SoVaNow.com / December 27, 2012
With the legislature poised to take up the issue in the next several weeks, members of the local delegation are sounding more hopeful that efforts to lift the state’s three-decades-old moratorium can be thwarted.
“One thing I have heard consistently from my colleagues is ‘if all my colleagues [in an area] don’t want it, I’m not going to vote against them,” said Edmunds.
Edmunds also said Virginia Uranium Inc.’s plans to dig up ore at the Coles Hill site in Pittsylvania County suffered a blow when Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling visited Danville on Dec. 14 to announce his opposition to mining. “If nothing else, he [Bolling] is a vote” if senators deadlock on getting rid of the ban, said Edmunds.
The joint letter was drafted primarily by state Sen. Frank Ruff of Clarksville and is signed by five other Southside Republicans — Edmunds, delegates Tommy Wright of Lunenburg, Don Merricks of Pittsylvania and Danny Marshall of Danville, and state Sen. Bill Stanley of Franklin. The group sent copies to fellow legislators and the governor earlier this month.
In the letter, the six legislators write that in opposing efforts to lift the ban, they are representing the views of the majority of their constituents who do not want to risk public health and safety and future economic development on behalf of an industry they describe as an “experiment.”
“It is safe to say there is no group of citizens in the Commonwealth who are better informed about this issue and have stronger feelings than the people who live in Southern Virginia,” the legislators write.
The letter also notes that Pittsylvania County isn’t the only place in Virginia where uranium deposits have been identified, citing other Piedmont sites and the Occoquan River basin as potential areas of interest for the mining industry. “With the risks … do you think the people in YOUR district would want a uranium mine and mill to operate there and leave 1000’s of tons of radioactive waste for future generations?” the letter asks.
State Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, has said he will introduce a bill in January to regulate uranium mining and milling at the Coles Hill site, a step that industry opponents say would effectively end Virginia’s moratorium, in place since 1982. Gov. McDonnell has not taken a formal position, but has said he will study the findings of the multi-agency Uranium Working Group before deciding whether to weigh in on the issue.
In the Dec. 3 letter, the Southside legislators write:
Dear Colleagues:
Each of us is charged by our constituents to represent their interests. They look to us to focus our efforts on those things that affect them. One of the many issues before the General Assembly this year relates to the mining and milling of uranium.
As you are aware, a site in Southern Virginia contains a large deposit of uranium which has been the topic of numerous studies and hundreds of hours of public debate and discourse.
The people we represent have read those studies. They have been both participants and observers in those debates. It is safe to say there is no group of citizens in the Commonwealth who are better informed about this issue and have stronger feelings than the people who live in Southern Virginia.
The people we represent have formed an opinion based on what they have learned from these studies. The majority of the people in our region want the ban on uranium mining and milling in Virginia to remain. Period. They have concluded that the unknown potential rewards of uranium mining are far outweighed by the unknown risks that may confront their families in future years.
It would be difficult to list all the concerns that our constituents have shared with us about the proposal to lift the ban, but a few highlights are worth noting.
Unresolved issues surrounding the storage of the dangerous radioactive byproduct of uranium mining, radioactive tailings, concern everybody who lives in this region. Understand that over 99% of the radioactive rock will be left on site for future generations to worry about polluting drinking water from Pittsylvania County to Virginia Beach. Every time we open a newspaper, it seems there is yet another storage method or regulatory scheme which has been proposed to handle this hazardous waste. It is little wonder that our constituents have no confidence that these millings can be safely stored in our area.
Uranium mining in Southern Virginia is an experiment. There is no place in the U.S. or Canada or Australia where an active uranium mine is operating (1) in a wet climate which is visited by the occasional hurricane such as is the case in Southern Virginia, AND (2) in an area where the water table is as close to the surface as is the case in Southern Virginia AND (3) with tens of thousands of people within a few miles of the mine location. It is impossible for the proponents of uranium mining to discount these critical issues.
If that doesn’t qualify as an experiment, we don’t know what does.
Finally, our economic livelihood as a region is at stake. Native industries like production agriculture and wood products are thriving, but one even small environmental accident will directly and immediately impact those markets. In the industrial sector, we are finally turning the corner in terms of creating a new and vibrant 21st century economy in Southern Virginia. New jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment have flowed into our area just in the last five years. These are good-paying, knowledge-based jobs which hold the promise of a brighter future for the Southern Region and its citizens. However, let’s be clear, the battle for economic prospects is vicious. Our region does not need this stigma hanging over our heads.
So let’s sum it up. A substantial majority of the people in our region don’t want mining. They are concerned about dangerous radioactive tailings. They do not wish to be part of a uranium mining experiment operated in this kind of climate, this close to tens of thousands of people. They are concerned about the negative impact this small industry will have on our overall economy for the long term.
As you are considering your own position on lifting the ban, please consider this. Coles Hill is not the only site in Virginia in which uranium deposits have been identified. The Piedmont region and water basins such as the Occoquan are also identified sites for further exploration and mining. Nor is the impact of the mining and storage of uranium in Coles Hill restricted to the immediate geographic area. Practically every community downstream from the proposed site, from Halifax to Virginia Beach, and the entire Roanoke River Basin community, has expressed their opposition to lifting the ban.
The people in our district are no different from the people in yours. They have the same hopes, dreams and concerns that you will find in your region. With the risks we have cited here, do you think the people in YOUR district would want a uranium mine and mill to operate there and leave 1000’s of tons of radioactive waste for future generations? We ask you to have the same compassion for our constituents as you do for yours.
Let US be clear. We are united in our opposition to lifting the ban on uranium mining. We urge all of our colleagues in the General Assembly to stand with us in doing the right thing.
Sincerely,
State Sen. Frank Ruff
Del. Danny Marshall
Sen. Bill Stanley
Del. Don Merricks
Del. Tommy Wright
Del. James Edmunds
cc: The Honorable Robert F. McDonnell
