Comments: Uranium mining will be a key issue in this years elections. We need to make sure they have the "FACTS" and ask candidates specific questions regarding their stance on the issue. Most importantly, we need to support the candidate who are decidedly opposed to uranium mining, milling and radioactive waste disposal in Virginia. Gary Miller, M.D. is a candidate for 14th District. http://MillerforDelegate.com, He is opposing Del. Danny Marshall. Marshall too has been active in the uranium issue http://dannymarshall.com/ This news reoprt is on his website:
Posted: Thursday, December 20, 2012 7:51 pm
Medical professionals sign petition against uranium mining
By DENICE THIBODEAUdthibodeau@
Comments: Always...an outspoken well informed candidate who will vote to Keep The Ban when elected to the General Assembly. At present, I do not know Del. Head's official position regarding the issue.
Medical professionals sign petition against uranium mining
By DENICE THIBODEAUdthibodeau@
Danville City Councilman Gary Miller, a local cardiologist, has been circulating petitions among local doctors and medical professionals asking them to ask Virginia to keep its moratorium on uranium mining.
Miller told fellow council members Tuesday night that he asked colleagues at two meetings to sign a two-part questionnaire about the moratorium, with the first question asking whether they were against uranium mining and the second asking if they would leave the area if mining were approved.
Miller said he was surprised at how consistent the responses were, with 52 physicians signing that they were against uranium mining. Of those 52, 47 said they “would strongly consider leaving” the region; five said they were too invested in their practices to leave, but would not be happy staying.
A second sheet was started because other medical professionals — nurses, nurse practitioners, etc. — wanted to sign the petition. Miller said there were about a dozen of them in attendance at the meetings, and they all signed in as being against mining.
Miller said he was afraid the mining operation would seriously impact the region’s ability to attract medical personnel — which would be needed, he said, because increases in the cancer rate could be expected if uranium mining starts in Pittsylvania County.
Miller said he plans to continue collecting signatures and will turn them over to Delegate Danny Marshall for consideration during the next General Assembly session.
Danville City Council did decide unanimously at that meeting to proceed with a formal vote on a resolution asking the General Assembly to keep the moratorium and to not begin writing regulations for uranium mining.
Patrick Wales, spokesperson for Virginia Uranium, said he found some of Miller’s comments during the past two council meetings “egregious distortions.”
Wales also strongly objected to Miller’s assertion that death was inevitable for uranium miners.
“To me, in medicine, it’s always risks versus benefits, and I feel the risk outweighs the benefits,” Miller said. “They say the mine will be open for 35 years; they can be right for 34 of those years, and I can be right once, and it’s a disaster. They can promise all they want, but they can’t guarantee 100 percent.”
Miller told fellow council members Tuesday night that he asked colleagues at two meetings to sign a two-part questionnaire about the moratorium, with the first question asking whether they were against uranium mining and the second asking if they would leave the area if mining were approved.
Miller said he was surprised at how consistent the responses were, with 52 physicians signing that they were against uranium mining. Of those 52, 47 said they “would strongly consider leaving” the region; five said they were too invested in their practices to leave, but would not be happy staying.
A second sheet was started because other medical professionals — nurses, nurse practitioners, etc. — wanted to sign the petition. Miller said there were about a dozen of them in attendance at the meetings, and they all signed in as being against mining.
Miller said he was afraid the mining operation would seriously impact the region’s ability to attract medical personnel — which would be needed, he said, because increases in the cancer rate could be expected if uranium mining starts in Pittsylvania County.
Miller said he plans to continue collecting signatures and will turn them over to Delegate Danny Marshall for consideration during the next General Assembly session.
Danville City Council did decide unanimously at that meeting to proceed with a formal vote on a resolution asking the General Assembly to keep the moratorium and to not begin writing regulations for uranium mining.
Patrick Wales, spokesperson for Virginia Uranium, said he found some of Miller’s comments during the past two council meetings “egregious distortions.”
Wales also strongly objected to Miller’s assertion that death was inevitable for uranium miners.
“To me, in medicine, it’s always risks versus benefits, and I feel the risk outweighs the benefits,” Miller said. “They say the mine will be open for 35 years; they can be right for 34 of those years, and I can be right once, and it’s a disaster. They can promise all they want, but they can’t guarantee 100 percent.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Campaign website:
http://freedaworks.com/
March 11, 2013Contact:Freeda Cathcart
Candidate for the 17th House for the House of Delegates540-598-7231
FreedaWorks@gmail.com
http://freedaworks.com/
March 11, 2013Contact:Freeda Cathcart
Candidate for the 17th House for the House of Delegates540-598-7231
FreedaWorks@gmail.com
Cathcart warns developing uranium mining regulations would waste taxpayer money
When Gov. McDonnell considers Sen. Watkins and Del. Kilgore's request to develop uranium mining regulations, he should consider the following:
Virginia spent close to $2 million on state sponsored Working Groups to discuss uranium mining last year. The estimated cost to develop uranium mining regulations exceeds $4 million for the first year and it is expected to take five years to fully develop them. Virginia can't afford to waste money on a private industry that isn't economically viable when Virginia isn't fully funding much needed teacher's raises and cutting hours of community college's adjunct professors.
