Laurence Verga on Uranium Mining: Ready, Fire, Aim! - CREEP OF THE YEAR

Comment: Like the comments of Mr. Ngo!

Ace has nominated 5th District Republican candidate Laurence Verga the CREEP OF THE YEAR!  (Don't vote for this creep!)

Look at the Creep's comments:  In the meantime the General Assembly should repeal its irrational, unconditional ban on uranium mining and replace it with code that awards immediate approval upon projects that successfully complete an environmental impact study.


The Pro-Nuke group called the National Research Council may perform the uranium study and has not started to the study

Do you think Southside wants to be mined for a few billion dollars (remember the cost of uranium is in the toilet at this time), the jobs will be Canadians miners and millers.

The state will not make money off the mine and it Coles Hill will be a Future Superfund site in a few years.

However, after one of the Hurricanes, the flooded open pit uranium mine and flooded or leaking uranium tailings pond will poison the military at Virginia Beach!

Look out Military and VA Beach; stop let your babies drink Southside uranium water if the ban is lifted!


by: Kenton Ngo
Tue Jan 19, 2010 at 03:43:30 PM EST

5th District Republican candidate Laurence Verga is elbowing with other Republican candidates to become the conservative alternative to State Sen. Robert Hurt. Mind you, Hurt has perfectly adequate conservative bona fides, but if you're trying to distinguish yourself in a field full of wingnuts you have to do your best.

Verga wrote a guest post on Bearing Drift this morning where Verga applauded Hurt for voting to authorize a study on repealing the ban on uranimum mining, then chided Hurt for not fighting to repeal the ban on uranium mining. Heaven forfend we wait for the study to conclude!

The best part from Verga's post:

The National Research Council is finally set to begin an environmental impact study, which is expected to take 18 months. In the meantime the General Assembly should repeal its irrational, unconditional ban on uranium mining and replace it with code that awards immediate approval upon projects that successfully complete an environmental impact study.

Let's get this straight. Verga insists on the immediate and automatic approval of projects that simply complete an EIS, without regard to what the local government happens to think, or even what the rest of the state happens to think. It's quite unfortunate we insist on knowing the consequences of our actions before granting automatic permits!

Uranium mining is one of the most toxic types of mining known to man. From the Piedmont Environmental Council:

Enormous quantities of radioactive waste are generated by uranium mining and milling, with only 2 to 4 pounds of concentrated uranium oxide yellow cake obtained from each ton of ore taken out of the ground. The resulting waste, or tailings contain 85% of the original radioactivity and remain radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. Tailings can contain several hazardous substances, including radium (which decays to produce radon) selenium, molybdenum, uranium, and thorium. The mill tailings and the mill tailings effluent are highly radioactive and acutely hazardous.

Directly downstream from Pittsylvania County are major drinking water sources, including Lake Gaston, water source for the City of Norfolk.

It would seem that no matter how loopy 5th District Republicans can get, they'll always fight to outdo each other.
http://newdominionproject.com/diary/561/laurence-verga-on-uranium-mining-ready-fire-aim

GOP hopeful angles for convention before primary

Comment:  Sen. Robert Hurt, whose ya daddy, maybe part of the uranium mining group according to articles and some history: Thirty other people have invested in the company, several of whom live in the area, including Henry Hurt, a former editor for Reader's Digest.Hurt's son Robert served three terms in the House before winning his Senate seat. Coles' son Walter, who is executive vice president of Virginia Uranium, and Reynolds together donated $1,500 to Hurt last year, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.Robert Hurt, a Republican whose House and Senate districts include Coles Hill, said he supports a study but does not have enough information to know whether he favors mining. He said he does not need to recuse himself from a vote on the study because no profit is at stake for his father.http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-01-13/news/17150436_1_uranium-mining-virginia-uranium-environmental-groups/3

 

By Brian McNeill
Media General News Service

Published: January 5, 2010

An Albemarle County Republican seeking his party’s nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello is calling for a convention to pick one conservative candidate to face Sen. Robert Hurt in the June 8 GOP primary.

Michael McPadden, a North Garden resident and airline pilot, believes such a “conservative convention” would unite the GOP grassroots behind one diehard conservative.

McPadden and several other candidates in the crowded field view Hurt, a state senator from Chatham, as too moderate.

