Press release – Orange County Farm Bureau – 10/5/2012
State Issue – Uranium mining and milling – whether to lift the moratorium or not
Meeting: Debate - Virginia Uranium, Inc. vs Bill Speiden -
Free and open to public.
10/25/2012
5:30 PM –
Charlottesville Senior Center –
1180 Pepsi Place, off Greenbrier Dr. east of Rt. 29
Barboursville, VA
Meeting: Forum on the Uranium issue –
monitored x Bob Gibson
– Free and open to public
11/14/2012
3 PM –
Stone Fire Restaurant– sponsored by Virginia Garden Club -
. At the northeast corner of Rt. 33 and Rt. 20
in Barboursville.
Whether to lift the moratorium on uranium mining and milling seems to be coming to a decision point in the State Legislature in its 2013 session. Forces, lobbyists, studies, studies of studies, reports proliferate on both sides as January approaches. Many on both sides are hanging their hats on the National Academy of Science report, paid for indirectly by Virginia Uranium, which came out November of last year.
Would the job opportunities and tax revenue in the state of Virginia be worth the risks associated with uranium mining and milling in Virginia?
In the late 1970’s Marline Corporation, a Canadian mining firm leased 12,000 acres of land in Northern Virginia and 40,000 acres in the neighborhood of Pittsylvania County for the possible extraction of uranium ore and it’s processing in mills. Many groups opposed the proposition after researching the negative effects uranium mining and milling had in the west, and the Virginia State legislature invoked a moratorium on the mining and milling of uranium in Virginia in 1982. The genesis of the moratorium on uranium mining and milling of uranium in Virginia was Orange County. It was a four year effort to convince the state Legislature that a moratorium was the correct route to take; until it could be proven it could be done safely in our climate. Shortly after that the price of uranium “yellow cake” dropped to an uneconomical level and interest waned.
With the recent increase in the price of uranium, interest has renewed and Virginia Uranium, Inc. has been activity trying to lift the moratorium and engage in the extraction of uranium from Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County Virginia. With the state lifting the moratorium for the mine in Pittsylvania, the industry could be extended to northern Virginia and have an impact on northern Virginia watersheds,(Rapidan/Rappahannock here and Occoquan – in Fauquier and Fairfax) real estate values, tourism and agriculture.
One of the farms in Orange County, on the Rapidan River, (land was leased in Orange, Madison, Culpeper and Fauquier counties) turned out to be the most radioactive site in Northern Virginia according to scintillometer tests, and belonged to Bill Speiden. Before signing a lease with the Canadian uranium company, his family traveled to Colorado and Utah to visit uranium mines and mills in hopes of finding a safe business which would reap riches for them. The problems which that research unearthed in a semi arid climate caused them to not sign a lease on their farm for fear of, not only damaging their land but, also the water, soil and air of neighbors downstream and down wind and the agriculture of central Virginia.
A power-point has been developed on what has been learned about this industry in the west and contains recent developments in the trade. When the community discusses this issue again, it needs to be kept in mind that this is not a pro and con talk about the use of nuclear power – the subject is restricted just to the front end of the nuclear cycle, the mining and milling of uranium in Virginia to prevent dilution of political opinion. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=13a33810a2dd20fc&mt=application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D87aab9e94c%26view%3Datt%26th%3D13a33810a2dd20fc%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbSahCUNleZIIxJu4TP_Fdw7HwyzjQ