VUI claims that the Coles Hill deposit is “worth an estimated $7 billion” are not based on the current market value of uranium.
Recently the price of uranium dropped to $42 a pound.An analysis of the global market reveals a bleak future for the uranium commodity. The uranium ore at Coles Hill is considered a low-grade ore that is not worth mining unless the market price is higher than the cost of extracting and processing it.Estimates vary that the start-up cost of mining and milling the ore at Coles Hill would be between $60-80 a pound.The Chmura report said that $45 a pound might be the breakeven point.Therefore the current value of the Coles Hill deposit is worthless based on today’s market price.
The parent company of VUI, Virginia Energy Resources Inc. of Vancouver Canada is in fiscal distress.It had an operating loss of $5,354,146 and has an accumulated deficit of $17,109,894 according to Canada’s System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval for the period ended September 30, 2012.Recent financial restructuring using bridge loans does not address that their major holding, Coles Hill, is essentially worthless.
The world’s demand for uranium is expected to decrease which would make the price of uranium per pound drop even more.Uranium mining is not economically feasible in Virginia.
Virginia needs to spend tax payer money wisely by investing in education for the well being and prosperity of our state. We can't afford to be taken advantage of by a predatory industry.
Freeda Cathcart
HOT WATER: Uranium’ Exposes the Toxic Legacy of Nuclear Power
The world premiere of Hot Water, a new documentary exposing the long-term devastation wrought by uranium mining and the nuclear industry, will launch the 21st annual Environmental Film Festival in Washington D.C.
The film follows the investigative journey of Liz Rogers, the “Erin Brockovich of Uranium,” as she travels around the nation examining the legacy of uranium mining, atomic testing and the creeping danger of contaminated waste in the drinking water of 38 million people. Rogers and her production partner, Kevin Flint, examine the health and environmental impacts of the uranium industry and examine the possibility of a Fukushima type disaster along the California coastline. The film premieres on March 12, two years and one day after the Fukushima disaster
Rogers and Flint follow the story to Oklahoma to explain the economic model of the industry. Private companies mine the uranium for a massive profit. Local workers and residents are made promises, but when finally forced to the admit the environmental and health impact of the mining, the companies take their profits, declare bankruptcy and saddle the American taxpayer with hundreds of billions of dollars in clean-up costs.
The story does not end in the communities where the mining takes place. Thanks to contamination, atomic testing in Nevada and unsafe storage techniques, the drinking water of 38 million people is threatened. For years radioactive material was stored along the banks of the Colorado River. The federal government is working to move the material, but the multibillion dollar project will take decades and no one can tell the extent of the radiation in the soil underneath the piles.
The world premiere of Hot Water, a new documentary exposing the long-term devastation wrought by uranium mining and the nuclear industry, will launch the 21st annual Environmental Film Festival in Washington D.C.
The film follows the investigative journey of Liz Rogers, the “Erin Brockovich of Uranium,” as she travels around the nation examining the legacy of uranium mining, atomic testing and the creeping danger of contaminated waste in the drinking water of 38 million people. Rogers and her production partner, Kevin Flint, examine the health and environmental impacts of the uranium industry and examine the possibility of a Fukushima type disaster along the California coastline. The film premieres on March 12, two years and one day after the Fukushima disaster
Rogers and Flint follow the story to Oklahoma to explain the economic model of the industry. Private companies mine the uranium for a massive profit. Local workers and residents are made promises, but when finally forced to the admit the environmental and health impact of the mining, the companies take their profits, declare bankruptcy and saddle the American taxpayer with hundreds of billions of dollars in clean-up costs.
The story does not end in the communities where the mining takes place. Thanks to contamination, atomic testing in Nevada and unsafe storage techniques, the drinking water of 38 million people is threatened. For years radioactive material was stored along the banks of the Colorado River. The federal government is working to move the material, but the multibillion dollar project will take decades and no one can tell the extent of the radiation in the soil underneath the piles.
Here's a link to a trailer for a new film about uranium mining and nuclear power: http://ecowatch.org/2013/
| So you thought uranium mining was dead in Virginia? | Dan Casey Note from Dan: The issue of uranium mining in Virginia fizzled to a close in the recently concluded General Assembly session, after the legislature wisely refused ... blogs.roanoke.com/.../so-you- |
| Gov. Bob McDonnell forgets about uranium mining ... - Keep The Ban Bob McDonnell talked almost as if his more than year long behind-the-scenes and public attempts to move forward with uranium mining and milling in Virginia ... keeptheban.org/?p=2193 |
