Environmental impacts uranium mining and milling /New radio ad asks Gov. McDonnell to respect lawmakers decision on uranium/ New radio ad asks Gov. McDonnell to respect lawmakers decision on uranium / Governor not taking action on uranium

Environmental impacts uranium mining and milling
 
From FB friend:  Olga

From a comprehensive report on the impacts of nuclear power in Canada:

 "The environmental impacts of uranium mining and milling are severe. They represent the most significant short-term environmental impacts of nuclea...r energy production in Canada.

A number of jurisdictions in Canada and Australia have adopted bans on the establishment of new uranium mines due to concerns over the potential environmental and health impacts of such operations." See pages 23-46. http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/Nuclear_web.pdf


Keep the Ban on Uranium Mining

 
‎Keep The Ban on Uranium Mining in VA supporters at The 2nd Annual Sova Wine Trail Fest in Chatham, VA.

New radio ad asks Gov. McDonnell to respect lawmakers decision on uranium

Supporters of Keep The Ban have launched a new radio ad asking Governor Bob McDonnell not to attempt an end-run around the legislature by directing state agencies to prepare regulations for uranium mining. The radio ad features the voices of unpaid residents of Southern Virginia, who express concerns about the negative impacts of uranium mining on their health and families.


Take a moment to listen to the ad, and share the link with your friends. Call the governor at (804-786-2211) or email him to ask that he respect the legislature’s decision and declare an end to the debate over uranium mining.

To send a hand-written letter or official correspondence from your business, church or civic organization, write to: Office of the Governor, Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor, 1111 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

Thanks to widespread citizen support for Virginia’s 30-year moratorium on uranium mining and milling, proponents of uranium mining conceded defeat during the 2013 General Assembly by withdrawing their bills.

However, Sen. John Watkins then called on the governor to direct state agencies to begin developing regulations anyway.

The governor’s spokesperson has said McDonnell is reviewing Watkins request. Keep The Ban urges Gov. McDonnell to respect the legislature’s decision and take no action to further study uranium mining or to draft regulations.

The state and local governments have already spent approximately $3 million on studies and reports related to uranium mining since 2010. The findings have shown a significant threat to drinking water, public health and local economies.

In fact, the more we spend studying uranium mining, the more groups decide to support Keep The Ban. A few of the organizations supporting Virginia’s current moratorium are Virginia Municipal League, Virginia Farm Bureau, the Medical Society of Virginia, the Danville Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce, and the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce.

http://keeptheban.org/

 

Comments:  The Governor needs to invoke a complete ban on uranium mining, the people and the leaders of Virginia have spoken, the Governor needs to move on from the uranium mining idea, so old fashion, he needs to focus his energy on "true energy", promote conservation at home with electric power, let the people to become energy independence, instead of pushing nuclear plants that will cost taxpayers:  $35 Billion each, give the monies to the people where we could form "energy communities" to share our forms of energy with others....just thoughts:  "Ruff said McDonnell committed that the Nuclear Consortium bill would not be used to bypass the legislative process, and that he wouldn’t use the budget process to write regulations, either. He made no guarantees past the immediate future, though, Ruff said"

Governor not taking action on uranium

BY MARY BETH JACKSON mjackson@registerbee.com (434) 791-7981 | Posted: Friday, February 15, 2013 10:15 am 
      
Virginia’s governor appears to have shoved the hot topic of uranium mining to the back burner.
Five Southside legislators met with Gov. Bob McDonnell on Friday morning to ask him not to move forward with regulations for uranium mining and milling. The group had asked for the meeting after sending McDonnell a letter outlining their position on uranium mining.

Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, said the issue has stalled at the governor’s desk for now.
“The governor says he’s got a lot on his plate with transportation and education, and it’s not a burning issue, and he’s not worried about it at this time,” he said.

State Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, has called for the governor to use the Administrative Process Act to proceed with uranium mining. In January, Watkins withdrew a bill to set up the industry’s regulatory framework for lack of support.

The governor’s office said it has received no formal request to use the Administrative Process Act and that McDonnell has not met with Watkins regarding the issue.

The 30-minute meeting Friday at the governor’s office included Marshall; Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Clarksville; Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County; Delegate James Edmunds, R-South Boston; and Delegate Thomas Wright Jr., R-Victoria.

Marshall said the Southside delegation asked the governor not to bypass the system, which they say worked.

“We asked him to respect the legislative process,” he said.

Marshall said he told McDonnell that it would be a bad idea to leave the decision up to Pittsylvania County alone, calling the decision to mine uranium “a General Assembly issue.”

