Posted: Saturday, January 26, 2013 9:46 pm | Updated: 11:50 pm, Sat Jan 26, 2013. Supervisors’ anti-uranium resolution a boost to lawmakers
BY MARY BETH JACKSONmjackson@registerbee.
BY MARY BETH JACKSONmjackson@registerbee.
When the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors passed its resolution Wednesday to urge legislators to keep the moratorium on uranium mining, Chairman Marshall Ecker expressed concern about its timing.“I’m hoping we are not too late,” Ecker said. “Decisions are being made now.”Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, says it was right on time.
“I don’t think the timing could have been better,” he said.
Southside’s politicians have been scurrying to make the county’s wishes known to their companions in the House of Delegates and state Senate.
Marshall said he distributed copies of the story in Thursday’s Danville Register & Bee (“Supervisors: Keep the ban”) to House legislators. Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, said Thursday that his office was readying copies of the newest resolution for distribution in the House and Senate.
“I think it definitely sends a message to everybody that people need to take notice,” Merricks said. “I think it confirms, too, the questions and issues that are there are still there. I’m not out here on a tangent.”
Merricks is hoping other legislators will put themselves in his shoes and heed the concerns of Pittsylvania County residents.
“What if it was their locality and their place?” he said.
State Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Clarksville, said he was glad to see it, but he was prepared to make a case without it.
“I don’t think the timing could have been better,” he said.
Southside’s politicians have been scurrying to make the county’s wishes known to their companions in the House of Delegates and state Senate.
Marshall said he distributed copies of the story in Thursday’s Danville Register & Bee (“Supervisors: Keep the ban”) to House legislators. Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, said Thursday that his office was readying copies of the newest resolution for distribution in the House and Senate.
“I think it definitely sends a message to everybody that people need to take notice,” Merricks said. “I think it confirms, too, the questions and issues that are there are still there. I’m not out here on a tangent.”
Merricks is hoping other legislators will put themselves in his shoes and heed the concerns of Pittsylvania County residents.
“What if it was their locality and their place?” he said.
State Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Clarksville, said he was glad to see it, but he was prepared to make a case without it.
Jackson reports for the Danville Register & Bee.
Posted: Sunday, January 27, 2013 6:15 amResolution better late than never?
The Editorial Boardnewsadvance.com
The Editorial Boardnewsadvance.com
The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors surprised a lot of people this week when it finally voted to ask the General Assembly to keep the 1982 ban on uranium mining in the Commonwealth.It was actually the board’s third uranium mining resolution and it passed on a convincing 5-1 vote.
The uranium question is now being debated in the Virginia General Assembly because the state has had a moratorium on uranium mining for three decades. But only one company — Virginia Uranium Inc. — wants to mine one site — Coles Hill, six miles from Chatham — to unearth uranium deposits
That’s why this state issue is really a Pittsylvania County issue.
Wednesday’s resolution by the board of supervisors placed Pittsylvania County in the growing chorus of cities, counties, towns and groups representing businessmen, environmentalists and ordinary citizens who don’t believe the potential rewards of uranium mining will ever be worth the risks to our land, water and air.
"I’m hoping we are not too late," Chairman Marshall Ecker said. "Decisions are being made now."
It’s hard to believe that Ecker’s recent selection as chairman of the board of supervisors didn’t play a role in finally getting Pittsylvania County to commit to keeping the ban.
It’s even harder to imagine that any delegate or senator in Richmond would vote for something that the board of supervisors and the local business community does not want.
The message is clear: Pittsylvania County does not want uranium mined at Coles Hill.
As we write this, the story of the day is that Sen. Frank Ruff, the Clarksville Republican who represents part of Danville and Pittsylvania County, believes that there are enough votes in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources to kill the bill.
"I think we have the votes to stop it," Ruff said Thursday.
In Danville and Pittsylvania County, the people’s elected representatives have spoken, and they want the General Assembly to keep the ban. That’s what should happen, if the will of the people means anything in the halls of power in Richmond.
The uranium question is now being debated in the Virginia General Assembly because the state has had a moratorium on uranium mining for three decades. But only one company — Virginia Uranium Inc. — wants to mine one site — Coles Hill, six miles from Chatham — to unearth uranium deposits
That’s why this state issue is really a Pittsylvania County issue.
Wednesday’s resolution by the board of supervisors placed Pittsylvania County in the growing chorus of cities, counties, towns and groups representing businessmen, environmentalists and ordinary citizens who don’t believe the potential rewards of uranium mining will ever be worth the risks to our land, water and air.
"I’m hoping we are not too late," Chairman Marshall Ecker said. "Decisions are being made now."
It’s hard to believe that Ecker’s recent selection as chairman of the board of supervisors didn’t play a role in finally getting Pittsylvania County to commit to keeping the ban.
It’s even harder to imagine that any delegate or senator in Richmond would vote for something that the board of supervisors and the local business community does not want.
The message is clear: Pittsylvania County does not want uranium mined at Coles Hill.
As we write this, the story of the day is that Sen. Frank Ruff, the Clarksville Republican who represents part of Danville and Pittsylvania County, believes that there are enough votes in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources to kill the bill.
"I think we have the votes to stop it," Ruff said Thursday.
In Danville and Pittsylvania County, the people’s elected representatives have spoken, and they want the General Assembly to keep the ban. That’s what should happen, if the will of the people means anything in the halls of power in Richmond.