“Hurt is a moderate,“ McPadden said. “The six other candidates in the race are vying for the party’s conservative base. We’re going to split the vote and hand it over to the moderate.“

Six of the primary race’s seven candidates had advocated for a convention to select their party’s nominee to challenge Perriello, D-Ivy. The 5th District Republican Committee, however, last month voted instead to hold a state-run open primary. Only Hurt wanted a primary.

Hurt strongly disputes the notion that he is anything but a solid conservative, noting that as a legislator he has received top ratings from the National Rifle Association, the Family Foundation and other conservative organizations.

Hurt has been criticized by his GOP primary opponents for several votes in the General Assembly, most notably for Gov. Mark R. Warner’s tax increase in 2004.

Chris LaCivita, a strategist for Hurt, wrote in an e-mail that McPadden’s proposed “conservative convention” would be unfair to the other candidates in the race and to the “thousands of conservatives across the 5th District [voting in a primary] for some smoke-filled room funded by outside interests.“

“There are seven conservatives running,“ he wrote. “Voters get to make their pick in June.“

McPadden said he has been contacted by several conservative-leaning groups in the 5th District - which stretches from the Charlottesville region down to Danville - willing to finance his conservative convention idea. McPadden declined to provide the names of the organizations.

For such a convention to work, McPadden must first get the race’s five candidates other than Hurt to glom onto the idea.

In addition to McPadden and Hurt, the race’s crowded field includes Kenneth C. Boyd, a member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors; Ron Ferrin, a Campbell County resident who owns an Internet firm; Jim McKelvey, a Franklin County real estate developer; Feda Kidd Morton, a Fluvanna County biology teacher and GOP activist; and Laurence Verga, a real estate investor from Ivy.

Perriello is in the middle of his first two-year term, having narrowly defeated incumbent Virgil H. Goode Jr. in 2008. The general election is Nov. 2.

Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/gop_hopeful_angles_for_convention_before_primary/16791/

In the 5th District:"Civil war is upon us," (Virginia)

Comment: No to Hurt, family may have ties to Virginia/Canadian Uranium Group! Just ask him the question, who's your daddy!

By Amy Gardner
December 12, 2009
6:02 PM ET

The Republican committee of Virginia's 5th Congressional District met in Appomattox today and made the decision to hold a primary to choose its candidate to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello next year.

The decision, in lieu of a convention or firehouse primary, is widely expected to favor state Sen. Robert Hurt, the preferred candidate of many GOP leaders who fear that some of the other contenders, particularly those with affiliations with the Tea Party movement, could prove divisive.

The primary will take place June 8.

Nonetheless, Hurt, who voted for Gov. Mark R. Warner's tax package in 2004, will not be handed the nomination without a fight.

At least six others are considering bids for Perriello's seat. One, Bradley Rees, Twittered after the vote that even if Hurt does win the nomination, a third-party challenger is likely to enter the race from the right.

"Civil war is upon us," Rees wrote. "Establishment elites vs concerned citizens sick to death of corruption. The 1st shot has been fired. Choose sides now!"

Read more at:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/12/in_the_5th_district_civil_war.html

A mining giant in bed with Boxer, Kerry (uranium mining)

Comment:  No to Nuke Plants, No to Uranium Mining!

By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
November 12, 2009

When a mainstream publication reports on “strange bedfellows” supporting a government regulation, you can be sure that the tryst in question is between some sort of liberal “public interest” group and a company standing to get rich off the proposed regulation — probably at the expense of consumers, taxpayers and small businesses.

Rio Tinto is a leading mining company, which is probably why the Economist reported the company’s support for a cap-and-trade scheme on climate change in a piece titled “Strange Bedfellows.”

As the U.S. Senate has taken up the climate legislation sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and John Kerry, D-Mass., Rio Tinto has taken to Capitol Hill to rally behind the legislation.

This is the standard explanation offered by climate bandits: We need regulation because climate change is so real, so certain and so bad that it will hurt everybody, including us. The upshot is that Rio Tinto isn’t seeking any special favors. But, of course, it is.

Rio Tinto stands to profit in many ways from Boxer-Kerry, often in ways that provide no real benefit to consumers or the environment, while increasing costs for everyone.

