Comment: So sad to expose our military families to such environmental problems and the government could just fix it! Corruption at it worse! Take care of military!
By KEVIN MAURER,
Associated Press Writer Kevin Maurer, Associated Press Writer –
Wed Feb 17, 3:39 pm ET
WILMINGTON, N.C. – An environmental contractor dramatically underreported the level of a cancer-causing chemical found in tap water at Camp Lejeune, then omitted it altogether as the Marine base prepared for a federal health review, an Associated Press review has found.
The Marine Corps had been warned nearly a decade earlier about the dangerously high levels of benzene, which was traced to massive leaks from fuel tanks at the base on the North Carolina coast, according to recently disclosed studies.
For years, Marines who served at Camp Lejeune have blamed their families' cancers and other ailments on tap water tainted by dry cleaning solvents, and many accuse the military of covering it up. The benzene was discovered as part of a broader, ongoing probe into that contamination.
When water was sampled in July 1984, scientists found benzene in a well near the base's Hadnot Point Fuel Farm at levels of 380 parts per billion, according to a water tests done by a contractor. A year later, in a report summarizing the 1984 sampling, the same contractor pointed out the benzene concentration "far exceeds" the safety limit set by federal regulators at 5 parts per billion.
The Marines were still studying the water contamination in 1991 when another contractor again warned the Navy of the health hazards posed by such levels of benzene.
By 1992, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease, an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, showed up at the base to begin a health risk assessment. That's when a third contractor, the Michael Baker Corp., released a draft report on the feasibility of fixing the overall problem.
In it, the 1984 level on the well of 380 parts per billion had changed to 38 parts per billion. The company's final report on the well, issued in 1994, made no mention of the benzene.
Not only hasn't the benzene disappeared from the now-closed wells, it's gotten much worse over time. One sample from a series of tests conducted from June 2007 to August 2009 registered 3,490 parts per billion, according to a report from a fourth contractor.
Kyla Bennett, who spent 10 years as an enforcement officer for the Environmental Protection Agency before becoming an ecologist and environmental attorney, reviewed the different reports and said it was difficult to conclude innocent mistakes were made in the Baker Corp. documents.
"It is weird that it went from 380 to 38 and then it disappeared entirely," she said. "It does support the contention that they did do it deliberately."
News of Baker Corp.'s handling of the benzene levels has ex-Lejeune residents questioning anew the honesty of a military they accuse of endangering their lives.
"It is a shame that an institution founded on honor and integrity would resort to open deceit in order to protect their reputation at the cost of the health, safety and welfare of its service men, women and their families," said Mike Partain, a 42-year-old who lives in Tallahassee, Fla., but was born at Lejeune and diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007.
Capt. Brian Block, a Marine Corps spokesman, took exception to characterizing the conflicting information in the reports as anything but inadvertent.
"It was probably just a mistake on the part of the contractor, but I can't tell you for certain why that happened," he said.
"The Marine Corps has never tried to hide any of this information," he said.
The discrepancies in the reports were tucked inside thousands of documents the Marines released last year to the Agency for Toxic Substances as part of the Marines' long-running review of water supplied to Camp Lejeune's main family housing areas.
That water was contaminated by fuel and cleaning solvents from the 1950s through the 1980s, and health officials believe as many as 1 million people may have been exposed to the toxins before the wells that supplied the tainted water were closed two decades ago.
Benzene, a carcinogen, is a natural part of crude oil and gasoline. Drinking water containing high levels of it can cause vomiting, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, and death and long-term exposure damages bone marrow, lowers red blood cells and can cause anemia and leukemia, according to the EPA.
The records indicate the military knew a lot of specifics.
For years the Marine Corps knew the fuel farm, built in 1941, was leaking 1,500 gallons a month and did nothing to stop it, according to a 1988 memo from a Camp Lejeune lawyer to the base's assistant facilities manager. "It's an indefensible waste of money and a continuing potential threat to human health and the environment," wrote Staff Judge Advocate A.P. Tokarz.
Minutes of a 1996 meeting with Moon Township, Pa.-based Baker Corp., the third contractor, indicate the fuel farm had lost 800,000 gallons of fuel, of which 500,000 gallons had been recovered. Benzene was "in the deeper portion of the aquifer" and the "fuel farm is definitely the source," the minutes quote a Michael Baker employee as saying.
The Coast Guard categorizes any coastal oil spill larger than 100,000 gallons as major.
Former Marines and Camp Lejeune residents continue to fight for a compensation program and to fund a mortality study that would determine if Marines and sailors who were exposed to these contaminants suffer from a higher death rate. The Senate passed legislation in September backed by Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., preventing the military from dismissing claims related to water contamination pending completion of the several studies, including the mortality study.
"These people knowingly exposed us to these high levels of contaminants and now they don't want to know if their negligence caused harm to the people they say they care so much about?" said Jerry Ensminger, a retired master sergeant who lived at the base and lost his 9-year-old daughter to leukemia. "There is definitely something wrong with this picture."
Read more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100217/ap_on_re_us/us_toxic_tap_water
Showing posts with label Water Problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water Problems. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Friday, November 20, 2009
Pa. Residents Sue Gas Driller for Contamination, Health Concerns
by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica -
November 20, 2009 10:00 am EST
Dimock resident Julie Sautner, seen here in her basement with her water filtration system, flushed her toilet one day to find a rush of earth-brown water.
Tests showed her drinking water was high in aluminum, iron and methane.
She is now part of a lawsuit against driller Cabot Oil and Gas. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)Pennsylvania residents whose streams and fields have been damaged by toxic spills and whose drinking water has allegedly been contaminated [1] by drilling for natural gas are suing the Houston-based energy company that drilled the wells. A worker at the company is among the 15 families bringing suit.
The civil case, filed Thursday in U.S District Court in Scranton, Pa., seeks to stop future drilling in the Marcellus Shale by Cabot Oil and Gas near the town of Dimock. It also seeks to set up a trust fund to cover medical treatment for residents who say they have been sickened by pollutants. Health problems listed in the complaint include neurological and gastrointestinal illnesses; the complaint also alleges that at least one person's blood tests show toxic levels of the same metals found in the contaminated water.
The suit alleges that Cabot allowed methane [2] and metals to seep into drinking water wells, failed to uphold terms of its contracts with landowners, and acted fraudulently when it said that the drilling process, including the chemicals used in the underground manipulation process called hydraulic fracturing [3], could not contaminate groundwater and posed no harm to the people who live there.
