Comment: Thanks North Carolina for taking action against uranium mining and milling because if the u ban is lifted, the main question will be when will our water be ruin! Mother Nature loves dump inches of rain on our county in a matter of hours. Hurricane Fran flooded Coles Hill area and it was bad! No to uranium mining and milling!
MARTIN FISHER The Daily Dispatch
04.07.11 - 09:33 pm
WELDON — Water safety advocates are calling on more localities and organizations to follow the City of Henderson’s example and log their resolve against uranium mining in Virginia.
Panelists at this week’s Roanoke River Basin bi-state symposium expressed hope for a growing alliance that would draw attention to the dangers of lifting a Virginia ban that would allow uranium mining upstream from Kerr Lake in the basin.
They also discussed actions in the North Carolina General Assembly that river basin dependents can support, and mulled other ideas for protecting up to 400,000 Roanoke River Basin water users.
The focus of their concern is a proposed mine in Coles Hill, Va., north of Danville, that would mine and mill uranium ore, creating nuclear waste material called tailings that would have to be stored in containment systems.
According to mining critics, production of four pounds of high quality uranium ore, upon contact with water or air, creates more than 2,200 pounds of toxic radioactive waste that remains a contaminant for more than 1,000 years.
Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments Community and Economic Development Director Rick Seekins noted Kerr-Tar is also resolved against the uranium mining proposal.
He expressed hope that a much more diligent study would be required on potential dangers before any decision arises in the Virginia legislature.
“They are going to want to move on this at the first of the year,” Seekins said. “There are already want ads in Virginia papers, ready to hire people for this mining. We’re not socialists. We are not opposed to people working and making money. We are opposed to any danger to the water supply that could seriously impact our people.”
Tom Leahy, director of Public Utilities for the City of Virginia Beach, explained detailed findings of the recently released study commissioned by Virginia Beach regarding the risks in the event of a man-made catastrophe at the proposed site.
Leahy said human error or a flooding or hurricane incident could cause radioactive waste to be washed from the proposed site down into the river system, resulting in radiation levels 10 to 20 times above federally prescribed safe drinking water levels.
According to Leahy, Virginia Beach is concerned about this threat to the basin because it withdraws heavily from Lake Gaston.
RRBA Legislative and Regulatory Advisor Olga Kolotushkina followed Leahy’s discussion with an outline of Virginia Uranium, the company seeking to mine in the basin.
Although the company claims to be locally owned, only a handful of investors appear to come from Virginia.
The holding company for VUI is based in Yukon, Canada, and has no stake in the economic consequences downstream of its profit-making ventures, according to Kolotushkina.
“The negative image of uranium mining alone will cast a cloud over the economic vitality of the region,” Kolotushkina said.
Seekins said the symposium focused new attention on the fact that potential economic gains in Virginia put downstream North Carolina most at risk.
“It became very clear that while there may be economic benefits to Virginia, most of the projected negative impacts would be on the people in North Carolina,” Seekins said.
The North Carolina General Assembly has an item of legislation on the issue, Senate Bill 430, asking for a study of the impacts of uranium mining in Virginia on the people of North Carolina.
“I am very concerned about our water supply and I think we need to be proactive,” Sen. Doug Berger, D-Younsville, said. “This is something that needs to moved along quickly so we can see the effects of the mining.”
The measure passed a first reading in the Senate March 28.
“There has been discussion on having a surety bond, but the feeling is there is no possible way to form a surety bond large enough to indemnify everyone impacted by a loss to the water supply,” Seekins said. “How many millions of dollars would it take to truck water in for 400,000 people?”
The Roanoke River Basin Association hosted the bi-state symposium on water resources in conjunction with the North Carolina Council of Governments, of which Kerr-Tar is a part.
Seekins said he hopes organizations and localities that pass resolutions on uranium mining would contact him at the Kerr-Tar COG office.
The symposium is a public service of the Roanoke River Basin Association, a 66-year-old, non-profit organization founded on the principle of stewardship of the basin from the Blue Ridge of Virginia and North Carolina to the Albemarle Sound.
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