Commonwealth of Virginia
Office of Governor Bob McDonnell
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 30, 2012
Contact: Jeff Caldwell
Phone: (804) 225-4260
Uranium Working Group Delivers Report to Governor on Schedule
—General Assembly Requested Report of What Potential Regulatory Framework Would Look Like if the General Assembly Lifts Current Moratorium on Uranium Mining in Virginia—
RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell has received and transmitted to the General Assembly the final report of the Uranium Working Group regarding a conceptual regulatory framework should the General Assembly act to lift the current moratorium on uranium mining in the Commonwealth. The Working Group was not asked to make a recommendation on the overall question of the feasibility of uranium mining in the Commonwealth. The report was requested by the General Assembly a year ago. The Governor will now review the report in the weeks ahead. The report is available HERE. In addition, the Governor has issued the following statement upon receipt of the report.
“Almost a year ago, the National Academy of Sciences issued a long awaited report on uranium mining. While the NAS report provided much useful information, it offered very little specific to the issues in Virginia, and left many questions unanswered. For that reason, members of the General Assembly asked me to task the appropriate Executive Branch agencies with providing substantial, additional information and to determine what a comprehensive regulatory program for safe uranium mining might look like, should the current moratorium be lifted by the General Assembly in the years ahead.
In response, I promptly directed establishment of a Uranium Working Group from the subject matter experts in the departments of Mines Minerals and Energy, Health, and Environmental Quality. This Working Group was tasked with providing a detailed scientific policy analysis that would inform the General Assembly what a regulatory framework for uranium mining might look like if they decide to lift the moratorium. We identified 18 specific questions for the Working Group to address and authorized it to hire appropriate technical experts as needed to assist in their work.
For the past 10 months, the geologists, hydrologists, biologists, health scientists, attorneys, and other regulatory experts at DMME, VDH and DEQ – together with experts from around the country pursuant to two contracts for expert assistance entered into by the Working Group retained after a competitive bidding process – have examined the issues put before them. They have reviewed previous reports and scientific literature, visited the Coles Hill site, met with federal and state regulators and regulators from other states and countries, and met together numerous times to discuss their findings and determine what more they needed to know. In addition, as they completed their review of specific topics, the Working Group held six public meetings, in different parts of the Commonwealth, to share the information they had, respond to public questions, and hear public comment. Significant input was also received and reviewed through the Working Group’s web site (http://www.uwg.vi.virginia.
As requested by the General Assembly and our office, the Working Group developed a conceptual regulatory framework that identifies the statutory and regulatory measures that would be necessary if a legislative decision is made to lift the moratorium. One element of their work – the examination of potential socioeconomic impacts – has been delayed by the difficulty in finding a suitable, objective expert to undertake the necessary survey work that has not already been employed to do work by stakeholders on one side of the issue or the other. As a consequence, and because the Group was unwilling to limit the original scope of this portion of their work, an addendum to the Group’s final report will be provided when the contractor’s work is complete, hopefully in mid-January.
The Working Group was not asked for, and has not provided, an ultimate policy recommendation on whether or not the moratorium on uranium mining in the Commonwealth should be lifted. If the General Assembly decides to lift the moratorium, it will be necessary to amend and adopt statutes and authorize the subsequent development of actual regulations pursuant to the Virginia Administrative Process Act. Only after regulations are developed, proposed, adopted and approved after a lengthy public process could an application for a permit to mine uranium in Virginia be developed and submitted for consideration.
Today the Working Group has delivered its final report to our office pursuant to its deadline of December 1, 2012. At the same time, we are delivering the report to the members of the General Assembly and made available to the public. It will also be posted to the Working Group’s web site. I look forward to reviewing the full report, meeting with our agency experts to discuss their work, and hearing the views of the experts on the Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Subcommittee in the coming weeks. I understand that this issue is critically important to many Virginians, and that it raises appropriate concern among many in the vicinity of Coles Hill and beyond. I believe it is crucially important that all voices be heard in the decision-making process ahead. For that reason, in addition to meeting with my staff in the coming weeks, I will meet with stakeholders on both sides of the issue, and will review the public input received to date, before deciding whether or not I will make any recommendation on uranium mining in the Commonwealth. I have formed no prior opinion on whether mining should be permitted, as I have awaited, like most should, the publication of this report. As I have previously noted, the overriding consideration is whether uranium mining and milling can be conducted with a high degree of public safety, and whether suitable assurances can be given that the air, water, health, and well-being of the citizens will be protected.
Finally, I want to commend the great efforts of the Working Group. The agency staff who participated in this important work did so with a high level of professionalism, openness and evenhandedness. They have completed their task with great diligence and thoroughness and met their deadline. As I begin to evaluate the report, I thank them for their tremendous work and I am confident it will help me, the General Assembly, and the public reach an appropriate decision on this matter.”