"We've been lied to, we've been pushed around, and enough is enough," said Julie Sautner, whose drinking water began showing high levels of methane, iron and aluminum in February and who is receiving fresh water deliveries from Cabot. "We need to push back."
Ely's relatives, who have lived in Dimock for generations, own several properties where Cabot has wells. In January a well at the home of Michael Ely, one of Nolan Ely's relatives who is also part of the lawsuit, caught fire after methane leaked underground into the water supply. At the top of the hill near Michael Ely's home is Cabot's Ely 6H well, which is among the most productive horizontal wells drilled in the Marcellus Shale. Cabot has touted Ely 6H as being one of the company's most profitable.
Click Title or Link to whole:
http://www.propublica.org/feature/pa-residents-sue-gas-driller-for-contamination-health-concerns-1120
November 20, 2009 10:00 am EST
Dimock resident Julie Sautner, seen here in her basement with her water filtration system, flushed her toilet one day to find a rush of earth-brown water.
Tests showed her drinking water was high in aluminum, iron and methane.
She is now part of a lawsuit against driller Cabot Oil and Gas. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)Pennsylvania residents whose streams and fields have been damaged by toxic spills and whose drinking water has allegedly been contaminated [1] by drilling for natural gas are suing the Houston-based energy company that drilled the wells. A worker at the company is among the 15 families bringing suit.
The civil case, filed Thursday in U.S District Court in Scranton, Pa., seeks to stop future drilling in the Marcellus Shale by Cabot Oil and Gas near the town of Dimock. It also seeks to set up a trust fund to cover medical treatment for residents who say they have been sickened by pollutants. Health problems listed in the complaint include neurological and gastrointestinal illnesses; the complaint also alleges that at least one person's blood tests show toxic levels of the same metals found in the contaminated water.
The suit alleges that Cabot allowed methane [2] and metals to seep into drinking water wells, failed to uphold terms of its contracts with landowners, and acted fraudulently when it said that the drilling process, including the chemicals used in the underground manipulation process called hydraulic fracturing [3], could not contaminate groundwater and posed no harm to the people who live there.
"We've been lied to, we've been pushed around, and enough is enough," said Julie Sautner, whose drinking water began showing high levels of methane, iron and aluminum in February and who is receiving fresh water deliveries from Cabot. "We need to push back."
Ely's relatives, who have lived in Dimock for generations, own several properties where Cabot has wells. In January a well at the home of Michael Ely, one of Nolan Ely's relatives who is also part of the lawsuit, caught fire after methane leaked underground into the water supply. At the top of the hill near Michael Ely's home is Cabot's Ely 6H well, which is among the most productive horizontal wells drilled in the Marcellus Shale. Cabot has touted Ely 6H as being one of the company's most profitable.
Click Title or Link to whole:
http://www.propublica.org/feature/pa-residents-sue-gas-driller-for-contamination-health-concerns-1120
Friday, October 2, 2009
Rampant greed is killing the planet
By Published by The Editorial Board
Published: October 2, 2009
To the editor:
Please read “How could mining study be unbiased?” (Sept. 30, page A8), if you haven’t already done so! The letter’s author is accurate about the bias of Virginia Tech.
“Where does your water come from?” That is what a University of Virginia physician asked us when my 3-month-old grandson went to the hospital there for rhabdomyosarcoma of the spine and pelvis last week.
Wake up, people. Is it worth the risk for a company to make money and poison your water? Save God’s green Earth. We are poisoning ourselves and our Earth with uranium mining.
I want my representatives to know I am opposed to uranium mining. Do people refuse to believe the health risks are real? Save the Earth; save your own lives. Explore wind and solar energy instead.
MARCELLA G. FERRELL
Danville
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/News/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/rampant_greed_is_killing_the_planet/14297/#comments
Published: October 2, 2009
To the editor:
Please read “How could mining study be unbiased?” (Sept. 30, page A8), if you haven’t already done so! The letter’s author is accurate about the bias of Virginia Tech.
“Where does your water come from?” That is what a University of Virginia physician asked us when my 3-month-old grandson went to the hospital there for rhabdomyosarcoma of the spine and pelvis last week.
Wake up, people. Is it worth the risk for a company to make money and poison your water? Save God’s green Earth. We are poisoning ourselves and our Earth with uranium mining.
I want my representatives to know I am opposed to uranium mining. Do people refuse to believe the health risks are real? Save the Earth; save your own lives. Explore wind and solar energy instead.
MARCELLA G. FERRELL
Danville
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/News/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/rampant_greed_is_killing_the_planet/14297/#comments
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
August 19, 2009--Nunn uranium mine could adversely impact groundwater, expert says (Colorado Independent)
Comment: No to uranium mining and milling all over the World! By David O. Williams 8/19/09 9:41 AM
Colorado has uranium on the brain these days.
An environmental engineer and lecturer brought in by conservationists told an audience in Fort Collins Tuesday they should be concerned about the deterioration of their water quality if a proposed uranium mine near Nunn goes forward, according to the Greeley Tribune.
“If I was living in this area, I would certainly have concerns about groundwater,” said Dr. Gavin Mudd, an assistant lecturer at Monash University in Clayton, Australia. “Knowing the extent of problems they’ve had at mines in Wyoming and Texas, for example, I would certainly be concerned about protecting my groundwater quality.”
An executive for Denver-based Powertech Uranium Corp. said he wouldn’t have a problem living next the mine, which would use in-situ leach mining.
“I would be very happy to live next to one of those things,” Powertech President and CEO Richard Clement told the paper. “Believe me, if I could move the project next to my house in New Mexico I would be more than happy to live there. I’ve been around these projects 30 some-odd years. There are no concerns.”
Mountain communities in Southwest Colorado, meanwhile, are heatedly debating the benefits and risks of a mill that would process uranium in Montrose County.
Uranium mining claims are on the rise around the state and nation as nuclear power continues to be touted as a renewable energy source that can dramatically reduce carbon emissions and global warming. But stopping mining claims near national parks and proposed wilderness areas, including the Grand Canyon, where President Barack Obama’s family vacationed over the weekend, has become a rallying cry for environmentalists.
Still, numerous politicians, including some former and current Democratic lawmakers from Colorado, are calling for more recognition of nuclear power and traditional energy sources such as natural gas in pending climate change legislation.
http://www.waterinfo.org/node/3587
Colorado has uranium on the brain these days.
