Comment: Keep the Uranium Ban!
The Daily Dispatch
March 17, 2011
It’s hard to imagine that Virginia would lift its ban on uranium mining after a study showed just how badly Kerr Lake and other area waterways could be affected. But we’ve seen politicians do dumber things, so we’re glad the Roanoke River Basin Association has been so vocally opposed to it.
A City of Virginia Beach study of uranium mining impacts on Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston found that a containment cell failure at the proposed Coles Hill mining site near Gretna, north of Danville and in the county of Pittslylvania, Va., would “significantly impact water quality.”
RRBA said in a statement that the study found radiation levels in Kerr Lake could rise 10-20 times above federally established Safe Drinking Water Act levels, and it could take up to two years to flush dissolved contaminants downstream. The study found that Kerr Lake would trap up to 90 percent of radioactive waste. Particulate contaminants would remain in riverbed sediment only to be re-suspended during periods of high flow, the RRBA said.
The Virginia General Assembly would have to end the moratorium for mining to begin. The mining company hoping to see that happen — Virginia Uranium Inc. — has said it would push for legislation in 2012.
So the decision on lifting the ban won’t be as simple as evaluating environmental impacts.
Walter Coles, head of Virginia Uranium, said in 2007 there will be no mining if it puts the environment at risk. “If we’re going to do it, it has to be done safely,” he said.
The Virginia Beach study clearly shows that uranium mining has the potential to put the environment — and thousands of residents who rely on Kerr Lake for water — at risk.
The decision seems like a no-brainer to us: keep the ban in place.
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http://www.hendersondispatch.com/view/full_story_free/12359847/article-Editorial--Leave-uranium-mining-ban-in-place?instance=main_article_opinion
Read more: The Daily Dispatch - Editorial Leave uranium mining ban in place
