Uranium opponents to discuss strategy
Posted: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 7:45 pm
BY MARY BETH JACKSONmjackson@registerbee.
While the uranium mining issue fizzled in this year’s General Assembly, both sides are still advancing their causes.
Uranium mining opponents will be meeting Thursday to discuss what their strategy for next year will be, said Andrew Lester, executive director of the Roanoke River Basin Association.
Brent Blackwelder, president emeritus of Friends of the Earth, and Jay Poole, spokesman for the Alliance for Progress in Southern Virginia, will be advising the group.
Lester says his group needs to stay on top of the issue, even though no uranium mining bill was even voted on by a General Assembly committee this year,
“They have a lot of money, resources and time invested,” he said, adding: “They’re very persistent and tenacious. They will be back.”
The group is not letting up, battling Virginia Uranium in print and radio advertising.
Meanwhile, Virginia Energy Resources’ stock price has taken a significant hit since no vote was even taken in the General Assembly.
The stock had nearly doubled when legislative hopes were high.
Virginia Energy Resources has a 100 percent stake in the Coles Hill project, holding mineral rights to more than 7,300 acres of land. It is incorporated in Canada, with Walter Coles Sr. serving as chief executive officer and chairman. The company also has an exploration program in Quebec.
Virginia Energy Resources continues to seek funding to further mining efforts at Coles Hill. The company received an influx of capital in January through the sale of stock to Energy Fuels, raising more than $10 million. Energy Fuels owns mines in the western U.S. and a milling facility in Utah.
Energy Fuels owns 16.5 percent of Virginia Energy Resources.
According to a company financial statements filed in December, “For the period ended Sept. 30, 2012, the Company (Virginia Uranium) incurred an operating loss of $5.35 million, has an accumulated deficit of $17.1 million, limited resources, no source of operating cash flow and no assurances that sufficient funding will continue to be available.”
Virginia Energy issued a statement Feb. 15 on its website to update investors.
“Legislation to lift the moratorium was scheduled for debate this past month in the Virginia state senate,” the statement said. “Unfortunately the bill was assigned to a committee whose composition was not favorable toward mining legislation. Due to the apparent lack of votes in that particular committee, the bill was subsequently withdrawn by its chief patron, Senator John Watkins.”
The statement expressed hope that Gov. Bob McDonnell might intervene, and a determination to continue.
Gov. McDonnell has so far taken no action on the issue. In February, he committed to Southside legislators that he would not use the budget process to advance uranium mining.
The company has not posted any further news. A call made to Patrick Wales, spokesman for Virginia Uranium, was not returned for this story. An email to McDonnell’s office had no response as of press time.
Commetns: Dr. Boaz's masterful response to Joe Aylor's attack is below. Also in this week's Star Tribune is an awesome full-page ad sponsored by the Virginia Conservation Network and the Roanoke River Basin Association.
http://www.wpcva.com/opinion/
Posted: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 10:11 am
Scientist sets record straight on uranium
By NOEL T. BOAZ, Ph.D, M.D.
Chatham Star Tribune
Uranium mining opponents will be meeting Thursday to discuss what their strategy for next year will be, said Andrew Lester, executive director of the Roanoke River Basin Association.
Brent Blackwelder, president emeritus of Friends of the Earth, and Jay Poole, spokesman for the Alliance for Progress in Southern Virginia, will be advising the group.
Lester says his group needs to stay on top of the issue, even though no uranium mining bill was even voted on by a General Assembly committee this year,
“They have a lot of money, resources and time invested,” he said, adding: “They’re very persistent and tenacious. They will be back.”
The group is not letting up, battling Virginia Uranium in print and radio advertising.
Meanwhile, Virginia Energy Resources’ stock price has taken a significant hit since no vote was even taken in the General Assembly.
The stock had nearly doubled when legislative hopes were high.
Virginia Energy Resources has a 100 percent stake in the Coles Hill project, holding mineral rights to more than 7,300 acres of land. It is incorporated in Canada, with Walter Coles Sr. serving as chief executive officer and chairman. The company also has an exploration program in Quebec.