An environmental engineer and lecturer brought in by conservationists told an audience in Fort Collins Tuesday they should be concerned about the deterioration of their water quality if a proposed uranium mine near Nunn goes forward, according to the Greeley Tribune.
“If I was living in this area, I would certainly have concerns about groundwater,” said Dr. Gavin Mudd, an assistant lecturer at Monash University in Clayton, Australia. “Knowing the extent of problems they’ve had at mines in Wyoming and Texas, for example, I would certainly be concerned about protecting my groundwater quality.”
An executive for Denver-based Powertech Uranium Corp. said he wouldn’t have a problem living next the mine, which would use in-situ leach mining.
“I would be very happy to live next to one of those things,” Powertech President and CEO Richard Clement told the paper. “Believe me, if I could move the project next to my house in New Mexico I would be more than happy to live there. I’ve been around these projects 30 some-odd years. There are no concerns.”
Mountain communities in Southwest Colorado, meanwhile, are heatedly debating the benefits and risks of a mill that would process uranium in Montrose County.
Uranium mining claims are on the rise around the state and nation as nuclear power continues to be touted as a renewable energy source that can dramatically reduce carbon emissions and global warming. But stopping mining claims near national parks and proposed wilderness areas, including the Grand Canyon, where President Barack Obama’s family vacationed over the weekend, has become a rallying cry for environmentalists.
Still, numerous politicians, including some former and current Democratic lawmakers from Colorado, are calling for more recognition of nuclear power and traditional energy sources such as natural gas in pending climate change legislation.
http://www.waterinfo.org/node/3587
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Australia’s threatened water resources, and the uranium mining risk
Flooding at Coles Hill!Comment: Uranium mining will and has ruined our water and water all over the world. Modern uranium mining is not any different from the polluting ones over 30 years ago!
What impact is uranium mining having on our water?
The Advertiser, by Jim Green, 25 july 09
ENVIRONMENT Minister Peter Garrett buttressed his decision last week to approve in situ leach (ISL) uranium mining at Beverley Four Mile with the claim that he is “certain this operation poses no credible risk to the environment”.
Thus Mr Garrett adds another chapter to the history of spin surrounding ISL mining.
Environmental debates typically revolve around differing assessments of the possibility of environmental contamination.
But with ISL mining, environmental pollution – specifically contamination of groundwater with radionuclides, heavy metals and acid – is a certainty.
ISL mining involves pumping an acidic solution into an aquifer, dissolving the uranium ore and other heavy metals and pumping the solution back to the surface.
After the uranium has been separated, liquid radioactive waste is simply dumped in the aquifer.
Isolation and containment of the pollutants would not be difficult or expensive, but the mining companies will take the cheaper option of polluting groundwater for as long as the politicians let them……………………
A 2003 Senate References and Legislation Committee report recommended banning the discharge of radioactive liquid mine waste to groundwater. ISL uranium mining is used at the Beverley uranium mine and it is the mining method proposed for Beverley Four Mile, Oban and Honeymoon.
The future of this mining technique is plain to see: short-lived mines leaving SA with a legacy of polluted aquifers.
Spills and leaks are common at ISL mines. The SA Department of Primary Industry and Resources lists 59 spills at Beverley from 1998 to 2007.
Serious questions must be raised as to BHP Billiton’s capacity to safely manage radioactive tailings at Olympic Dam if, as planned, tailings production increases sevenfold to 68 million tonnes annually and water consumption increases to more than 250 million litres daily.
BHP Billiton pays nothing for its massive water take for the Olympic Dam mine, despite recording a $17.7 billion profit in 2007-8. That arrangement is enshrined in the Roxby Downs Indenture Act 1982………
……… The Indenture Act provides a raft of exemptions and overrides from the SA Natural Resources Act 2004, the Environment Protection Act 1993, the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 and even the Freedom of Information Act 1991.
BHP Billiton and the Rann Government are currently engaged in secret discussions over the future of the Indenture Act.
http://antinuclear.net/2009/07/25/australias-threatened-water-resources-and-the-uranium-mining-risk/
What impact is uranium mining having on our water?
The Advertiser, by Jim Green, 25 july 09
ENVIRONMENT Minister Peter Garrett buttressed his decision last week to approve in situ leach (ISL) uranium mining at Beverley Four Mile with the claim that he is “certain this operation poses no credible risk to the environment”.
Thus Mr Garrett adds another chapter to the history of spin surrounding ISL mining.
Environmental debates typically revolve around differing assessments of the possibility of environmental contamination.
But with ISL mining, environmental pollution – specifically contamination of groundwater with radionuclides, heavy metals and acid – is a certainty.
ISL mining involves pumping an acidic solution into an aquifer, dissolving the uranium ore and other heavy metals and pumping the solution back to the surface.
After the uranium has been separated, liquid radioactive waste is simply dumped in the aquifer.
Isolation and containment of the pollutants would not be difficult or expensive, but the mining companies will take the cheaper option of polluting groundwater for as long as the politicians let them……………………
A 2003 Senate References and Legislation Committee report recommended banning the discharge of radioactive liquid mine waste to groundwater. ISL uranium mining is used at the Beverley uranium mine and it is the mining method proposed for Beverley Four Mile, Oban and Honeymoon.
The future of this mining technique is plain to see: short-lived mines leaving SA with a legacy of polluted aquifers.
Spills and leaks are common at ISL mines. The SA Department of Primary Industry and Resources lists 59 spills at Beverley from 1998 to 2007.
Serious questions must be raised as to BHP Billiton’s capacity to safely manage radioactive tailings at Olympic Dam if, as planned, tailings production increases sevenfold to 68 million tonnes annually and water consumption increases to more than 250 million litres daily.
BHP Billiton pays nothing for its massive water take for the Olympic Dam mine, despite recording a $17.7 billion profit in 2007-8. That arrangement is enshrined in the Roxby Downs Indenture Act 1982………
……… The Indenture Act provides a raft of exemptions and overrides from the SA Natural Resources Act 2004, the Environment Protection Act 1993, the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 and even the Freedom of Information Act 1991.
