Comment: No to uranium mining and milling!
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: March 13, 2011
No one should be surprised by the recent Associated Press story about Virginia Uranium Inc. Executive Vice President Walter Coles Jr. telling potential investors that Virginia is “fairly pro-nuclear.”
The predominant local opinion about VUI’s quest to mine and mill a 119-million pound uranium deposit appears to be “Let’s wait for the study.”
But VUI has no such qualms.
“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,” Coles told investors in a webcast, The Associated Press reported.
Wait for the study?
At Virginia Uranium, they already believe that uranium can be mined safely in Pittsylvania County and that the mine and mill.
To get Virginia to overturn its 1982 moratorium on uranium mining, Virginia Uranium has made $55,150 in campaign contributions to General Assembly members — 58 percent to Republicans and 41 percent to Democrats, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
VUI spent nearly $30,000 to fly Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke ($9,589), Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach ($8,502) and Sen. John C Watkins, R-Midlothian ($9,327) to France to see where uranium has been mined.
Since 2007, VUI has spent $267,146 on lobbyists. How many registered lobbyists do you have in Richmond? Virginia Uranium Inc. has 15 working the 140-member Virginia General Assembly, according to VPAP.
It’s up to VUI to prove their project is safe, not that it’s safe under certain conditions or it can be safe if certain rules are always followed or it might be safe. It has to be safe as we, the people, understand that word.
The National Academy of Sciences study that so many local people have put their faith in will be out for just a month or two before the 2012 General Assembly session begins. How much time will we really have to weigh results of “the study” before a decision is made for us?
Not long at all, folks.
VUI is a business that wants to get down to the business of mining that uranium ore; good for them. But as it stands right now, we’re not going to have enough time to ask questions about the results of the four uranium-related studies being done.
The bottom line is Virginia Uranium is ready to move forward, even if we’re not.
That’s a mistake on their part, but it tells us what kind of project — and company — we’re dealing with.
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/mar/13/theyre-all-ready-go-right-now-ar-900085/?sc_cid=GDR-NEWS-Afternoon
