By Olga Kolotushkina
Recently the local and national media reported on the statements made by Virginia Uranium Inc.'s affiliate to potential investors on Wall Street. Those statements were shocking. They revealed not only the behind-the-scenes efforts by Virginia Uranium to steamroll the process while others await the results of four ongoing uranium mining studies, but they also showed a very high level of confidence that the uranium mining ban will be lifted in 2012.
Now, as part of his damage-control mission, Walter Coles, on behalf of Virginia Uranium, claims that nothing is wrong with preparing legislation that will lift the ban next year in case the National Academy of Sciences study finds in favor of uranium mining.
Contrary to what Virginia Uranium wants everyone to believe, the study's statement of task does not require the National Academy of Sciences panel to make any specific recommendations on whether uranium mining can or should be pursued in the commonwealth. The National Academy of Sciences panel is charged with reviewing various aspects of uranium mining and milling as they relate to Virginia. Our legislators must decide whether such mining can be performed safely.
What we should expect in December is not a jury verdict that would clearly state "safe" or "not safe" but a several-hundred-page report containing all kinds of technical information. December is also the deadline for the socioeconomic study being conducted at the request of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission by a Richmond consulting firm with professional ties to Virginia Uranium's main lobbyist. That will certainly add more pages to the Christmas-break reading assignment for our legislators and the general public.
What Coles seems to suggest is that one month during the busiest time of the year would be sufficient for our part-time legislators and their voters to read, analyze, seek expert opinion, provide feedback on - and ultimately decide - a matter that will change the image of our state forever.
It is clear to any reasonable person that if legislation lifting the ban is introduced in 2012, no one will have a meaningful opportunity to review and analyze the findings of the National Academy of Sciences study.
Virginia's lawmakers would have to make up their minds based on assurances by Virginia Uranium lobbyists, not the National Academy of Sciences study findings, as was initially intended. And lobbying legislators is what Virginia Uranium really excels at.
According to information posted on the Virginia Public Access Project website, between 2008 and 2010, the company gave more than $55,000 in campaign contributions.
And according to an October 2009 filing with Canadian authorities, in just the first six months of 2009, Virginia Uranium spent more than $200,000 on lobbying and $232,000 on public relations campaigns.
All this money was spent in addition to providing $1.4 million to fund the National Academy of Sciences uranium mining study and $300,000 to compensate Virginia Tech for acting as an official sponsor of the study since the National Academy's policy does not favor funding from for-profit entities.
If the uranium mining ban is lifted, the public will not have another chance to stop uranium mining and milling operations at Coles Hill and elsewhere in the state.
Virginia Uranium told potential investors on Wall Street that it plans to do more exploratory drilling this summer.
Few among Virginia citizens are aware that the state Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy renewed Virginia Uranium's exploration permit in October 2010.
No public notice or hearing was required or provided.
That is why all concerns about Virginia Uranium's plans should be raised now.
Once the ban is lifted, it will be too late.
Olga Kolotushkina is legislative and regulatory adviser to the Roanoke River Basin Association.
Read more:
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/04/virginia-needs-time-analyze-uranium-mining