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For Immediate Release
Nov. 30, 2012
Contacts:
Nathan Lott, Virginia Conservation Network
804-370-7972, nathan@vcnva.org
804-370-7972, nathan@vcnva.org
Press Release KTB Coalition
Press statement of the Keep The Ban campaign on release of
the “2012 Uranium Working Group Report”
the “2012 Uranium Working Group Report”
Today the Governor’s internal Uranium Working Group released its report on what regulations in Virginia might look like if the General Assembly votes to repeal the state’s longstanding ban on uranium mining.
There have already been several reports on uranium mining in Virginia: the Baker Corporation report released by the City of Virginia Beach, the Chmura Economics & Analytics report, the site-specific assessment contained in the Moran report, and the National Academy of Sciences report, the only peer-reviewed study. The National Academy of Sciences report identified significant potential risks with uranium mining, milling, and radioactive waste disposal, and stated that it was not possible to mitigate all risks.
The issue addressed by the Uranium Working Group report--what a regulatory program might look like if the ban were lifted--is a hypothetical discussion. We haven’t answered the question of whether to lift the ban. And what we’ve seen in recent weeks is that there’s growing consensus of Virginians—including the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Counties, and the Virginia Farm Bureau—who believe that this 30-year ban has served us well and they want to keep it in place.
There is broad, bipartisan support in favor of keeping the ban. At the final meeting of the Uranium Working Group, the Keep The Ban Coalition presented a petition in support of the ban signed by 16,000 Virginians. These individuals joined 40 local government entities in Virginia and North Carolina in a growing chorus of public sentiment against mining, milling, and radioactive waste disposal.
Additional information about Virginia’s ban on uranium mining and the organizations fighting to preserve it is available at www.KeepTheBan.org.
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http://scottsurovell.blogspot.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Cows, Corn and Uranium Don't Mix
Virginia basically placed a moratorium on mining uranium after Three Mile Island. The largest-known economically viable uranium lode in the United States is located in Southside Virginia.
Proponent says it will create 348 jobs in a hard hit part of Virginia. Opponents say it can create effectively permanent damage to the drinking water supplies to a couple million people (Hampton Roads) if something were to happen.
Yesterday, The Farm Bureau came out opposed to lifting the moratorium. They represent 88 farm bureaus across Virginia and 146,000 farm families. Apparently, the vote in the organization was overwhelming.
Why did they oppose it:
“We’re not talking about something like a petroleum spill or something that can be cleaned up in a day, months or even a couple years,” he said. “We’re talking about something that could take decades or centuries to clean up that could have devastating effects on neighboring properties.”
Pretty much what I've been thinking. There has been a perception that the long-term health of air and water is a partisan issue. I'm starting to think that like the changes going on in the United States on other issues, there is a broader consensus on environmental issues than most people believe as well.
The Farm Bureau weighing in against uranium mining is a big deal.
11.30.
Possible Uranium Mining Raises Fears
By Catherine Kozak Hurricane Floyd flooded much of Eastern North Carolina. Residents along the Roanoke River wonder what the flood waters would have contained if uranium had been mined just across the state line in Virginia. Photo: Liz Roll, FEMA. |
When talk of permitting uranium mining in the Roanoke River watershed began last year, Tommy Roberson, the mayor of Williamston, N.C., a northeastern city bordered by the river, was reminded how shocked everyone was that the lagoons and their state-approved berms failed so miserably in Floyd.
But the danger from an unanticipated spill of hog waste pales compared with that of a spill of radioactive material into the river.
“There were a lot of things that happened during that natural disaster that you couldn’t control,” Roberson, a retired businessman, said about the 1999 storm. “Nothing is fail-safe and I just can’t believe that the people of Virginia would allow that risk to their water supply.”
But there are also potentially staggering risks to North Carolina, from the Virginia border all the way to the Outer Banks, said Roberson, chairman of the Roanoke River Mayors’ Association, a coalition of 13 towns. The majority of the water in the Albemarle and the Pamlico sounds, he said, originates from the Roanoke River basin.
“This could ruin the entire habitat of the Eastern North Carolina,” Roberson said. “My goodness, it would be catastrophic for Eastern North Carolina. The radioactivity is something that doesn’t go away.”
Uranium mining is currently banned in Virginia, but under the direction of Gov. Bob McDonnell, the possibility of lifting the 30-year-old ban has been under study since January. A final report is expected to be submitted to the governor on Dec. 1, and a public presentation of the study’s findings will be made in mid-December to the General Assembly’s Coal and Energy Commission.
 The mine would be in the heart of the Roanoke River Basin. |
The reality is, the mayor said, that sometimes what a corporation says it will do does not match what is actually done.
“I’ve worked for a large national company,” he said. “You see what goes on with environmental things.”
A huge deposit of uranium was discovered in 1978 on Coles Hill, near Chatham in Pittsylvania County. Legislators placed a temporary moratorium on uranium mining four years later, prohibiting the practice until a program is “permitted by statute.”
Virginia Uranium Inc. renewed interest in the site around 2007, when two studies were launched by the state. One study, by the National Academy of Sciences, raised concerns about uranium tailings -- the waste product of uranium cake processing. The tailings, which would be stored on 80 acres in huge pools, contain a substantial level of radioactivity that could contaminate local waters, the study said.