BHP Billiton and the Rann Government are currently engaged in secret discussions over the future of the Indenture Act.
http://antinuclear.net/2009/07/25/australias-threatened-water-resources-and-the-uranium-mining-risk/
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Visitors didn't get entire uranium story
Comment: A great letter and I do not think any money in the world that I could destroy my home, my neighbors home for the greed of uranium money!Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:21 AM EDT
This is in response to Glenn Giles' recent letter, "Area residents visit uranium site." I, along with others, did as Mr. Giles did and contacted Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI) for their "briefing" as they like to call it. I also have done little else but study this matter since it was brought to my attention some 18 months ago. I believe it is only sensible to listen to all sides (there are normally more than two sides to any issue) and draw your own intelligent conclusions.
What, exactly, did Mr. Giles expect to hear during his visit to VUI's offices and the Coles Hill site, except the absolute best-case scenario about uranium mining and milling when there is so much money for them to make at stake?
Did he expect to hear the truth about the illness, destruction and devastation that has been left in the wake of uranium mining and milling throughout the western United States?
Did he think any of VUI's "friendly and professional hosts" would even mention, let alone discuss, the thousands of abandoned uranium mine sites in this country, the ones that have leached radioactive waste into the soil and water for years and wait for the federal government to come clean them up at taxpayer expense?
Did he expect anyone to mention that many of the towns associated with mining and milling in other parts of the U.S. have become ghost towns after the mines were exhausted and mills done with processing because of the widespread radioactive contamination can't be remediated? Of course not!
VUI is going to give its visitors the nicest, most pleasant and reassuring fairy tale of uranium mining and milling its public relations firms can dream up. It has to. If it spoke the truth on any aspect of uranium mining and/or milling as it's been done in this country or around the world, for that matter, its visitors would flee so quickly the lovely hosts would see only a blur of flailing limbs. That's certainly not the reaction VUI needs for its visitors to experience. VUI needs its visitors to leave believing that the planned uranium mine and mill will be the biggest, safest boon to Southside in decades, not that it will be the biggest gamble in the history of Southside, which will use the Giles family's lives and yours and mine as the ante. And VUI surely doesn't want the Giles family or yours or mine to know that so far, everywhere in the world where this gamble has been taken, the winners were only a handful of stakeholders and investors. The rest of the folks, those whose lives were the ante, lost big. Very big.
No one who has spent any time at all researching the realities of uranium mining and milling could sit still and listen to what sounds like the biggest bunch of self-serving malarkey being served up anywhere in Southside these days. But VUI depends on its visitors to be ignorant of the truth about what it plans to do, not just to Coles Hill, but also to Southside. It needs local citizens to be brainwashed by its PR magic and old southern hospitality so that they won't want to believe the truth, if they even try to seek the truth. Sometimes fantasy presentations, also known as propaganda, are so cleverly crafted that the truth appears too ugly to be believed, especially when those who speak the truth can offer no wonderful promises except for a healthy environment for us and our children with clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.
I encourage Mr. Giles and those who accompanied him to the VUI "briefing" and visit to the Coles Hill site to realize that what they heard and saw while being entertained by VUI was just that, entertainment. And I encourage them to spend as much time as they did with VUI in pursuit of the other side of the story, the side that tells the harsh, unvarnished truth about the widespread illness, destruction and contamination of all living things that will ensue should VUI proceed with its plan to mine Coles Hill. Perhaps, after hearing and/or reading the rest of the story, Mr. Giles will understand that the long and interesting history of Pittsylvania County, of which he has been a dedicated steward, will, for all intents and purposes, end when the first rock is blasted loose in Coles Hill as those living in the shadow and contamination pathways of Coles Hill will be required to leave in order to preserve their health and lives.
Mr. Giles and his family and guests deserved the truth about uranium mining and milling. They didn't get it, but they got a pleasant outing. I hope, that for their own sakes and for the sakes of their grandchildren and their grandchildren, he and his guests will realize that what they heard from VUI is only one tiny theoretical piece of the story and a piece that, as of right now, has not yet been a part of the reality of any town in America in which uranium has been mined or milled. And I hope they'll wonder why and make every effort to find out.
VUI did not show me any sort of plan to mine or mill uranium, even though they want to do what is an illegal activity now in the state of Virginia. Every business owner knows that you must have a plan to implement it to its best and most profitable use. Any question that I asked was answered by, "That is why we need a study." I believe the company must have a plan, otherwise, how on earth do they know even a simple thing as how many people they have reported numerous times hiring? Did they pull those figures out of their magical hat or make them up? Why won't VUI disclose its plans? Why are they keeping everyone in the dark? Maybe they know that we would not believe the magic if they did not skirt the issue and were forthcoming in all aspects.
I keep remembering the last week of school when we were under a tornado watch and the county schools wisely kept our children at school where they would be safe, and my child did not get home until almost 5 p.m. That night at my home, we received over seven inches of rain, which overflowed everything including my swimming pool and goldfish pond. How could that be contained in a holding pond? Would we have the same disaster as they did in Tennessee with the coal sludge pond dam breaking? I am only talking about one incident. What about 30 years worth of uncontrollable situations? How many times have we been under a flood watch just this year?
Deborah Lovelace
Gretna
http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/07/01/altavista/opinion/opinion01.txt
This is in response to Glenn Giles' recent letter, "Area residents visit uranium site." I, along with others, did as Mr. Giles did and contacted Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI) for their "briefing" as they like to call it. I also have done little else but study this matter since it was brought to my attention some 18 months ago. I believe it is only sensible to listen to all sides (there are normally more than two sides to any issue) and draw your own intelligent conclusions.
What, exactly, did Mr. Giles expect to hear during his visit to VUI's offices and the Coles Hill site, except the absolute best-case scenario about uranium mining and milling when there is so much money for them to make at stake?
Did he expect to hear the truth about the illness, destruction and devastation that has been left in the wake of uranium mining and milling throughout the western United States?
Did he think any of VUI's "friendly and professional hosts" would even mention, let alone discuss, the thousands of abandoned uranium mine sites in this country, the ones that have leached radioactive waste into the soil and water for years and wait for the federal government to come clean them up at taxpayer expense?
Did he expect anyone to mention that many of the towns associated with mining and milling in other parts of the U.S. have become ghost towns after the mines were exhausted and mills done with processing because of the widespread radioactive contamination can't be remediated? Of course not!
