Written by Gilbert F. “DICK” Moore
08:32 am 10/12/11
I am writing on behalf of the Halifax Town Council to encourage you to become familiar with the inherent dangers posed by uranium mining and milling in Virginia and to invite you to actively engage with the decision makers in Richmond who will be determining policies affecting you over the upcoming months. It is the opinion of the Halifax Town Council stated in several resolutions adopted since 2007, that uranium mining in Southern Virginia would be destructive to its people and economy and detrimental to the people and economy of Virginia and North Carolina as a whole.
This position is substantiated by the City of Virginia Beach’s study, The Preliminary Assessment of Potential Impacts of Uranium Mining in Virginia on Drinking Water Sources, which was released Feb. 1.
The executive summary of that study and the accompanying presentation is an invaluable tool to help inform local elected officials, inter-governmental agencies, citizens, economic development leaders and environmental stewardship organizations on the direct impact of a uranium mill tailing confinement cell failure to the Roanoke River Basin which serves as a drinking water source for over one million people in Virginia and North Carolina.
According to the study for the Banister River Watershed, in the event of a mill tailing confinement cell failure due to a direct impact on the mining facilities by a catastrophic storm event, the tailings will be washed downstream, releasing toxic heavy metals and radioactive sediments. This would significantly impact water quality in the Banister Reservoir, Kerr Reservoir and Lake Gaston resulting in radiation levels in the water 10-20 times above the Safe Water Drinking Act levels with plants and sediments in the Banister River Watershed to Kerr Reservoir, upstream of Lake Gaston, potentially serving as a long-term trap for radioactivity, which could re-suspend in the water during high flows.
Such destructive effects upon the water and the land adjoining the Banister River will irrevocably harm drinking water, human health, farmland, real estate values and wildlife.
An additional modeling simulation conducted by Virginia Beach’s consultant on the Banister River Reservoir and Kerr Reservoir for upstream impacts to Lake Gaston is close to completion (the full study is available online at www.vbgov.com)
As you are probably aware, the Town of Halifax is situated on the southern banks of the Banister River in central Virginia, and it has served as the “capital” of Halifax County for over two centuries.
Like many communities throughout the Roanoke River Basin, the town’s history, community, culture and commerce have been intricately tied to the waterway as its lifeblood. The basin is comprised of the Banister, Dan and Staunton (Roanoke) Rivers and their tributaries, and it provides safe drinking water for the City of Virginia Beach and other communities downstream as it empties into the Albemarle Sound on the coast of North Carolina.
Halifax Town Council supports the efforts in keeping the ban on the mining and milling of uranium to help protect our indispensable natural resources, to maintain clean drinking water and healthy fisheries, to sustain and grow our agricultural heritage, tourism industry and quality of life throughout the commonwealth and to best insure the health, safety and general welfare of its people for generations to come.
To help inform a broad base of the public in our area about the issues of uranium mining, the town is asking members of the “Keep the Ban Coalition” (www.KeepTheBan.org) to assist in hosting a community awareness event scheduled for Friday with an inaugural Banister River Festival on Saturday.
In the meantime, I urge you to familiarize yourself, your family, friends and neighbors in your community with groups which are dedicated to protecting the water resources and quality of life for the entire Roanoke River Basin, our portion along the Banister River and environs.
Moore is the mayor of the Town of Halifax.
Read more:
http://www.gazettevirginian.com/index.php/opinion/43-letters-to-the-editor/4180-community-voice-dangers-of-uranium
