2/27 u-news
Comments from KM: WOW...take time to listen to this powerful, compelling presentation.
Freeda Cathcart on Uranium Mining in Virginia
Can you please send the link to this video to your list?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The important new information starts around 15 minutes into the film. It was filmed last week at the Roanoke Valley Academy of Medicine. Please help this go viral so that Virginians can understand that the uranium industry has been taking advantage of us.
Thank you,
Freeda Cathcart
Founder Mothers United Against Uranium Mining
Facebook group Mothers United Against Uranium Mining
The important new information starts around 15 minutes into the film. It was filmed last week at the Roanoke Valley Academy of Medicine. Please help this go viral so that Virginians can understand that the uranium industry has been taking advantage of us.
Thank you,
Freeda Cathcart
Founder Mothers United Against Uranium Mining
Facebook group Mothers United Against Uranium Mining
Who would want uranium mining?
Posted: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 9:52 am, Wed Feb 27, 2013.
Editor, Times-Dispatch
I am growing weary of your editorials that impugn the integrity and intelligence of opponents of uranium mining.
Do you really believe those who live in proximity to Coles Hill have no legitimate concerns?
I have read the reports from the National Academy of Science and other groups. They do not share your certainty. Why not address the issues that they raise instead of ad hominem attacks?
Do you really believe that regulations and technology provide sufficient safeguard?
Were they adequate at the Union Carbide facility at Bhopal, India? Or Chernobyl? Or Upper Big Branch? You consider natural disasters unlikely — so did the engineers and regulators who built the Fukushima operations.
Systems and parts fail, employees make mistakes, designs are flawed. Anyone who has worked in complex operations can tell you that stuff happens.
Yes, all operations carry some risk. But there is a continuum of risk and reward to the community and many consider uranium mining on the extreme end of that.
Here are a couple questions:
If uranium mining is safe, why did the legislation limit it to Coles Hill? On the other hand, if it is not safe, why allow it anywhere?
What is one to make of that conundrum? Do you believe that any Virginia community would willingly accept a uranium mining and milling operation in its midst?
I think you know the answer.
Maybe the greater wisdom lies with the people.
Gerald R. Grubbs. South Boston.
Do you really believe those who live in proximity to Coles Hill have no legitimate concerns?
I have read the reports from the National Academy of Science and other groups. They do not share your certainty. Why not address the issues that they raise instead of ad hominem attacks?
Do you really believe that regulations and technology provide sufficient safeguard?
Were they adequate at the Union Carbide facility at Bhopal, India? Or Chernobyl? Or Upper Big Branch? You consider natural disasters unlikely — so did the engineers and regulators who built the Fukushima operations.
Systems and parts fail, employees make mistakes, designs are flawed. Anyone who has worked in complex operations can tell you that stuff happens.
Yes, all operations carry some risk. But there is a continuum of risk and reward to the community and many consider uranium mining on the extreme end of that.
Here are a couple questions:
If uranium mining is safe, why did the legislation limit it to Coles Hill? On the other hand, if it is not safe, why allow it anywhere?
What is one to make of that conundrum? Do you believe that any Virginia community would willingly accept a uranium mining and milling operation in its midst?
I think you know the answer.
Maybe the greater wisdom lies with the people.
Gerald R. Grubbs. South Boston.
Košice: Activists protest against uranium mining in Jahodná again
26 Feb 2013Flash News
Around 50 people gathered in Košice on Monday, February 25, before a session of the Košice Region (KSK) council to express their disagreement with potential uranium mining in Jahodná where extensive deposits have been discovered.
