Big money pushing for Virginia uranium, rather than water safety

Virginia. election, uranium’s future among the top political, government stories of 2012, Washingtn Post, 25 Dec 11 RICHMOND, Va. — The list of top stories includes whether money can speak loudly enough to open Virginia to uranium mining despite serious environmental concerns and whether the Republican right rules all of Virginia policymaking…..

A long-awaited independent study by the National Academy of Sciences in December raised serious concerns about whether a massive uranium ore deposit can be safely mined and milled in Pittsylvania County…..

It’s up to the Virginia General Assembly to weigh the appeal of an economic boom in Southside Virginia — an area hit hard by declines in the textile, furniture and tobacco industries — against the prospect of contaminating water supplies for huge areas of Virginia and North Carolina.

The deep-pockets consortium of investors and corporations eager to recover the 119-million-pound deposit has hired Capitol Square’s most expensive and influential lobbyists to shepherd legislation to end a 30-year uranium mining ban through a deeply divided House and Senate.

This is one of those issues more likely to create geographic divisions than partisan ones…..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-at-elections-forefront-can-republicans-really-rule-uraniums-future-the-stories-of-2012/2011/12/25/gIQA9RjEHP_story.html

http://nuclear-news.net/2011/12/26/big-money-pushing-for-virginia-uranium-rather-than-water-safety/