VUI is going to give its visitors the nicest, most pleasant and reassuring fairy tale of uranium mining and milling its public relations firms can dream up. It has to. If it spoke the truth on any aspect of uranium mining and/or milling as it's been done in this country or around the world, for that matter, its visitors would flee so quickly the lovely hosts would see only a blur of flailing limbs. That's certainly not the reaction VUI needs for its visitors to experience. VUI needs its visitors to leave believing that the planned uranium mine and mill will be the biggest, safest boon to Southside in decades, not that it will be the biggest gamble in the history of Southside, which will use the Giles family's lives and yours and mine as the ante. And VUI surely doesn't want the Giles family or yours or mine to know that so far, everywhere in the world where this gamble has been taken, the winners were only a handful of stakeholders and investors. The rest of the folks, those whose lives were the ante, lost big. Very big.
No one who has spent any time at all researching the realities of uranium mining and milling could sit still and listen to what sounds like the biggest bunch of self-serving malarkey being served up anywhere in Southside these days. But VUI depends on its visitors to be ignorant of the truth about what it plans to do, not just to Coles Hill, but also to Southside. It needs local citizens to be brainwashed by its PR magic and old southern hospitality so that they won't want to believe the truth, if they even try to seek the truth. Sometimes fantasy presentations, also known as propaganda, are so cleverly crafted that the truth appears too ugly to be believed, especially when those who speak the truth can offer no wonderful promises except for a healthy environment for us and our children with clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.
I encourage Mr. Giles and those who accompanied him to the VUI "briefing" and visit to the Coles Hill site to realize that what they heard and saw while being entertained by VUI was just that, entertainment. And I encourage them to spend as much time as they did with VUI in pursuit of the other side of the story, the side that tells the harsh, unvarnished truth about the widespread illness, destruction and contamination of all living things that will ensue should VUI proceed with its plan to mine Coles Hill. Perhaps, after hearing and/or reading the rest of the story, Mr. Giles will understand that the long and interesting history of Pittsylvania County, of which he has been a dedicated steward, will, for all intents and purposes, end when the first rock is blasted loose in Coles Hill as those living in the shadow and contamination pathways of Coles Hill will be required to leave in order to preserve their health and lives.
Mr. Giles and his family and guests deserved the truth about uranium mining and milling. They didn't get it, but they got a pleasant outing. I hope, that for their own sakes and for the sakes of their grandchildren and their grandchildren, he and his guests will realize that what they heard from VUI is only one tiny theoretical piece of the story and a piece that, as of right now, has not yet been a part of the reality of any town in America in which uranium has been mined or milled. And I hope they'll wonder why and make every effort to find out.
VUI did not show me any sort of plan to mine or mill uranium, even though they want to do what is an illegal activity now in the state of Virginia. Every business owner knows that you must have a plan to implement it to its best and most profitable use. Any question that I asked was answered by, "That is why we need a study." I believe the company must have a plan, otherwise, how on earth do they know even a simple thing as how many people they have reported numerous times hiring? Did they pull those figures out of their magical hat or make them up? Why won't VUI disclose its plans? Why are they keeping everyone in the dark? Maybe they know that we would not believe the magic if they did not skirt the issue and were forthcoming in all aspects.
I keep remembering the last week of school when we were under a tornado watch and the county schools wisely kept our children at school where they would be safe, and my child did not get home until almost 5 p.m. That night at my home, we received over seven inches of rain, which overflowed everything including my swimming pool and goldfish pond. How could that be contained in a holding pond? Would we have the same disaster as they did in Tennessee with the coal sludge pond dam breaking? I am only talking about one incident. What about 30 years worth of uncontrollable situations? How many times have we been under a flood watch just this year?
Deborah Lovelace
Gretna
http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/07/01/altavista/opinion/opinion01.txt
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Tide of toxic water poses health risk
The water is half a metre from the surface and about to decant into the Vaal River systemBobby Jordan Published:Jun 27, 2009
Acid dissolves minerals in old mines
A river of acid water — enough to fill 600 swimming pools a day — has flooded old gold mines west of Johannesburg and is just days away from spilling over, causing an environmental disaster.
Natural ground water becomes highly acidic after flowing into old underground mines, where it dissolves heavy metals such as iron and uranium. In this form, it poses a health risk to humans and animals and damages the environment and agricultural land.
Long-term exposure to the poisoned water poses major health risks, including increased rates of cancer, skin lesions and retarded brain development.
An overflow of toxic mine water in the past led to radioactive contamination of Robinson Lake — a fishing and picnic area that has now become lifeless — outside Randfontein on the West Rand.
Acidic water is also dissolving huge areas of underground rock, threatening the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site.
The rapid rise in the water level follows the partial closure of a water treatment plant outside Randfontein because of wrangling between the government and mining companies over the cost of cleaning up the toxic mess caused by mining, and the quality of water left behind.
Despite warnings from scientists, the toxic tide — called acid mine drainage — has filled an underground void called the western basin, which comprises hundreds of square kilometers between Krugersdorp and Randfontein, once the world’s richest gold mining area. The water is now half a metre from the surface and about to start decanting into the Vaal River system.
Acid water is also fast filling up two other underground caverns — a central basin beneath Johannesburg and Soweto stretching as far as Alberton, and an eastern basin beneath the East Rand as far as Nigel and Springs.
If left unchecked, this water could also decant and contaminate water that ultimately flows into the Orange River.
The looming crisis in the western basin has prompted a flurry of negotiations between the government and mining companies, which have set up a technical task team in the hope of avoiding a potential environmental disaster.
In the past, pumps kept gold mines outside Johannesburg largely free of water because most water was pumped to the surface, partially treated and released into rivers. Now many of the gold mines have closed or can no longer afford to keep pumping, and vast underground areas are filling up.
“It (the western basin) is the first gold basin that has filled and decanted — to overflow uncontrollably. That’s why it’s an issue,” said Rand Uranium senior consultant for sustainable development Rex Zorab. “It’s not like the central basin where there’s a huge void still to be filled,” he said.
At the heart of the problem are new water management regulations released this year, which direct mining companies to clean all pumped water to drinking-quality standard. Until now, they only partially treated pumped water before releasing it into the Vaal River system.
Mining firms said it would take at least two years to build a new water treatment plant to meet the government’s demands, at a cost of about R550-million. The government says the companies are nevertheless liable for environmental damage caused by discharging partially treated water — so the companies have reduced the amount of water they pump out.
The impasse involves three mining companies: Mintails, DRD Gold and Rand Uranium. Until recently, they treated 25 megalitres of acid mine drainage daily at two plants.
