Comment: Again, thanks for all your hard work and thanks to everyone that wrote to this dude and tell him the NAS study includes all of VA! Plus the NAS study will open the whole world to uranium because the bunch on the committee is full of uranium and nuclear power corporations which are not expert’s just pushers of their own agenda! No to uranium mining and milling, not needed and not worth ruining our water!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Good news is that the Associated Press has finally reported on pending plans to lift Virginia's 1982 ban on uranium mining. Bad news is that Associated Press appears to follow the disturbing media trend of potraying the uranium mining issue as a one-county problem. Specifically, a Aug. 27, 2010 article, Associated Press mischaracterized the National Academy of Sciences' study of uranium mining in Virginia as a study that "will examine the scientific, technical, environmental and human health risks of uranium mining, milling and processing at a rich deposit in Pittsylvania County."
This is INCORRECT. The uranium mining study's Statement of Task clearly states that the study "will examine the scientific, technical, environmental, human health and safety, and regulatory aspects of uranium mining, milling, and processing as they relate to the Commonwealth of Virginia."
The National Academy of Sciences' Study of Uranium Mining in Virginia is a STATE-WIDE study, not limited to a specific location. Historically, uranium companies have shown interest in uranium in Culpeper, Fauquier, Franklin, Floyd, Henry, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Patrick, and Pittsylvania Counties and leased mineral rights on approximately 50,000 acres in the 1980s. Downstream from these areas, there are counties and municipalities whose drinking water could be affected by uranium mill tailings. These include Brunswick, Fairfax, Halifax, Mecklenburg, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and others. If the uranium mining ban is lifted, we would likely see exploration for uranium in the black shale of Southwest Virginia, in crystalline granite throughout the Blue Ridge, and in sedimentary rock in the Coastal Plains, as well as further exploration in the Northern and Southern Piedmont.
Mischaracterizing the state-wide study of uranium mining in Virginia as a Pittsylvania County or Southside study is a serious mistake in reporting. It involves not only misrepresentation of the scope of the study but also its significance for the Commonwealth of Virginia and the entire East Coast. The study of uranium mining of this magnitude has never been undertaken before by the National Academy of Sciences. The scope of the study is vast and complex; it includes issues from legal framework to public health and safety to mining methods to reclamation and waste management to cultural issues to geology, climate and water management. The findings will not only be relied upon by the Virginia General Assembly in deciding whether to allow uranium mining in the Commonwealth but will also set precedent for the entire uranium mining industry in the United States and the rest of the world. If Virginia allows uranium mining, it may spur exploration and mining in other states on the East Coast, as potential uranium deposits have been detected in many locations, from New Jersey all the way to Florida.
Please read this wonderful blog:
http://uraniumfreevirginia.blogspot.com/2010/08/inaccurate-media-reporting-on-national.html
