Comment: Thanks, PRIDE and Sierra Club, Keep the Ban, no uranium mining and milling!
By Tara Bozick
Published: April 20, 2011
A local environmental group hopes to engage more residents and leaders of Danville in the uranium debate.
The Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club advised the newly re-formed Piedmont Residents in Defense of the Environment, or PRIDE, on how to educate and mobilize more residents as part of its efforts during a meeting at the Danville Public Library on Wednesday.
PRIDE aims to be the southern counterpart to environmental groups that are active in the northern part of Pittsylvania County, said President Karen Maute.
“What is up Danville? I don’t know,” Maute said. “Why is Danville sitting quietly?”
Andrew Lester, executive director of the Roanoke River Basin Association, relayed how the association recently passed a resolution opposing the lift of the Virginia ban on uranium mining. Afterward, other cities and counties started passing resolutions, he said.
Specifically, the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments’ board of directors passed a resolution opposing a lift of the uranium moratorium in Virginia.
“We’ve got to generate something here,” Lester said about Danville and Pittsylvania County. “We’ve got to get the folks here to understand what the implications are to the economy and the environment.”
Attendee Susan Stilwell, a real estate broker in Danville, would like the Sierra Club’s help in getting the Virginia Association of Realtors to take a stance, especially as she believes uranium mining would impact property values.
Mary Rafferty, grassroots organizing manager for the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, said she continues fielding calls from people finding out about the proposed uranium mining in Pittsylvania County and efforts to lift a state ban.
“There are lots of new people who are joining into this movement,” Rafferty said.
Rafferty also told attendees how joining a statewide coalition called “Keep the Ban” would help efforts to keep the state moratorium on uranium mining.
“Public policy needs to be set by we the people and not by the uranium mining or nuclear industry,” Maute said. “That is our right. That is our duty.”
For more information on PRIDE, email prideva11@gmail.com or visit http://www.prideva.blogspot.com/.
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/apr/20/newly-formed-environmental-group-wants-danville-in-ar-986270/
