Hills in Pitts. County
Comment: A great article which is fair and balance! No to uranium mining and milling! (Ace would write more but he has a cold!)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Posted by Robert Benson at 10:20 AM
If you only know one thing about Patrick Wales, know this: He’s passionate about geology(just the money it makes for him off the backs of people's lives, ACE).
Wales is a native who came back home to work with Virginia Uranium Inc. Wales has every reason in the world to want to see that 119-million pound ore deposit mined.
Wales sees good local jobs, tax dollars for local governments and a valuable mineral locked in solid granite that can eventually be used as fuel for use in nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is an important part of Dominion Virginia’s total energy output.
Needless to say, Wales takes a particular interest in what this newspaper writes about VUI and uranium mining and milling. He took exception with, “Not now, not ever; why not?” (Feb. 10, page A10), the editorial about the RIFA board not taking action on a resolution to ban uranium mining and milling in the Berry Hill Road industrial mega park.
“The whole purpose of these resolutions was to hijack the pages of your paper so that the anti-uranium folks could have another day in the sun, and as usual your paper obliged with priority coverage of the resolution followed by a silly editorial,” Wales wrote to me. “…the anti-uranium folks are merely using your paper as their soapbox. Hopefully, common sense and journalism can return to the pages of your paper.”
I don’t think it ever left.
Wales is correct that these resolutions are non-binding and don’t have the force of law behind them. But we believe that government resolutions are a way for the people’s elected leaders to express their views about issues, events and problems.
While it’s true that Virginia Uranium Inc. is only interested in Coles Hill, it’s also true that the uranium mining and milling study currently being done by the National Academy of Sciences is looking at uranium mining and milling throughout Virginia, not just at Coles Hill.
That means that if VUI gets the green light to proceed, we could see other mining companies come to Virginia searching for the next Coles Hill.
Since parts of the Berry Hill industrial mega park site include land that may have uranium under it, we believe this resolution makes sense given the substantial public investment in that industrial park.
Did anti-mining folks like our editorial? Probably. Was one of their goals to score some news media attention? Probably. Did they raise a valid public issue? Absolutely.
Wales may not agree with that, and that’s his prerogative.
I don’t expect a geologist working for VUI to agree with everything we’ve written about uranium mining and milling in Pittsylvania County.
But this proposed project has raised a lot of questions that demand answers — and the time to ask questions is right now.
Read more:
http://www.mygodanriver.com/index.php/benson/comments/we_wont_get_fooled_again_or_will_we/