In 2008, Rio Tinto mined more uranium than any company in the world, according to Chiaro. Uranium is the feedstock for nuclear power plants. Litigation and regulation have for decades blocked the expansion of nuclear power, and many companies see robust climate legislation as the way to knock down the regulatory barriers.

Nuclear power produces basically no carbon dioxide or methane, and the greenhouse gas it does produce — water vapor — is negligible in its warming impact.

Being much more proven and efficient than wind, solar or other low-GHG power sources, nuclear is the natural choice in a carbon-constrained economy.

So climate legislation could create more demand for Rio Tinto’s uranium business.

But Rio Tinto also sees profit in Boxer-Kerry in ways that harm the consumer.

So there’s nothing strange about Rio Tinto getting in bed with Kerry and Boxer’s push for climate legislation.

But taxpayers and consumers will be regretting it in the morning.

Click Title or Link to whole post:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Timothy_Carney/69942747.html

Dirty Coal Czar Confirmed by Senate

For Immediate Release, November 6, 2009
Contact: Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681

Dirty Coal Czar Confirmed by Senate

WASHINGTON— Senate today confirmed controversial nominee Joseph Pizarchik to be director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, the federal agency charged with protecting communities and natural systems from the impacts of coal mining. The Center for Biological Diversity and numerous organizations and communities affected by coal mining had opposed the nomination.

“Today, the Senate put the fox in charge of guarding the henhouse when it comes to destructive mining,” said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the Center. “As director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation in Pennsylvania, Mr. Pizarchik consistently made decisions that benefited industry at the expense of environment and communities living in mining areas. And now, thanks to Obama administration and the Senate, he can bring those same disastrous policies to mining practices across the country.”

Mr. Pizarchik’s environmental record includes advocating for unsafe disposal of toxic coal ash, disregarding the scientific evidence concerning coal-ash pollution, weakening stream buffer-zone rules, promoting valley fills, and downplaying the devastation caused by long-wall mining. Moreover, his agency has failed to meet legal requirements to prevent water pollution and has attempted to block citizens from obtaining information under public record laws.

In 2001, Mr. Pizarchik supervised the drafting of regulations that weakened stream buffer-zone rules to allow the filling of stream valleys in Pennsylvania. In spite of science demonstrating the hazards of improper coal-ash disposal, Mr. Pizarchik’s agency has allowed waste to be buried in unlined pits and old mines without regulatory safeguards. His coal-ash mine-fill program was found deficient by the Interior Board of Land Appeals.

And during confirmation hearings, Mr. Pizarchik dodged questions about mountaintop removal, claiming he needed to “learn more about the facts and details…what has transpired in the past.”

“At a time when we need to be rapidly and boldly moving away from our reliance on coal and fossil fuels to curb global warming, it is extremely alarming that the Senate would confirm such a controversial nominee with a record of consistently downplaying the devastating effects of coal mining and coal ash on the environment,” said Curry.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/pizarchik-11-06-2009.html

GOP not ascendant in Northern Virginia

Comment:  I do not understand Southside Virginia ever going GOP!  But that is beside the point, Northern VA has all the great jobs because they have good Senators!  It seems to this Blog, we send GOP or Dems to Richmond and they never send good high tech jobs to Southside.  All we get are manfacturing jobs and now they want to turn us into uranium miners!  GREED! Oh, the Gov Dude is not from Virginia but Deed is a true Virginian!
By Lee Hockstader
November 5, 2009; 1:01 PM ET

Let’s talk about Northern Virginia and the rest of Virginia in Tuesday’s statewide election results.

The rest of Virginia went strongly for the Republican slate.

Northern Va didn’t. Gov.-Elect Bob McDonnell trounced Creigh Deeds statewide but eked out a win by less than a single percentage point in Northern Virginia. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General-Elect Ken Cuccinelli (a Fairfax native!) rolled statewide; both got trounced in the north.

I’m including Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, plus the Fairfax and Falls Church cities. (Sorry, Stafford et. al. -- very busy day here.)

Governor
McDonnell: 259,000
Deeds: 255,000

Lt. Governor
Bolling: 245,000
Wagner: 269,000

Attorney General
Cuccinelli: 243,000
Shannon: 267,000

Moral of the story: The GOP swept the state thanks to a mix of factors.