But a stalemate in negotiations over water quality prompted Mintails to partially close their treatment plant in April, causing water in the basin to fill up. It is now just days until acid water starts pouring out of an old mine shaft close to Randfontein — and spilling into the Tweelopie Spruit, which feeds into the Mooi River that supplies untreated water to Potchefstroom. The spruit also feeds into the Crocodile River.
Department of Water and Environmental Affairs spokesman Linda Page said: “They (the three companies ) have been given 90 days to stop discharging into the Tweelopie Spruit. Failure to do so will result in further action from the department.”
Mintails spokesman Basie Maree said: “We are committed to turn the water plant to full production once we have a clear directive on water quality standards and liability impacts.” jordanb@sundaytimes.co.za
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=1024839
Sunday, June 21, 2009
NATIONAL POST ATTACKS ALBERTA CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS FOR MENTIONING ‘ETHICS’ + ‘NUCLEAR ENERGY’ IN ONE SENTENCE
The Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Alberta is not exactly a coven of unkempt Greenpeace treesitters, but one would never know it by reading the lead unsigned editorial in that Death Culture newspaper yesterday, June 19, 2009 on page A12.
There the bishops are attacked at some length by the CanWest Global mothership newspaper’s anonymous editorialist for having the audacity to suggest that atomic power raises ’serious ethical questions.’
Seems this is a touchy subject these days for Death Culture pushers who have been trying mightily to convince the Canadian hoi poloi that nuclear power is somehow cleaner than all other energy sources, supposedly in order to address their concerns about ‘global warming’ or ‘climage change’.
The brave National Post editorialist is very concerned to castigate the Churchmen as (once again) mired in superstition, and therefor unqualified to say anything of substance at all on these public interest matters: ‘The idea that there are unique ethical concerns about nuclear energy is nothing more than a superstition, unworthy of an organization that possesses the Catholic faith’s commitment to intellectual rigour.’
NP’s editorialist asks the Alberta bishops whether their qualifications ‘entitle’ them to offer ’special insight into these matters’?
The National Post has disgraced itself with this pathetic pandering to anti-Catholic bigotry in order to cast aspersions on the motifs of these usually quiet bishops finally doing the job they have been trained to do.
By the way, they are still Canadian citizens with all the Charter-protected rights to free speech and expression as any other Canadian citizen, are they not?
Since when does the National Post appoint its editorialist to sit in judgement of who is supposedly ‘entitled’ to make public comments on nuclear power in Canada?
One wonders what type of infernal training the Aspers would put such a person through to get the miserable job?
- Gregory Paul Michael Hartnell, President
Concerned Citizens’ Coalition
Victoria
CCC
http://gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/national-post-attacks-alberta-conference-of-catholic-bishops-for-mentioning-ethics-nuclear-energy-in-one-sentence/
There the bishops are attacked at some length by the CanWest Global mothership newspaper’s anonymous editorialist for having the audacity to suggest that atomic power raises ’serious ethical questions.’
Seems this is a touchy subject these days for Death Culture pushers who have been trying mightily to convince the Canadian hoi poloi that nuclear power is somehow cleaner than all other energy sources, supposedly in order to address their concerns about ‘global warming’ or ‘climage change’.
The brave National Post editorialist is very concerned to castigate the Churchmen as (once again) mired in superstition, and therefor unqualified to say anything of substance at all on these public interest matters: ‘The idea that there are unique ethical concerns about nuclear energy is nothing more than a superstition, unworthy of an organization that possesses the Catholic faith’s commitment to intellectual rigour.’
NP’s editorialist asks the Alberta bishops whether their qualifications ‘entitle’ them to offer ’special insight into these matters’?
The National Post has disgraced itself with this pathetic pandering to anti-Catholic bigotry in order to cast aspersions on the motifs of these usually quiet bishops finally doing the job they have been trained to do.
By the way, they are still Canadian citizens with all the Charter-protected rights to free speech and expression as any other Canadian citizen, are they not?
Since when does the National Post appoint its editorialist to sit in judgement of who is supposedly ‘entitled’ to make public comments on nuclear power in Canada?
One wonders what type of infernal training the Aspers would put such a person through to get the miserable job?
- Gregory Paul Michael Hartnell, President
Concerned Citizens’ Coalition
Victoria
CCC
http://gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/national-post-attacks-alberta-conference-of-catholic-bishops-for-mentioning-ethics-nuclear-energy-in-one-sentence/
Saturday, June 13, 2009
SD uranium mine request deficient
June 12, 2009
SD uranium mine request deficient
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told the Canadian developer of a planned uranium mine in southwest South Dakota that it must fix several deficiencies in its application or the proposal will be rejected.
Powertech Uranium Corp. is operating under a state permit to drill exploratory holes and hopes to start mining in 2011 near Edgemont if it can get all the required federal and state permits.
NRC spokesman David McIntyre said the agency met with the company on Thursday. He said Powertech indicated that within a week, it will indicate if it plans to withdraw the application, fix the problems and resubmit it or wait for the NRC to reject the current request.
It’s not a fatal blow, but it could delay the project that seeks to take advantage of higher uranium prices, he said.
“This is by no means the NRC saying, ’You can never recover uranium at this site.’ This is us saying, ’You haven’t given us enough information,”’ McIntyre said.
Powertech officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Powertech has a corporate office in Vancouver, British Columbia, and operations Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, as well as the Dewey Burdock project in South Dakota.
The company wants to inject chemically treated water into holes to dissolve the uranium, then pump out the solution and collect the uranium for processing.
Company representatives said the so-called in situ leach-mining process is safe and does not cause contamination.
But some environmental and American Indian groups oppose the project for fear it would harm underground aquifers and disturb archaeological sites. The land is about 60 miles from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and lies on the southern edge of the Black Hills, which Indians consider sacred.
McIntyre said two of the four primary deficiencies deal with water. Powertech must show more clearly that the rock formations in the area would protect groundwater from chemical contamination through the drilling process or seismic faults, he said.
“Anything that could affect the flow of the water or how the drilling could affect the flow of the water,” McIntyre said. “The application doesn’t address it fully.”
The company also must give more specifics on how it would dispose of waste at the mining site and how the mine would operate, he said.
SD uranium mine request deficient
Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has told the Canadian developer of a planned uranium mine in southwest South Dakota that it must fix several deficiencies in its application or the proposal will be rejected.
Powertech Uranium Corp. is operating under a state permit to drill exploratory holes and hopes to start mining in 2011 near Edgemont if it can get all the required federal and state permits.
