Comment: I want everyone to have their own Geiger Counter, take samples of the water, dirt, test the air for radiation or radon, this is the only true way to prove the so call "nuke Science" of the uranium mining pushers. I would love to see Beyond Nuclear or the NRIS go on the trip at their own expense! Keep the uranium mining ban!
By AP | September 06, 2011
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A company that wants to mine uranium in Virginia is flying state legislators, local officials and residents to Canada to visit uranium mining and milling operations.
The trip is one of several sponsored by Virginia Uranium Inc. as it lobbies to end a 1982 moratorium on uranium mining so it can tap a 119-million-pound deposit in Southside Virginia. The uranium deposit is believed to be the largest in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.
Project manager Patrick Wales said Tuesday that about 15 company representatives and their guests will travel to Saskatchewan in late September for the three-day tour. In June, the company paid almost $10,000 each to fly more than a dozen members of the General Assembly to France to visit a former mining operation. It was the second trip to France the company had sponsored.
The General Assembly is expected to take up the issue of uranium mining in its 2012 session. The moratorium was enacted nearly three decades ago after the Pittsylvania County deposit was identified, sparking interest in other suspected deposits in the state by mining companies.
For legislators, the trips are permitted under state law and reported as gifts.
Critics contend Virginia's wet climate is unsuitable for uranium mining, which is primarily conducted in the arid West, and poses environmental risks to drinking water supplies and farmland.
Wales declined to identify any of the residents or officials who have agreed to participate in the Saskatchewan trip. He said the guests include local officials, some of whom are undecided on the mining issue, and state legislators.
The destination is a cluster of uranium mines and mills within a 60-mile radius in the Canadian province.
He said he could not provide the total cost of the trip.
A critic said the private trip "is no substitute for an open and fair debate" and that the Saskatchewan ore is much richer than the Virginia deposit, meaning far less waste is generated.
"In Virginia, there are grave concerns about the industry's ability to manage all of that radioactive and toxic waste," said Cale Jaffe, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Jaffe also said the mines in Canada are far from major population centers, unlike the Coles Hill deposit in Chatham, Va.
Steve Szkotak can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/sszkotakAP
Read more:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/43527--va-company-picking-up-tab-for-uranium-mining-tour
