By Anne Cockrell, PRIDE
(Piedmont Residents In Defense of the Environment) Danville, VA
For at least one more year, the citizens of VA and NC have been successful in staving off uranium mining and milling from occurring on Virginia soil.
The pro-mining and milling factions have been working ceaselessly, it seems, to overturn Virginia's standing moratorium on uranium mining.
Their concerted efforts were stymied during this past January legislative session of the Virginia General Assembly, when a united contingency of many organizations, governmental groups and concerned citizens voiced its strong opposition to mining. At that time, 16,000 people had signed a petition requesting that Virginia maintain its current moratorium on uranium mining.
As of today, that number has risen to 18,000. (Please add your name by going to http://www.keeptheban.org/? page_id=237 to sign the "Keep The Ban" petition.)
Because so many voiced a loud, unequivocal stance of "No to uranium mining!," to the in-session legislature, Virginia will get to keep its 30-year moratorium on uranium mining for one more year.
THIS IS TRULY A GREAT VICTORY TO BE SAVORED!!!
But, sadly, no sooner had VA Senator John Watkins withdrawn his proposed bill to have uranium mining rules written up by the VA legislature (January 31, 2013), did he and VA Delegate Terry Kilgore send a letter to Virginia's Governor, Robert McDonnell, seeking a different approach to the mining issue.
In their letter, they asked the governor to use Virginia's Administrative Process Act to have uranium mining rules and regulations written up.
At this point in time, the Governor has not declared whether he will use the APA-- which would circumvent the wishes of the people-- by having state agencies write up uranium mining rules and regulations.
Clearly, our work to uphold Virginia's current uranium mining moratorium will not be finished until a permanent ban can be achieved.
At stake is the future health, safety and well-being of both citizens and the environment.
http://www.bredl.org/theleagueline/Spring2013.pdf