NRC spokesman David McIntyre said the agency met with the company on Thursday. He said Powertech indicated that within a week, it will indicate if it plans to withdraw the application, fix the problems and resubmit it or wait for the NRC to reject the current request.
It’s not a fatal blow, but it could delay the project that seeks to take advantage of higher uranium prices, he said.
“This is by no means the NRC saying, ’You can never recover uranium at this site.’ This is us saying, ’You haven’t given us enough information,”’ McIntyre said.
Powertech officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Powertech has a corporate office in Vancouver, British Columbia, and operations Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, as well as the Dewey Burdock project in South Dakota.
The company wants to inject chemically treated water into holes to dissolve the uranium, then pump out the solution and collect the uranium for processing.
Company representatives said the so-called in situ leach-mining process is safe and does not cause contamination.
But some environmental and American Indian groups oppose the project for fear it would harm underground aquifers and disturb archaeological sites. The land is about 60 miles from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and lies on the southern edge of the Black Hills, which Indians consider sacred.
McIntyre said two of the four primary deficiencies deal with water. Powertech must show more clearly that the rock formations in the area would protect groundwater from chemical contamination through the drilling process or seismic faults, he said.
“Anything that could affect the flow of the water or how the drilling could affect the flow of the water,” McIntyre said. “The application doesn’t address it fully.”
The company also must give more specifics on how it would dispose of waste at the mining site and how the mine would operate, he said.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Uranium gouging in Goliad
Comment: Pittsylvania County, VA are having well problems after uranium drill core samples were taken at Coles Hills!
Greg Harman
gharman@sacurrent.com
What can we say but sorry? We haven’t been back to this Texana-licious little burgh since the early days of their battle against the forces of reviving ‘death ore’ mining.
Despite our 33-percent newsroom enhancement (when you line up our news staff, you have to pull the trigger thrice), we’ve been loaded down with Alamocentric procedural gore and glories.
It seems like forever ago that the Goliad Greyhound was motoring up to Austin in pursuit of justice.
Sierra Clubbers wrote us then:
Over 50 local officials and citizens from Goliad County traveled via bus and trucks today to Austin and were pleased when the three Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality allowed a contested case hearing concerning an application by Uranium Energy Corporation to mine uranium in the aquifer just north of the historic mission town of Goliad.
No uranium mining has occurred before in the agricultural garden spot.
“I am so happy. I just thank god for this decision. Thank god for all the people in Goliad County. This has been such a long, long haul and it’s not over yet,” said local landowner Lu Ann Duderstadt who lives near the area targeted for uranium mining.
Craig and LuAnn Duderstadt, were considered by the TCEQ to be affected parties along with several individuals, Goliad County, the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District, a Lutheran church and a volunteer fire department. The Duderstadts who raise and sell feed hay were forced to purchase water for domestic use in their home after UEC exploration activities allegedly fouled the aquifer near their ranch.
[Yup. That's Lu Ann Duderstadt up above, way back in 2007.]
While the well-intentioned scribe has apparently gotten out of the habit of capitalizing the name of Our Lord (as folks in the rest of Texas are wont to do — double Ahem, amen), they got that “garden spot” reference dead on the Jackson.
Though it has been flanked by numerous uranium mining activities going back to the Atom Bomb days and is squawking distance from a massive federal waste pit known to have fouled the waters outside Panna Maria to the tune of $350 million dollars (Feds don’t see no cause to clean it up, it’s so rural … and so rurally potentially expensive!), Goliad County is stinkin’ gorgeous. And damn tranquil.
Well, count uranium mining up among the things that get folks' blood moving about in these parts. Right up there with beef prices and downstream water rights.
On Thursday,TCEQ will hold a preliminary contested case hearing on the matter.
Check out some of our past ramblings on the topic for some background, then turn your eye to the TCEQ’s notice, included below.
AMENDED NOTICE OF HEARING
(To change hearing date and location.)
URANIUM ENERGY CORP
SOAH Docket No. 582-09-3064
TCEQ Docket No. 2008-1888-UIC
Proposed Permit No. UR03075
APPLICATION. Uranium Energy Corp (UEC), 100 East Kleberg, Suite 310, Kingsville, Texas, In Situ Uranium Mining, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for a permit to authorize an in situ uranium mining operation. The facility is located approximately 13 miles north of the city of Goliad, about 0.9 miles east of the intersection of State Highway 183 and Farm-to-Market Road 1961 in Goliad County Texas.
UEC has also submitted a request to the TCEQ to designate an exempted aquifer. An aquifer or portion of an aquifer may be designated as an exempted aquifer if it does not currently serve as a source of drinking water for human consumption and it will not in the future serve as a source of drinking water for human consumption because it is mineral, hydrocarbon or geothermal energy bearing with production capability. The aquifer exemption is required before UEC can operate the proposed injection wells. UEC requested that a portion of the Goliad Formation be designated as an exempt aquifer. The requested exemption would apply from a depth of 45 to 404 feet and would extend over the approximately 423.8 acre area covered in Goliad County under the proposed injection well area permit.
The TCEQ executive director has prepared a draft permit which, if approved, would establish the conditions under which the facility must operate. The Executive Director has made a preliminary decision that this permit, if issued, meets all statutory and regulatory requirements and that the application for aquifer exemption meets all regulatory requirements. If the aquifer exemption is approved by the TCEQ, the Executive Director will prepare an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise the state's Underground Injection Control program to reflect the exemption of the relevant portion of the aquifer, which will be in effect until the exemption status is removed. No designation of an exempted aquifer shall be final until approved by the EPA. The application, Executive Director's preliminary decision, and draft permit are available for viewing and copying at County Courthouse, 701 E. End Street, Goliad, Texas 77963.
CONTESTED CASE HEARING. The State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) will conduct a formal contested case hearing at:
10:00 a.m. - May 14, 2009
Goliad Auditorium
925 South U.S. 183
Goliad, Texas 77963
The contested case hearing will be a legal proceeding similar to a civil trial in state district court. The hearing will address the disputed issues of fact identified in the TCEQ order concerning this application issued on March 3, 2009. In addition to these issues, the judge may consider additional issues if certain factors are met.
The hearing will be conducted in accordance with Chapter 2001, Texas Government Code; Chapter 27, Texas Water Code; TCEQ rules, including 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 331 and the procedural rules of the TCEQ and SOAH, including 30 TAC Chapter 80 and 1 TAC Chapter 155. The hearing will be held unless all timely hearing requests have been withdrawn or denied.