Comments: I HOPE AS MANY OF YOU AS POSSIBLE CAN MAKE IT TO RICHMOND TOMORROW!!
Keep the Ban on Uranium Mining
Call your legislators in their Capitol Offices today and ask them to OPPOSE Senator Watkins Bill SB919 and OPPOSE Delegate Millers Bill HB1804. and OPPOSE Delegate Miller’s Bill HB2330 and OPPOSE Senator Watkins Bill SB1353. [Talking Points]- Find out the name and contact information for your legislator
- HB1804 establishes a three percent state severance tax on the gross receipts of any uranium severed from the earth in the Commonwealth.
- SB919 establishes a three percent state severance tax on the gross receipts of any uranium severed from the earth in the Commonwealth.
- HB2330 establishes a process for the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) to issue permits for the mining of uranium ore.
- SB1353 establishes a process for the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) to issue permits for the mining of uranium ore.
- Talking Points
Keep the Ban Lobby Day: Jan. 28
[Registration and Agenda]
The time to prepare to act as a voice for conservation is now!Tell your legislators what you expect from them this General Assembly session. Join Virginia Conservation Network, the Garden Club of Virginia, and countless volunteers as we take our conservation priorities to the Capitol on January 28, 2013 at 8:30 a.m.Did you know? Virginia has a nearly 30-year ban on uranium mining. The uranium industry is making a well-financed push to repeal the ban so they can mine and process uranium, starting in Southside Virginia. Drinking water, human health, farmland, property values, wildlife and tourism across Virginia are at risk.
- Learn more about this issue – watch this video, read our fact sheets
- Write your legislator
- Write your local paper
- Sign our online petition.
Va. uranium: Many questions, not many answers
http://www.dailyprogress.com/
My family and I have farmed in Orange County for 76 years. I owned the most radioactive site in Northern Virginia, according to the industry’s syntilometer tests when the uranium interests came to lease my land in Orange County for mining and milling in 1979.
Despite riches promised, a visit to Colorado and Utah mines and mills convinced us it was not worth the risk to our land and our neighbors downwind and downstream.
On Jan. 7, the Uranium Working Group, a governor-appointed subcommittee of the Coal and Energy Commission, recommended an outline for developing a set of regulations for mining and milling of uranium in Virginia. The cost to the taxpayers will be well in excess of $1 million dollars this year alone.
Sen. John Watkins, of Powhatan, has proposed a bill to lift the 30-year-old moratorium on mining and milling uranium.
The recommendations of the UWG are questionable, as they ignored a number of serious threats to the health, welfare and safety to citizens of Virginia.
“New” technology for storing tailings “below grade” overlooks the fact that our groundwater is below grade. Where is the technology involving the storage and security during the years before returning them to the mine innards? The tailings will be of greater volume, being ground up, than they were when removed. Essentially, 99.5 percent of the ore is retained as tailings. Millions of tons of tailings (toothpaste) will be put back into the tube.
Why is the advice of professional hydrologists ignored about the water contamination threats?
Our research shows that tailings pit liners can last for a maximum of about 200 years. These tailings are reported to remain radioactive for well over 100,000 years. Our future safety is not a concern?
Economists tell us of negative effects on land values, reduced tourist trade and boom/bust cycles of mining giving communities the associated headaches.
Climate events (hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and our annual 40-plus inches of rain) make Virginia vulnerable in a very dangerous experiment affecting the health, safety and welfare of millions of our citizens for the profit of a few.
The Virginia Uranium company talks of shafting and tunneling mines up to 2,000 feet below ground, which have to be pumped out to operate. What recourse do local well owners have (where wells are normally 200 to 400 feet in depth) when they go dry?
The professional National Academy of Science report of 2011 raises many questions as to the safety of these mining activities in our climate. Catastrophic disasters have happened, and the long-term consequences are still felt frequently throughout the West where these activities took place in a semi-arid climate with a low population density. Two UWG members recognized these threats.
A set of rules and regulations on paper will not stop radioactive waste contamination in severe weather and, literally, earth-shaking events.
The proponents of “Keep the Ban” have been accused of being emotional on the issue. I agree. When my water supply, the air I breathe, the land I raise food on and/or my health is threatened, I get very emotional.
Bennie Shelly, vice president of the Navajo nation (with more than 60 percent unemployment), said this in 2007: “Uranium mining has devastated both the people and the land. Workers, their families and our communities suffer increased instances of cancer...that trace back to uranium exposure. Abandoned mines represent an ongoing health and environmental hazard. While the Navajo people...have suffered the effects of uranium mining, perhaps the greatest tragedy is the prospect that many companies are attempting to come back to Navajo country to mine uranium once again.”
I am not anti-nuclear.
This issue revolves around the processing of uranium in Virginia – i.e. the front end of the nuclear cycle is inappropriate in our state (site for information: CommonHealthVA.org).
Allowing the mining and milling of uranium in Virginia amounts to tyranny of the financial enhanced over the interests of Virginia citizens. Our legislature needs to do what is safe for the citizens of the commonwealth, not ignore threats perpetrated by a single industry, so far, a single company.
When reasonable people raise reasonable questions and many of these questions go unanswered satisfactorily, serious doubts are logically raised. When it comes to the health, safety and welfare of Virginia citizens: When in doubt, don’t! The ban on uranium mining and milling in Virginia should become permanent until the industry can unequivocally demonstrate it can be done without threats to our citizens in perpetuity.
Bill Speiden is an Orange County landowner and former member of the county's planning commission.