Virginia Energy Resources continues to seek funding to further mining efforts at Coles Hill. The company received an influx of capital in January through the sale of stock to Energy Fuels, raising more than $10 million. Energy Fuels owns mines in the western U.S. and a milling facility in Utah.
Energy Fuels owns 16.5 percent of Virginia Energy Resources.
According to a company financial statements filed in December, “For the period ended Sept. 30, 2012, the Company (Virginia Uranium) incurred an operating loss of $5.35 million, has an accumulated deficit of $17.1 million, limited resources, no source of operating cash flow and no assurances that sufficient funding will continue to be available.”
Virginia Energy issued a statement Feb. 15 on its website to update investors.
“Legislation to lift the moratorium was scheduled for debate this past month in the Virginia state senate,” the statement said. “Unfortunately the bill was assigned to a committee whose composition was not favorable toward mining legislation. Due to the apparent lack of votes in that particular committee, the bill was subsequently withdrawn by its chief patron, Senator John Watkins.”
The statement expressed hope that Gov. Bob McDonnell might intervene, and a determination to continue.
Gov. McDonnell has so far taken no action on the issue. In February, he committed to Southside legislators that he would not use the budget process to advance uranium mining.
The company has not posted any further news. A call made to Patrick Wales, spokesman for Virginia Uranium, was not returned for this story. An email to McDonnell’s office had no response as of press time.
Commetns: Dr. Boaz's masterful response to Joe Aylor's attack is below. Also in this week's Star Tribune is an awesome full-page ad sponsored by the Virginia Conservation Network and the Roanoke River Basin Association.
http://www.wpcva.com/opinion/
Posted: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 10:11 am
Scientist sets record straight on uranium
By NOEL T. BOAZ, Ph.D, M.D.
Chatham Star Tribune
Dr. Joe Aylor’s letter in favor of uranium mining has only a few points of substance, which I address below. His many ad hominem statements I ignore, but the fact that he does not even spell my name correctly hints at how accurate they are.
Rather quizzically, Aylor’s re-quoting of the World Nuclear Association’s safety guidelines only reinforces my original point. Uranium mining and milling should never “pose a burden or threat to future generations.”
This is in perpetuity, not just so long as convenient. Citing federal regulations in place is not tantamount to removing the risk of accidental or unintentional release of radioactivity into the environment.
When powerful economic forces are at play, however, it seems quite common for mining corporations to circumvent regulations and turn a deaf ear to voiceless future generations.
We should keep in mind that Aylor works for Virginia Uranium Inc., has vested interests in their mining the Cole Hill deposit, and was undoubtedly paid to write his disingenuous letter to the editor.
He quibbles that some rocks near Mineral blocked earthquake shocks great enough to cause landslides in Pittsylvania County last year, while he ignores the much larger point that similar and larger magnitude earthquakes will occur with increasing certitude over the next century, millennium, or 50,000 years from now, the time frame during which uranium tailings will still pose a health risk.
Aylor assures us that the Chatham Fault, which runs right through the uranium deposit at Coles Hill, is “ancient and inactive.”
This very limited perspective is strongly informed by future endangerment of Aylor’s paycheck, not the probability of movements on this fault releasing radioactive waste and posing health risks to the current residents or future generations of this region of Virginia.
Like the state senator from northern Virginia who said he really didn’t care about future effects of uranium mining in Pittsylvania County because he wouldn’t be around in a hundred years, Aylor’s hypocrisy in touting the World Nuclear Association safety regulations on the one hand and immediately discounting them on the other, is appalling.
Aylor’s comment about “very heavy dust” resulting from uranium mining would be a clever little bit of linguistic sleight-of-hand if its implications were not so insidious.
Yes, uranium is the “heaviest” of the naturally occurring chemical elements, but this relates to the mass of its atoms.
The pulverized rock of the very hard and brittle Leatherwood granite that encloses the uranium ore would cause the grain size of the pulverized mine tailings to be miniscule – a very fine dust – that the wind would easily pick up and make airborne.