But they didn’t close the deal in the one region that sustains all the others (in terms of redistribution of tax revenues)!
Click Title or Link to whole post:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/11/gop_not_ascendant_in_northern.html

Where do you stand on uranium mining in Virginia?

People of Virginia, just replace Australia with Virginia and this is the path the Leaders of Virginia is pushing our state, to Be the Nuke Power of the World, we do not want anything to do with uranium mining and we do not want to be the next Nuke Power!
Comment:  McDonnell is somebody's puppet but whose?; France is not a good example for Nuke power: "Olkiluoto 3 Nuclear Plant Delayed Again, an Industrial Info News Alert": (http://nuclearstreet.com/blogs/green_energy_news/archive/2009/10/26/olkiluoto-3-nuclear-plant-delayed-again-an-industrial-info-news-alert.aspx). Plus France is not energy independents, they have no uranium, no coal, no anything, is France chasing Virginia's uranium, you bet!  No to Uranium Mining, No to Nuke Power!

Bob McDonnell (R) Candidate for Governor:

"I think we've got a great capacity to have a vibrant nuclear power industry in Virginia. We've got Areva right here in the Lynchburg area.  But I don't want to do anything or make any decision until this long-term study is done to see what impact this would have on the environment, on citizens here in the local area, on the water supply. I want to wait until that study's done to make any determination about whether it's a good idea."

Creigh Deeds (D) Candidate for Governor:

"After public safety, my first concern with uranium mining is the effect it could have on our water quality. I am not convinced we have a liner or a cap developed to protect the water supply from the radioactive millings that are a byproduct of mining. You’re talking about people all over Southside, from Danville to Virginia Beach , being contaminated if there’s a problem. Lets let the science speak first."

Read the complete post at:

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1009/672188.html

Where do you stand on uranium mining in Virginia?

Danny Marshall, incumbent, (R) 14th District Delegate Candidate:
"Safety of our citizens is the most important issue. Citizens who live near and down stream, the farmers, Chatham Hall, Hargrave, the companies we are trying to locate here. As to mining uranium, is it in their best interest? Safety is the number one issue."

Seward Anderson (D) 14th District Delegate Candidate:
"If there is any possibility that the mining and milling of uranium is going to harm the health, property, or proserity of southern Virginia, we are going to have to recognize that and keep the moritorium in place. I believe it's going to be hard to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this is safe."

Read all comments at: http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1009/671087.html

What would Hurt bring to the race?

Comment: Go Perriello!

By Published by The Editorial Board
Published: October 18, 2009

Republicans in the Fifth District are going to have plenty of choices when they pick a candidate for the 2010 race against Rep. Tom Perriello.

Virginia General Assembly drew the Fifth District for a Republican, and the GOP has wanted the seat back ever since the State Board of Elections confirmed that Perriello had squeaked out a 727-vote win over Virgil Goode last fall.

The conventional wisdom is that Perriello’s win was a fluke, but John McCain and Sarah Palin won more votes in the Fifth District than Goode did. For that matter, Goode didn’t do as well as the Virginia marriage amendment in 2006.

So, Goode may have been slipping and no one noticed.

To Perriello’s credit, he has voted against president’s first budget, come out against a new assault weapons ban, worked hard on veterans care issues and publicly declared that he would not vote for public funding of abortion in a health care reform bill — all stances that show is he far from the Nancy Pelosi lapdog that his harshest critics claim he is.

The Republicans who want to beat Perriello know he is a tough campaigner and that the political landscape may be completely different next year. No one can say how strong the economy will be or if Americans will like the final health care reform bill that emerges from Congress.

Robert Hurt, of Chatham, has jumped into this tumultuous political environment, recently announcing his intention to run for the Fifth District seat. For most of us, the 2010 election is a long way off. For the GOP, it’s right around the corner.

Hurt has solid conservative credentials and has sponsored common sense legislation in the General Assembly dealing with criminal justice issues. He is a smart, personable candidate and will no doubt work hard if he gets the nomination.

But Hurt has never had to run against anyone like Perriello. When Hurt speaks, he sometimes sounds more like a lawyer instead of a man who happens to practice law.

His father Henry’s involvement with Virginia Uranium Inc. could backfire on him, as could his handling of his dog biting someone in Chatham.

That may sound trivial, but in politics, everything is fair game.

