Written by Staff
07:41 am 10/10/11
Expert speakers on the hazards associated with uranium mining will lead a symposium at Halifax County High School on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m.
Panel speakers include Bob Burnley, past director of Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; Olga Kolotushkina, board member of the Roanoke River Basin Association; Tom Leahy, director of public utilities for the City of Virginia Beach; Mary Rafferty, grassroots organizing manager of the Virginia Sierra Club; and Jack Dunavant, chairman of the We the People of Virginia, Inc.
The event is free and open to the public.
With the assistance of the Keep the Ban Coalition (www.KeepTheBan.org), the Town of Halifax is hosting the community awareness symposium, according to Town Manager Carl Espy.
“The symposium is an opportunity for Halifax residents to learn what is at stake if the ban on uranium is lifted,” he added.
The Halifax Keep the Ban Symposium will serve as a panel discussion to give an overview of the risks to the area’s local economy, drinking water, public health and heritage.
Dunavant, chairman of We the People of Virginia, Inc. which is co-hosting the symposium, said, “Uranium mining causes cancer; it destroys property values, jobs and the environment. Our legislators will soon decide our fate regarding uranium mining. We need to tell them to keep the ban.”
In a series of letters to citizens and local area officials, Halifax Mayor Gilbert F. “Dick” Moore has encouraged Virginians to actively engage with the decision makers in Richmond, who over the upcoming months will be determining policies affecting the region.
“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,” the mayor wrote.
Sponsors of the two day event — We The People of Virginia, Virginia Sierra Club and The Town of Halifax — issued a statement in conjunction with the event: “Uranium mining causes cancer; it destroys property values, jobs and the environment. Come learn about the Banister River, our beautiful natural resource, and how you can help protect and preserve it. There will be family activities, food and music. Our legislators will soon decide our fate regarding uranium mining. We need to tell them to keep the ban.”
For more information go to http://www.wethepeopleofva.org
Read more:
http://www.gazettevirginian.com/index.php/news/34-news/4151-sponsors-of-halifax-event-push-to-keep-virginia-mining-ban-
