Comment: No to uranium mining in VA!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Virginia Uranium Inc. is working to remove Virginia’s moratorium on the mining, milling and processing of uranium ore, according to the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) website at http://www.danriver.org/
The issue dates back to the late 1970s, when Marline Corp. began searching for uranium deposits in the eastern United States. By 1982, the company stated it had discovered 30 million pounds of uranium oxide in Pittsylvania County, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch and online information at http://www.virginiaplaces.org/.
That year, Virginia legislators approved a moratorium on the mining of uranium, the milling of yellowcake and the disposal of radioactive waste, according to the website.
Marline Corp. obtained leases on 40,000 uranium-rich acres in Pittsylvania County and 16,000 acres in Fauquier, Madison, Culpeper and Orange counties, the website stated.
In November 2007, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy approved a permit for exploring 194 acres in Pittsylvania County, called the Coles Hill site. Work there began about a month later, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) website.
The following year, the General Assembly rejected an industry-backed proposal for a study that could have led to a lifting of the moratorium on uranium mining, the SELC’s website states. Instead, a legislative subcommittee is facilitating a study by the National Academy of Sciences. That is one of four studies that are under way, according to the DRBA website.
The SELC’s website lists those studies as:
• The National Academy of Sciences, which is collecting and reviewing existing reports and data on uranium mining and milling to help determine whether uranium mining can be done safely in Virginia. It is scheduled to be done by the end of this year;
• The uranium industry is supporting a study on socio-economic impacts by Chmura Economics & Analytics, a firm with ties to the coal mining industry;
• A study on the potential uranium production at Coles Hill as it relates to water quality is under way by the city of Virginia Beach, which is downstream of the Coles Hill site;
• The Danville Regional Foundation is investing up to $530,000 in a study by RTI International, a research institution.
All are ongoing, according to Cathryn McCue, senior communications manager at the SELC. It could not be determined if there are deadlines for some of the studies’ results.
Earlier this month, Walter Coles Jr., executive vice president of Virginia Uranium, told investors that the political climate in Virginia is “fairly pro-nuclear” and the company has worked to win over legislators who will decide whether the ban should be lifted.
In a webcast with the investors recorded in February, Coles said Virginia Uranium has lined up sponsors of the legislation.
“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 said during the webcast
Read more:
http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=27725