Just as Republicans are motivated to unseat Perriello, Democrats want to hold onto the Fifth District seat, so no matter who the GOP picks next year, expect a lot of out-of-town money and national attention on this race.

We don’t know what kind of candidate the GOP is looking for, so there is no way to know what chance Hurt has to win the nomination. If we thought the Republicans wanted a candidate from the Dan River Region, Hurt would probably be a shoe-in. But all we know for sure is both sides want to win, no matter what.

Share This:
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/editorials/danville_editorials/article/what_would_hurt_bring_to_the_race/14711/

Pro-environment (no uranium mining in Virginia)

Comment: Thanks, SS! Demand our Virginia leaders to ban uranium mining and milling now!

Letters to the Editor
October 8, 2009

Many polls have shown broad support for environmental issues across the political spectrum in Virginia. Voters want their elected officials to preserve our public lands and rural places and to protect us from dangerous corporate schemes, like uranium mining, that could poison our natural resources. Why then is it so hard to convince our local Republican representatives to the General Assembly to vote for the environment?

The Virginia League of Conservation Voters (VALCV) issues a scorecard each year that shows the performance of our representatives on conservation issues. According to the scorecard, our Republican delegates only voted with conservation interests 25 percent of the time. For the coming election, VALCV has endorsed local candidates Gary West and Robin Abbott because they will protect the environment over the powerful interests of developers and energy producers.

Shelly Simonds
Newport News

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-op_thultrselec_10083oct08,0,1143136.story

Where do you stand on uranium mining in Virginia ?

Comment: People ranning for Lt. Gov and Att. General in Virginia, we do not want uranium mining or milling in Virginia! It has never been done safely anywhere in the world! Ban Uranium mining and milling now!

posted 09/29/09 4:34 pm

Jody Wagner (D) Lieutenant Governor Candidate:

“I am not in favor of uranium mining until we see a fully independent study that shows that it can be done safely without hurting the environment or the health of Virginians. While I don't want to take away any economic opportunity, we need to make sure that we do so safely. In addition, it's important that we work very hard on renewable energy, because that is ultimately what will benefit Virginia and grow jobs."

Bill Bolling, incumbent, (R) Lieutenant Governor Candidate:

“I think it's too early to tell whether that's a good idea or a bad idea. We are currently in the process of doing a comprehensive study to evaluate the benefits and risks of uranium mining, and I think we need to wait until that study is completed and we have a chance to review its results to determine whether or not we should permit uranium mining in Virginia."

Ken Cuccinelli (R) Attorney General Candidate:

"We've got a huge stash of uranium in southern Virginia, and right now we've been debating whether or not to even study whether it can be mined safely. I absolutely support taking a look at whether we can mine that uranium safely and if we can we should proceed to go ahead and do it. I think we also need to consider other factors like the impact on the local community."

Stephen Shannon (D) Attorney General Candidate:

"My goal as the Attorney General is going to be to keep all Virginians safe. And as the top law enforcement officer in the state, that includes making sure that drinking water is safe for all of our citizens. I would not be supportive of any sort of mining for uranium without assurances that we can do so while making drinking water safe. Right now, that hasn't been done. "

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1009/666347.html
http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1009/664617.html

NIGER: Foreign Investments in Uranium Polluting Politics

Comment: The nuke bunch is always using France as the Nuke Poster Model! The Nuke bunch needs to stop using France as an example of Nukes. France is buying electric power from Europe because the water in the river is too warm to cool the nuke plants. The article below is another poor example of France in the nuke cycle and uranium mining!


By Julio Godoy

PARIS, Aug 14 (IPS) - The reform of Niger's constitution to allow president Mamadou Tandja to remain in power beyond his original mandate and even become president for life, was motivated by the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into the West African country as a consequence of opaque foreign, especially French, investments in the local uranium mines.

This is the opinion of environmental activists and pundits who consider the referendum a serious violation of elementary democratic rules.

Tandja, who has ruled Niger since 1999 and whose second mandate as president was scheduled to expire next December, defended the constitutional reform and the continuance of his term as an alleged "people's call" for his personal supervision of "all the important work that I started." This "work" is the foreign investment in uranium and other minerals.

According to official figures, more than 92 percent of Niger’s population voted in the referendum on Aug 4 to extend Tandja's mandate for another three years and also approved the constitutional amendment which will allow him to extend his mandate for life.