Organiser of the protest Ladislav Rovinský handed leaflets to the councillors that state that KSK has supported the country's biggest ever environmental petition (against the mining), which has already been signed by 113,000 people and 41 towns and cities. "We're calling on the KSK council to adopt a resolution that would confirm an unchanged negative stance on uranium mining, to use its right to interrupt and prevent ongoing step-by-step activities [in preparation for mining] and to adopt a resolution on a 50-year moratorium on mining radioactive minerals on KSK territory," said Rovinský as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Lee County NC say NO to Fracking
Organiser of the protest Ladislav Rovinský handed leaflets to the councillors that state that KSK has supported the country's biggest ever environmental petition (against the mining), which has already been signed by 113,000 people and 41 towns and cities. "We're calling on the KSK council to adopt a resolution that would confirm an unchanged negative stance on uranium mining, to use its right to interrupt and prevent ongoing step-by-step activities [in preparation for mining] and to adopt a resolution on a 50-year moratorium on mining radioactive minerals on KSK territory," said Rovinský as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Lee County NC say NO to Fracking
Letter to Gov. McCrory
The following is a letter Ken and Deborah Ferruccio wrote to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory concerning uranium mining in Virginia. They mention the position on uranium mining by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources that “a release of radioactive tailings could have devastating adverse socioeconomic impacts on the communities of northeastern North Carolina,” including to public water supplies, industrial facilities, agricultural operations, and recreation and tourism.They describe how “best practices management” regulations authorize “radiological exposures to workers and the environment as low as reasonably achievable [ALARA],” (discussed in Section G of the Uranium Working Group’s Final Report. Thus, contamination is an inevitability that would be legalized by ALARA regulations.
Since uranium mining poses a threat to North Carolina and the whole Eastern Seaboard, they request from Governor McCrory that he expedite public meetings in northeastern North Carolina so that North Carolinians can be informed and be given the opportunity for meaningful public participation in the uranium mining decision.
Finally, they request from the Governor that he and the Attorney General find the legal means to protect North Carolina from the potential “devastating adverse” effects from uranium mining.
THE LETTER
January 11, 2013
Dear Governor McCrory:
An NC Environmental Review Commission’s online draft letter (December 13, 2012) to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell stated the Commission’s opposition to the possible mining of uranium in Virginia, including the following information:
The Commission learned that the modeled impacts of a catastrophic breach of an above ground uranium tailings impoundment on downstream water quality in Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston could result in radiation above the United States Environmental Protection Agency Maximum Contaminant Levels for up to three months during wet years and up to sixteen months during dry years. The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources stated that a release of radioactive tailings could have devastating adverse socioeconomic impacts on the communities of northeastern North Carolina including:
- Impacts to the public water supply of more than 118,000 North Carolinians
- Impacts to numerous industrial facilities
- Impacts on over 60 agricultural operations in Bertie, Granville, Halifax, Vance, and Warren counties
- Impacts on recreation and tourism at Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston with possible economic losses of more than $15 million per year
Authorizing radiological exposures as low as reasonably achievable is an explicit acknowledgement that best practices engineering designs for containment structures cannot meet the “zero percent discharge standard” (preventing waste from leaving containment facilities). Given the inescapable empirical reality that best practices continue to fail, there is no reason to believe that the ALARA standard would not facilitate a release of radioactive contamination into air and waterways that would have devastating impacts on northeastern North Carolina.
While best practices regulations would authorize radiological exposures, the proposed bill to lift the ban on uranium mining in Virginia precludes “storms and ‘acts of God’ as a legal liability defense,” according to the bill’s sponsor, John Watkins. (“UPDATE: Lawmakers outline uranium legislation as supporters visit Capitol Square, WDBJ7 News, January 10, 2013.)
In light of the unreasonable risks that uranium mining poses to North Carolina’s environment, health, and natural resources, we are respectfully requesting that public meetings be held in northeastern North Carolina as soon as possible and before the Virginia legislature makes a final decision so that North Carolinians can be fully and fairly informed on both sides of the uranium mining issue. Public participation in an unfettered, transparent process is necessary so that citizens in North Carolina are given the opportunity to express their public sentiment concerning mining uranium in Virginia.
North Carolina must not give up its sovereignty by allowing Virginia to determine a radioactive fate for North Carolinians that would last in perpetuity. As Governor of North Carolina, you are charged with protecting the welfare of the state, so it is incumbent on you, along with the Attorney General, to find the legal means to protect North Carolina from the threat that Virginia uranium mining, milling, and waste disposal pose, starting with an injunction that would stop all decisions concerning uranium mining until North Carolina legislators and North Carolinians weigh in on the issue.
Thank you, Governor McCrory, for considering this request for uranium mining public meetings in northeastern North Carolina and for exploring North Carolina’s legal options to protect our state.
Respectfully yours,
Deborah and Ken Ferruccio
Citizens of Warren County, North Carolina
http://ej-pp.org/letter-to-gov-mccrory/
