Comments: I think the NAS should have meetings in a lot of places in Virginia besides Danville! Charlottesville, demand the NAS to speak in your city too, there is uranium in your dirt too!
By TIM DAVIS/Star-Tribune Editor
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 9:41 AM EDT
The National Research Council's provisional committee conducting a scientific study of uranium mining in Virginia will hold its first meeting Oct. 26 and 27 in Washington, D.C.
The group also will meet Nov. 15 and 16 in Washington before meeting in Danville Dec. 13-15.
The Washington meetings will be held at the Keck Center at 500 5th Street, NW. A location for the Danville meeting has not been announced.
The National Research Council named a 13-member provisional committee for the study in July.
Proposed members include Dr. Joaquin Ruiz, University of Arizona; Dr. Corby G. Anderson, Colorado School of Mines; Dr. Lawrence W. Barnthouse, LWB Environmental Services Inc.; Dr. Scott C. Brooks, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Dr. Patricia A. Buffler, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Michel Cuney, National Center for Scientific Research; and Dr. Peter L. deFur, Environmental Stewardship Concept.
Other members are Dr. Mary R. English, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Dr. R. William Field, University of Iowa College of Public Health; Dr. Jill Lipoti, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; Dr. Paul A. Locke, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Henry Schnell, Areva Inc.; and Dr. Jeffrey J. Wong, California Environmental Protection Agency.
Jennifer Walsh, a spokesman for the National Research Council in Washington, D.C., said the committee won't be finalized until a thorough balance and conflict of interest discussion is held at its first meeting, and any issues raised in that discussion or by the public are investigated and addressed.
Committee members, who all volunteer their time, are required to complete background information and conflict of interest disclosure forms, and are screened for conflict of interest throughout the life of the study, she said.
The committee's conflict of interest discussion will be closed to the public and press, but its information gathering session will be open, Walsh said.
The Danville meeting also will include time for community input, the spokesman said.
The National Research Council signed a contract for the long-awaited study with Virginia Tech in February.
The university will serve as a conduit for funding from Virginia Uranium Inc., which has agreed to pay for the $1.4 million study.
Virginia Uranium announced plans three years ago to explore mining uranium at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham.
The study will take about 18 months. A final report is due Dec. 1, 2011.
The report will go to the Virginia Commission on Energy and Coal's Uranium Mining Subcommittee.
The commission will present the findings to the General Assembly, which placed a moratorium on uranium mining in 1982.
Residents who would like to attend portions of the committee meetings that are open to the public or need more information may contact Courtney Gibbs at cgibbs@nas.edu or (202) 334-2744.
Read more:
http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2010/09/15/chatham/news/news50.txt