“If Pittsylvania County votes yes, and Virginia Uranium makes a mistake, the who pays the consequences?” he said. “Everybody downstream who doesn’t have a vote.”

Merricks said he doesn’t expect McDonnell to resurrect the issue when session reconvenes in April. That’s when the governor’s amendments and vetoes are considered.

“You never say never, but I think that would be rather difficult to happen,” Merricks said.

He added, “I don’t see anything happening before we come back, and I don’t see anything happening before we leave. For this time, it’s a moot issue.”

McDonnell did not give any indication where he stands on uranium mining, Merricks said. He has remained mum as the legislature dealt with the issue and continues to do so.

Ruff said McDonnell committed that the Nuclear Consortium bill would not be used to bypass the legislative process, and that he wouldn’t use the budget process to write regulations, either. He made no guarantees past the immediate future, though, Ruff said.

“He said that he will continue to evaluate the various studies acknowledging that there are concerns that have been raised,” Ruff said. “He made the statement that science and technology do advance and, therefore, he would not commit into the future. He did, however, assure us that before he takes any action in the future he will have further discussions with us.”

Virginia Uranium Inc. courted legislators for years in hopes of winning legislation in the 2013 session that would allow it to tap a 119-million-pound uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County.

Opponents have argued that full-scale uranium mining and milling has never occurred on the East Coast and the new industry would create unacceptable risks to the environment and public safety. Virginia Uranium has said the concerns are overstated, and that mining and milling can be done safely using the latest industry practices.

http://www.newsadvance.com/go_dan_river/news/pittsylvania_county/article_89f374ee-7782-11e2-a1ee-001a4bcf6878.html






Comments: Their fight over uranium mining is our fight, let's get together and demand a ban on uranium mining!

Native Sun News: Clash mounts over Black Hills uranium mine
Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Pierre – As people protested in the Black Hills on Feb. 7 against Powertech (USA), Inc.’s slated uranium mining in counties adjacent to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a South Dakota state legislative committee killed three bills designed to control the project.

Before voting, the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee heard testimony on SB 148, 149, and 150, which were sponsored and co-sponsored by lawmakers from Rosebud and Pine Ridge Indian Reservation legislative districts.

The bills were to return state regulatory authority over in-situ leach (ISL) uranium mining, require companies to report its environmental violations within 24 hours of occurrence, and mandate uranium miners to restore mine water to baseline conditions.

More than 20 people from Western South Dakota testified in favor of these controls. The committee members then voted unanimously to defer the proposals to the 41st day of the 40-day legislative session, effectively keeping the bills from a full Senate vote.

Sabrina King, lobbyist for the grassroots, non-profit Dakota Rural Action group of family farm advocates, said citizens “gave impassioned speeches to the committee, urging their protection of our water, land, and way of life.” However, she added, committee members “did not feel these particular bills were the right solution, as they are unwilling to do anything that would prevent uranium mining from happening altogether.”

On the same date as the vote, Mark Hollenbeck, lobbyist for Powertech (USA), Inc., promoted the Canadian company’s plans to conduct the state’s first ISL uranium mining and processing on public lands

The project entails extracting groundwater, forcing it back into the aquifer with oxygen and carbon dioxide to dissolve and release uranium from rock, pumping the mineral water to the surface, refining the mineral, shipping the product to nuclear power producers, disposing of the waste and effluent, cleaning up the site, and monitoring for environmental compliance.

It would provide 80 jobs in the construction phase, and a number of high tech positions in the expected 20-year lifespan of the project, according to Hollenbeck.

He addressed a meeting of the Southern Hills Economic Development Corp. in the Fall River County seat of Hot Springs, which attracted a group of picketers opposed to the plan. They dressed in yellow and carried yellow posters to protest Powertech’s slated on-site production of concentrated uranium, or yellow cake, as well as the potential for water table degradation in the process.

Slogans included:

• Clean water for future generations; no uranium mining
• Don’t pollute, deplete our water
• Water is like a daughter; we’ll do everything we can to protect her from abuse! Keep Powertech from our water!
• Welcome to the Black Hills, where Powertech gets richer and we all get sicker
• Daugaard’s the name but what he guards is a shame: the plunder for profit of Powertech’s ruinous uranium game
• From extraction that contaminates water and soil, to its deadly poisonous refinement, to the evil weapons built with it, to the deregulated industries behind power plants that endanger lives for profit: To hell with uranium


(Talli Nauman is the Health and Environment Editor for NSN and she can be reached at talli.nauman@gmail.com)

Click here to read all:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2013/008582.asp