Comment: When Mr Wales speaks of "following the science" it is nuclear/uranium mining science not true science on the harms of uranium mining according to real doctors! Keep the U Ban!
Assuring investors of legislative support undermines the credibility of a study still under way.
Science, not politics or the economy, must drive Virginia's decision on whether to lift the state's 29-year ban on uranium mining.
We doubt we'd get an argument about that even from Virginia Uranium, the company awaiting -- and paying for -- a National Academy of Sciences study that is supposed to be key to deciding whether it can tap into a rich deposit in Southside.
Yet opponents, already suspicious of an industry-financed study, have more reason to cry foul after the company's executive vice president told investors last month it had lined up sponsors for a bill in the 2012 General Assembly to end the moratorium.
No one can yet know the results of the NAS study to assess the statewide impacts of extracting and processing uranium at Coles Hill. Researchers won't complete it until the end of this year.
But in a February webcast, The Associated Press reports, Virginia Uranium executive vice president Walter Coles Jr. told investors, "In January of 2012, we will have a bill in the state legislature that directs the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to develop the regulations for uranium mining."
Of course, having a bill in the General Assembly does not guarantee it will pass and be signed into law.
Undoubtedly.
That doesn't explain, though, why Coles is confident that some lawmakers already are on board to get the regulatory ball rolling.
Coles also told investors that Virginia's "shift toward the Republicans is beneficial for us," though he said the company has solid relationships with Democrats, too.
But not reasons at all for lawmakers to take a chance with the health and safety of Virginians, whether motivated by campaign contributions, political philosophy or even the promise of desperately needed jobs.
Mining uranium in a wet, populated region carries potential dangers that, if realized, would not be easily addressed.
Lawmakers must do more than say they will follow the science when making their decision on lifting the ban.
They must actually do so; for that, they need to await the findings and allow time to consider them.
Read more:
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/280230
