting, which ended at 8 p.m.
So far, the working group, which includes high-level state agency officials, has held three such gatherings around the state to hear about the mining and milling of uranium.
Maureen E. Dempsey, Virginia's chief deputy for Public Health, said comments and relevant materials would be collected in a report and released in early December.
Virginia Uranium Inc., established in 2007, wants to mine and mill uranium on 3,500 aces it controls in Pittsylvania County in Southwest Virginia, near the North Carolina border.
But no state regulations exist to allow such practices.
The company's interest in mining radioactive material from about 100 acres of the Coles Hill project site prompted the state to study the practice.
The working group limited the focus of the Aug. 15 meeting to the effects that uranium mining might have on private well water and water bodies for recreational use.
Some speakers said potential impacts on public water supplies also should be included in the discussion.
Bill Speider of Orange County raised concerns about the potentially negative effects that uranium mining and milling could have on property values, tourism and agriculture.
Who would compensate farmers and their market losses if their products get exposed to uranium? Speider asked.
Kit Johnston spoke about the potential for "irreparable" damage that uranium contamination at the Coles Hill site might do to water supplies that serve Virginia and North Carolina homeowners and farmers.
May Miculis warned that no state would take the uranium waste produced by Virginia Uranium.
Allowing uranium mining in the state would raise suspicions about the safety of Virginia products like beef and wine, causing people to reject them, Miculis said. "It's tainted," people will say of such products, she said. "It's radioactive. It's nuclear."
Rob Marmet, senior energy policy analyst for the Piedmont Environmental Council, blasted the uranium working group's approach to the study.
Marmet argued that the group should have first prepared a report, gathering the necessary information and then put it out for public review.
Instead, the process puts "the entire burden on the people out there" to raise critical questions and contribute research, he suggested.
"I think it's absolutely unconscionable to do it that way," Marmet said. "That's putting the cart before the horse."
The audience burst into loud applause.
But because of intense opposition, the company dropped its effort and the mineral leases expired.
The Piedmont Environmental Council played a major role in derailing the company's efforts.
Last week, the uranium working group met at the Warrenton Volunteer Rescue Squad Building for a daylong roundtable discussion about uranium mining. Seventeen people signed up to participate in the talk.
Read more:
http://www.gainesville-times.com/news/2012/aug/24/state-urged-reject-uranium-mining/