“Tailings disposal sites represent significant potential sources of contamination for thousands of years, and the long-term risks remain poorly defined,” the report said.
The other state-commissioned study, by Chmura Economics, showed, according to the company’s Web site, that a full-scale mining and milling operation at Coles Hill would support 1,000 jobs, provide $112 million in state and local tax revenue and generate $5 billion for Virginia companies over the 35-year lifespan of the mine.
The company compared the Coles Hill site to one in Bessines, France, that was mined for uranium for about 50 years starting in the late 1940s.
“Bessines has strikingly similar rainfall and humidity levels to Pittsylvania County,” the Web site said, “which boasts significant beef and dairy cattle production, and accommodates a much higher population density than Pittsylvania County.”
And another former uranium mine in France, the Web site said, is now the site of a trout fishing pond.
But Virginia is subject to something France is not --- hurricanes.
 Tom Reeder |
“So basically, the problem would be you have this initial period of radioactivity in the lake,” Reeder said in a telephone interview. “And then it’s trapped in the sediments. That’s really the scary thing. Once this stuff is in the environment, it’s very difficult to get rid of.”
In his presentation, Reeder said that the proposed mine could produce about 11 million cubic yards of radioactive tailings in the above-ground storage impoundments.
According to the presentation, a breach could affect the water supply of 118,760 North Carolinians and up to 64 agricultural operations in Eastern North Carolina counties. A radioactive spill would also impact the annual $15 million Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston earns in tourism and recreation dollars, as well as harm the striped bass fishery and the recovery of the sturgeon fishery.
“The radiation effect would move throughout the chain of life and the fish would be contaminated,” Reeder said in the interview. “The fish would be destroyed all the way to the sound.”
Reeder said that uranium mining in the U.S. has only been done in arid, stable areas, and never in areas like Virginia that are subject to intense storms. Even so, he said, there are a number of former uranium mines out West that are now environmental Superfund sites.
Work has been going on for more than two weeks to plug leaks from the vast pond
A current environmental disaster related to uranium illustrates that accidents do happen, despite the best intentions of the company. The Talvivaara’s Sotkamo mine in Finland, granted a permit in March to mine uranium, was recently found to have leaked high levels of radioactive wastewater into waters near the plant, according to a Nov. 9 article published by Reuters. Production has been shut down while the company searches for the source of the leak.
In an earlier Reuters article, published March 1, 2012, the CEO of Talvivaara, Pekka Pera, said that the company, which primarily mines nickel and zinc, was looking forward to maximizing the value of its ore by mining the uranium byproduct.
“We are very pleased to have been granted this license, which is not only a further step towards uranium production at Talvivaara, but also a confirmation that our recovery process meets the highest safety and environmental standards.”
According to draft minutes of the ERC meeting, Rep. Mitch Gillespie, a Republican from Marion and co-chairman of the commission, asked that Reeder’s presentation be included in the transition documents for the new governor and state legislators. Gillespie also said that the committee will send a resolution to the North Carolina congressional delegation in support of the uranium ban.
Fourteen organizations and local governments in North Carolina have passed resolutions in opposition to lifting the ban. The Roanoke River Bi-State Commission has members from both states who support keeping the ban.
In Virginia, a group of local and state organizations opposed to uranium mining in the state called the Keep the Ban Coalition said on its Web site that more than 100 government entities and nonprofit groups and 16,000 citizens have voiced support for the ban.
Virginia Beach gets much of its drinking water from Lake Gaston, which is fed by the Roanoke River. The river is also renowned for its world-class striped bass fishing.
Mike Pucci, a Lake Gaston resident and the chairman of the North Carolina Coalition Against Uranium Mining, said that the radioactive material in the tailing ponds has a 300,000-year lifespan. No matter the potential financial benefit to Virginia, he said, it’s “inappropriate” to allow a uranium mine in an area that is in a hurricane zone and in the vicinity of an active earthquake fault.
“Yeah, it’s a lot of money,” he said, “but you try replacing the water supply for two million people.”
Pucci said that Raleigh has petitioned the Corps of Engineers to pull 50 million gallons of water from Kerr Lake, a reservoir fed by the Roanoke, to provide for future growth. And the Triangle region, which has so far attracted about 150 biotech companies, cannot continue to grow without water.
“There’s nothing in this for North Carolina,” Pucci said. “We carry all the risk and we get nothing in this enterprise. So if the governor is acting in the interest of his state, he needs to raise his voice and oppose it.”
About the Author: Catherine Kozak
Finland: http://www.stoptalvivaara.org/fi/newsstream.html
Earthquake: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3447
USGS: More than 600 aftershocks have hit since August quake: http://www.insidenova.com/news/article_b198918f-4348-5a6b-a7fe-5f84b6941bcd.html
Finland: http://www.stoptalvivaara.org/fi/newsstream.html
Earthquake: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3447
USGS: More than 600 aftershocks have hit since August quake: http://www.insidenova.com/news/article_b198918f-4348-5a6b-a7fe-5f84b6941bcd.html