To request to be a party, you must attend the hearing and show you would be adversely affected by the application in a way not common to members of the general public. Any person may attend the hearing and request to be a party. Only persons named as parties may participate at the hearing.
INFORMATION. If you need more information about the hearing process for this application, please call the Office of Public Assistance, Toll Free, at 1-800-687-4040. General information about the TCEQ can be found at our web site at www.tceq.state.tx.us.
Further information may also be obtained from Uranium Energy Corp at the address stated above or by calling Mr. Josh Leftwich at (361) 592-5400.
Persons with disabilities who need special accommodations at the hearing should call the SOAH Docketing Department at 512-475-3445, at least one week prior to the hearing.
Issued: April 7, 2009
LaDonna Castañuela, Chief Clerk
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
The citizens’ group Uranium Information at Goliad advises interested parties:
If you have been named as an affected person, to be sure you maintain your standing and it is strongly recommended you attend this preliminary hearing. If you are unable to attend, you should make arrangements for someone to represent you.
If you believe you are an affected person and have not asked for a hearing, you may do so at this preliminary hearing. To request to be a party, you must attend the hearing and show you would be adversely affected by the application in a way not common to members of the general public.
Any person may attend this hearing and request to be a party. Everyone is welcome to attend to audience the hearing.
Your attendance at this preliminary hearing may have an impact on whether the contested case hearing will be held in Goliad or Austin.
Please plan to attend – your support is appreciated.
You may also want to check out ALTURA’S site and brave the pianos of the following video to see a Goliad water expert and mining critic handle some befouled water-well filters.
http://www.sacurrent.com/blog/queblog.asp?perm=69723
Uranium Mining Controversy Continues
Comment: People around Coles Hills are having problems with their wells after core samples for uranium were drilled, higher levels of lead, which is part of uranium waste!
Local
Written by Shannon Dillon
A Goliad County family at the center of a federal lawsuit against a uranium company may have dismissed allegations against the company, but the debate is still brewing, and one resident says the proof is in the water.
“Stop Uranium In Goliad County” signs can be found at nearly every residence along F.M. 1961 in Goliad county. The signs represent just part of a uranium mining controversy that's been three years in the making. Clues as to how the debate came to be can be found a few feet underground.
“They are pulling a bunch of water out of the ground for this process," says Ander resident, Susan Orr.
Susan Orr is just one of several people who are against, Uranium Energy Corp's project in Goliad, that is expected to begin early 2010. As of now the company is waiting for the necessary permits to mine.
And even though Goliad County residents, Craig and Luann Duderstadt, who filed a federal lawsuit against U.E.C. has dismissed their allegations that the project is contaminating their water supply,, talk from those on both sides of the issue is still ongoing.
U.E.C says they test water wells at least twice a month, but some residents who live in near test sites, say testing doesn't take into account everyone who is affected.
Fox Road, was the cut off for U.E.C’s water well testing completed last spring, and one resident says she's not taking any more chances with her only water supply, from an aquifer that doesn't stop, at Fox Road.
“We had a lot of sediment in our water and it was stopping up water and it was stopping up the filter that we have on the house," says Orr.
Orr says the effects of well testing has also affected the 35 acres of land, containing Orr’s family and cattle who are all dependent on a clean water supply.
U.E.C. officials say the project overall however, is for the greater good for the community.
“We're expecting 80 to 100 jobs in the local community plus we add to the tax base," says U.E.C General Manager of South Texas Operations, Bob Underdown.
Its an outlook Orr, says may be good for the community, but doesn't erase her concerns that depend more on just assurances.
“We just want more information and we want to make sure the company isn’t cutting corners in this process,” says Orr.
http://www.myvictoriaonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1588:pkg-only-from-10-or-tape-17-09-tc-2310506&catid=55:local&Itemid=54
Local
Written by Shannon Dillon
A Goliad County family at the center of a federal lawsuit against a uranium company may have dismissed allegations against the company, but the debate is still brewing, and one resident says the proof is in the water.
“Stop Uranium In Goliad County” signs can be found at nearly every residence along F.M. 1961 in Goliad county. The signs represent just part of a uranium mining controversy that's been three years in the making. Clues as to how the debate came to be can be found a few feet underground.
“They are pulling a bunch of water out of the ground for this process," says Ander resident, Susan Orr.
Susan Orr is just one of several people who are against, Uranium Energy Corp's project in Goliad, that is expected to begin early 2010. As of now the company is waiting for the necessary permits to mine.
And even though Goliad County residents, Craig and Luann Duderstadt, who filed a federal lawsuit against U.E.C. has dismissed their allegations that the project is contaminating their water supply,, talk from those on both sides of the issue is still ongoing.
U.E.C says they test water wells at least twice a month, but some residents who live in near test sites, say testing doesn't take into account everyone who is affected.
Fox Road, was the cut off for U.E.C’s water well testing completed last spring, and one resident says she's not taking any more chances with her only water supply, from an aquifer that doesn't stop, at Fox Road.
“We had a lot of sediment in our water and it was stopping up water and it was stopping up the filter that we have on the house," says Orr.
Orr says the effects of well testing has also affected the 35 acres of land, containing Orr’s family and cattle who are all dependent on a clean water supply.
U.E.C. officials say the project overall however, is for the greater good for the community.
“We're expecting 80 to 100 jobs in the local community plus we add to the tax base," says U.E.C General Manager of South Texas Operations, Bob Underdown.
Its an outlook Orr, says may be good for the community, but doesn't erase her concerns that depend more on just assurances.
“We just want more information and we want to make sure the company isn’t cutting corners in this process,” says Orr.
http://www.myvictoriaonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1588:pkg-only-from-10-or-tape-17-09-tc-2310506&catid=55:local&Itemid=54
Saturday, May 9, 2009
India: Breathing, Eating and Drinking Radiation in Jadugoda
This documentary uncovers the health effects of radiation exposure on the people who live in the viscinity to the uranium mining town of Jadugoda
This short documentary by Shriprakash is based on a study conducted by the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD Patna chapter) in and around villages of Jadugoda uranium mine with help of JOAR (www.jadugoda.net). IDPD is Indian chapter of Germany / US based International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW - A Noble Peace prize winning organization).
http://www.sacw.net/article904.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
