Comment: Thanks for the great letter but uranium mining will take place all over Virginia, not just Southside!
The source of the real fraud against Virginia (Uranium Mining)
By Mary Rafferty
Published: February 27, 2011
The real “fraud” in the ongoing debate over lifting Virginia’s uranium mining ban is the false choice posited between healthy communities on the one hand and energy independence and jobs on the other.
The truth is in order to rebuild our local economy, Southside Virginia must embrace clean and healthy solutions for job creation in a way that strengthens our community for this and future generations. We don’t have to choose between a vibrant economy and a healthy environment. We can rebuild our economy by creating jobs in the energy solutions of today not the disasters of yesterday.
In order to set the record straight, here are a few plain facts about the economic and health consequences of uranium mining in Southside Virginia.
Uranium mining would harm our health: Uranium mining could put the health of Southside Virginia citizens in significant danger. Thousands of people in communities out West, where mining and milling operations are currently conducted, are struggling with cancer and diabetes due to their prolonged exposure to uranium mill tailings waste. And while independent researchers continue to determine the full effects exposure to uranium waste has on human health, studies have linked exposure to uranium tailings waste to increased rates of cancer, kidney failure, leukemia and diabetes.
Uranium mining and milling would endanger our water: Virginia’s wet climate makes the proposed site at Coles Hill a risky experiment. Uranium mining and milling sites are typically operated in dry sparsely populated areas. But in Southside Virginia, severe weather events and flooding can overwhelm uranium operations, flushing uranium mill tailing waste into the bordering Bannister River (which flows into the Dan River) as well as local groundwater.
During a heavy rainstorm in November 2009, most of the Coles Hill site was completely under water. In fact, the road at Dry Branch, which is at the lower edge of the Coles Hill property, has been closed numerous times in past few years due to flooding. Virginia Uranium Inc. has yet to show any new technology that would ensure flooding would not impact operations.
The National Academy of Science is currently conducting a scientific and technical review on whether or not uranium mining can be done safely in Virginia. This study should be completed and reviewed by the public and decision makers before the General Assembly even considers lifting the ban.
Uranium mining would benefit other nations, not America: Despite the downhome name, Virginia Uranium Inc. is a majority-Canadian owned company.
While some of the uranium mined and milled in Virginia might eventually be sold in this country, it will be part of a global market. If extracted and processed today, uranium from Coles Hill would most likely be sent to countries with the highest demand, mainly China and India. According to a letter published last week, VUI’s lead lobbyist Whitt Clement even agrees that uranium produced in Virginia may not stay in America.
All that can be guaranteed to stay in Virginia is the 29 million tons of mill tailing waste that would be created by the project.
Uranium mining will not benefit our economy in the long term: Uranium pricing is a volatile market and economically unstable. The market sets the price of uranium and it tends to be a boom and bust industry. In the 1980s uranium companies fled out of traditional mining towns in the western United States when the price of uranium plummeted.
Jobs left communities while the waste stayed. The same thing could happen in Southside.
A vision for a prosperous Southside Virginia: The choice is between rebuilding our economy by manufacturing clean energy products that make our country more energy independent or continuing to rely on outdated technologies. As a start, the proposed four megawatt solar facility in Halifax County could bring at least 100 jobs to the region and another 150 jobs if the batteries used for the solar panels are manufactured in our region.
On the other hand, we can produce dirty energy materials that are sent to China and India.
The choice is between maintaining and growing our $300 million agricultural industry by keeping our groundwater clean and then investing in sustainable biomass. The fallow fields that many have grown accustomed to can be replanted with warm-weather grasses, creating jobs for Southside citizens and energy for our homes. The other option is we could force our farmers to truck in water from other states if their livestock is poisoned by groundwater contaminated by uranium tailing after a flood.
Southside Virginia is poised to become a leader in the clean energy economy. Whether it’s Virginia’s first operational solar and biomass facilities in Halifax County, the proposed U.S. Green Energy solar manufacturing facility in Danville or the warm-weather grasses that can bring new life to our agricultural sector. Southside Virginia has the resources to compete in the 21st century economy.
The choice before Virginia is do we try and rebuild our economy with the polluting technology of a past century or the cutting edge clean energy of tomorrow. Hundreds of Southside Virginia citizens and members of the Sierra Club choose a clean, prosperous and healthy future without uranium mining.
Rafferty is the grassroots organizing manager with the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter.
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/feb/27/source-real-fraud-against-southside-ar-868618/
