November 24th, 2010 9:39 am ET
By Daniel Carawan, Richmond Progressive Examiner
..The contest has begun between six firms competing to undertake a study regarding the impacts of uranium mining on Virginia.
The Uranium Mining Subcommittee of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission requested that proposals be granted to undertake the socioeconomic study of uranium mining. The additional study is supposed to complement the scientific study by the National Academy of Sciences, the findings from each being due by December 2011.
If you’re scratching your head at the peculiarity of allowing private firms to conduct a study that could mean billions of dollars for some fortunate company, you’re not alone.
Or perhaps it is an increasing trend towards marginalizing sound science if that science happens to impede profit margins, and in the case of uranium mining, major profit margins.
That’s right, science for the sake of profit, not for the sake of a better world.
If, as is expected, the private study casts a more positive light on the potentially positive socioeconomic impacts of uranium mining in Virginia, everyone has to ask themselves, would I be willing to live near these sites of uranium mining?
This criterion should be the litmus test for any and all future energy-related endeavors.
Our future is in renewable energy because it is safe, abundant, clean, and does not involve chopping up mountain-tops or blasting giant holes in the ground.
Read more:
http://www.examiner.com/progressive-in-richmond/private-firms-compete-to-undertake-study-regarding-uranium-mining
