By: The News & Advance | The News & Advance
Published: April 11, 2012 Updated: April 11, 2012 - 6:00 AM
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s staff opened a meeting on uranium mining to the public last week. But did it signal a willingness on the administration’s part to keep the process of regulating uranium mining transparent? Critics of the study aimed at the safety of a proposed mine near Chatham and at ways to regulate mining still question the study panel’s transparency.
Earlier this year, McDonnell said his administration would consider lifting the state’s uranium mining ban and develop rules on uranium mining behind closed doors. A public outcry changed that position in part, but some foes of uranium mining are not convinced the study will be done in the public eye.
One of those activists noted that invitations to last week’s meeting arrived with less than 24 hours notice.
“A hastily called single meeting should in no way be held up as compliance with the (National Academy of Sciences’) best practices recommendations of openness, transparency and public participation,” said Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club.
A National Academy of Sciences panel released a $1.4 million report last December saying Virginia faced “steep hurdles” in protecting people and the environment if the state were to allow uranium mining.
McDonnell, however, has put together his own study group to come up with recommendations on the mining question. It is the transparency of his group, composed of representatives from the state departments of Health, Environmental Quality and Mines, Minerals and Energy, that is being questioned.
Environmentalists and others have said they are worried that the regulations, which the McDonnell staff is to write over the next year, will be done too quickly, behind closed doors and with little input from the public.
So how open is the McDonnell administration’s study group?
The group’s actions showed something else at last week’s meeting. Its members declined to answer questions after the one-hour meeting
http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2012/apr/11/mining-panel-transparence-found-lacking-ar-1832332/
Published: April 11, 2012 Updated: April 11, 2012 - 6:00 AM
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s staff opened a meeting on uranium mining to the public last week. But did it signal a willingness on the administration’s part to keep the process of regulating uranium mining transparent? Critics of the study aimed at the safety of a proposed mine near Chatham and at ways to regulate mining still question the study panel’s transparency.
Earlier this year, McDonnell said his administration would consider lifting the state’s uranium mining ban and develop rules on uranium mining behind closed doors. A public outcry changed that position in part, but some foes of uranium mining are not convinced the study will be done in the public eye.
One of those activists noted that invitations to last week’s meeting arrived with less than 24 hours notice.
“A hastily called single meeting should in no way be held up as compliance with the (National Academy of Sciences’) best practices recommendations of openness, transparency and public participation,” said Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club.
A National Academy of Sciences panel released a $1.4 million report last December saying Virginia faced “steep hurdles” in protecting people and the environment if the state were to allow uranium mining.
McDonnell, however, has put together his own study group to come up with recommendations on the mining question. It is the transparency of his group, composed of representatives from the state departments of Health, Environmental Quality and Mines, Minerals and Energy, that is being questioned.
Environmentalists and others have said they are worried that the regulations, which the McDonnell staff is to write over the next year, will be done too quickly, behind closed doors and with little input from the public.
So how open is the McDonnell administration’s study group?
The group’s actions showed something else at last week’s meeting. Its members declined to answer questions after the one-hour meeting
http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2012/apr/11/mining-panel-transparence-found-lacking-ar-1832332/