But, critics say, the real reason for these steps is corruption. The financial windfall that Niamey receives from foreign investments in the uranium, gold and oil fields, is enormous and tempting, according to several sources.

The French environmental group Sortire du nucléaire ("Phase out nuclear power") called the referendum "a coup d'état" and accused the French government of complicity with Tandja as Paris’s "silence condones the violation of human rights and corrupt practices" in Niger.

France, which has been exploiting uranium mines in Niger for 45 years, is the main foreign investor in Niger. Eight months ago, in Jan 2009, the French state-owned company Areva obtained a new concession to exploit the giant uranium mine of Imourarene, some 900 km north-east from the country's capital Niamey,

The mine is supposed to enter into operation in 2012 and shall produce 5,000 tonnes of uranium per year. The Areva investment in Imourarene is supposed to amount to 1.2 billion euros. Areva, which also builds and operates nuclear power plants, is considered the world's leading corporation in the nuclear power sector.

France, which does not possess uranium ore, completely relies on imports of the mineral to fuel its 58 nuclear power plants. The plants generate 80 percent of the country's electricity supply.

Other foreign countries investing heavily in Niger are the People's Republic of China, Australia and Canada. Niger, one of the poorest countries of the world, is the third largest uranium producer and is also rich in gold and oil. As of 2007, uranium exports accounts for 62 percent of exports by value and contributed 4.3 percent of government revenue.

Stephane Lhomme, spokesperson of the "Sortire du nucléaire", told IPS that the Nigerien government does not meet the "most elementary norms of transparency in the concession of exploitation rights for the uranium mines. France, through Areva, benefits from this lack of transparency," he said.

Thomas Hofnung, foreign affairs expert at the French daily newspaper Libération, also considered the referendum and the constitutional amendment in Niger a violation of elementary democratic rules. "Tandja wants to become president for life, whatever it takes," he wrote in an editorial commentary for the newspaper.

"Tandja dissolved the parliament and the constitutional court because both bodies opposed the constitutional reform and the extension of his mandate," he added.

The French daily newspaper Le Monde called the referendum "a sad moment for democracy in Africa" and recalled that, according to the constitutional amendment, Tandja can now be regarded as a lifelong ruler of Niger.

The Nigerien opposition has also denounced the constitutional reform. "The referendum constitutes a violation of the constitution and it did not have any legitimacy," the Coordination of Forces for Democracy and the Republic, a federation of opposition groups, said in a communiqué.

The murkiness surrounding uranium and other mineral concessions in Niger has often been denounced by international observers and activists. In a meeting in Niamey last July, international transparency campaigners complained that the Nigerien government failed to provide appropriate information about its recent mining contracts.

In a statement the campaigners, who had met under the umbrella of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), condemned the "opaqueness" surrounding Nigerien mining contracts, and demanded their "full publication in the official gazette and the elimination of confidentiality clauses."

EITI is a voluntary multilateral association created in 2002 to monitor "the proper and prudent management of natural resource wealth (to make it) an important engine for sustainable economic growth that contributes to sustainable development and poverty reduction."

Niger is since March 2005 a candidate country to the EITI.

As such, the government in Niamey has officially endorsed all EITI principles, including those "of transparency by governments and companies in the extractive industries and the need to enhance public financial management and accountability" and "of accountability by government to all citizens for the stewardship of revenue streams and public expenditure."

In its declaration, the EITI forum of last July urged the Niger government to introduce a law ensuring public access to mining industry documents. Nigerien environmental and civil society groups have also denounced the "vagueness" of the local authorities over numerous uranium and oil prospecting licences granted to foreign firms, including Areva.

"Despite Niger's membership of EITI, the authorities do not respect the principle of transparency in the extractive industry," EITI spokesperson Ali Idrissa said in an interview. Idrissa recalled that the Nigerien parliament last May had rejected the creation of a commission of inquiry into the mining contracts.

This lack of transparency is seen as suspicious. One European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told IPS that Tandja's son, Ousmane, is the country's commercial consul in Shanghai, China, and "is closely linked to Chinese investors in Niger.

"In Niamey, numerous foreign private companies, officially led by foreigners, mostly French or Chinese businesspeople, are directly linked to Tandja's sons or other relatives," the diplomat said. (END/2009)


http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48083