Children’s experiments showed that balloons released in Chatham became distributed hundreds of miles away and provided simple but eloquent proof of the potential widespread effects of airborne radioactive dust from uranium tailings.
Proponents of uranium mining would like to wipe the slate clean of the sorry epidemiological history and the terrible human costs associated with uranium mining and processing.
Aylor would have us forget the toxicity, the cancers, and the birth defects that are the legacy of uranium mining in the Navaho Nation of New Mexico and Arizona.
This was not during a period of “unregulated mining” as he avers. Thousands of pages of the federal record attest to the evasion of regulations by bankrupt uranium mining corporations which successfully avoided responsibility for this catastrophe.
Instead, we the U.S. taxpayers have paid millions in compensation to the victims, and the Navajo people continue to pay the high human costs.
The shadowy corporate structure of Virginia Uranium Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Canadian Yukon corporation, VA Uranium Holdings, Inc., according to the Virginia Environmental Law Journal, would virtually guarantee that the Commonwealth of Virginia and the U.S. government would be hard-pressed to effectively locate and prosecute perpetrators of an environmental disaster emanating from Coles Hill.
It is far from true that the Navajo uranium debacle “has no comparable parallel today” as Aylor claims.
Just look at the well-documented and ongoing cases of French uranium mining in the African country of Niger or the uranium mining city of Jadugoda, India.
These and other uranium processing operations around the world indisputably show that increased morbidity and mortality associated with environmental exposure to uranium byproducts of both workers and residents continues unabated.
To claim otherwise is fatuous.
Uranium mining corporations are unable and unwilling to effectively monitor their deleterious activities and ameliorate their historical disregard for human health.
I wonder about the timing of Aylor’s letter.
The pro-uranium initiative was turned back this year at the General Assembly by public outcry and Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining continues.
Why then this letter now?
One must surmise that the uranium mining advocates are re-grouping and hope to somehow get the last word in foisting their skewed, myopic, and self-aggrandizing agenda onto the rest of us, using personal attacks, intimidation, misinformation, and lots of money.
Let us respectfully but critically listen to what they have to say, always bearing in mind that, like Jefferson, we should “tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”
Noel T. Boaz, Ph.D., M.D. founded the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville.
Merricks will not seek re-election
http://www.newsadvance.com/go_
Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, said Wednesday morning he will not run for re-election this year.
Merricks represents the 16th District covering Pittsylvania County, part of Henry County and Martinsville. He has served since 2008.
Merricks told the Register & Bee that he wanted to focus more on his business, J.W. Squire Co., as he heads toward retirement.
"I need to spend more time here at the business," said Merricks. "The last several years have been difficult... With the economy and the business and everything else, it's been a bit hard."
Rather quizzically, Aylor’s re-quoting of the World Nuclear Association’s safety guidelines only reinforces my original point. Uranium mining and milling should never “pose a burden or threat to future generations.”
When powerful economic forces are at play, however, it seems quite common for mining corporations to circumvent regulations and turn a deaf ear to voiceless future generations.
We should keep in mind that Aylor works for Virginia Uranium Inc., has vested interests in their mining the Cole Hill deposit, and was undoubtedly paid to write his disingenuous letter to the editor.
He quibbles that some rocks near Mineral blocked earthquake shocks great enough to cause landslides in Pittsylvania County last year, while he ignores the much larger point that similar and larger magnitude earthquakes will occur with increasing certitude over the next century, millennium, or 50,000 years from now, the time frame during which uranium tailings will still pose a health risk.
Aylor assures us that the Chatham Fault, which runs right through the uranium deposit at Coles Hill, is “ancient and inactive.”
This very limited perspective is strongly informed by future endangerment of Aylor’s paycheck, not the probability of movements on this fault releasing radioactive waste and posing health risks to the current residents or future generations of this region of Virginia.
Like the state senator from northern Virginia who said he really didn’t care about future effects of uranium mining in Pittsylvania County because he wouldn’t be around in a hundred years, Aylor’s hypocrisy in touting the World Nuclear Association safety regulations on the one hand and immediately discounting them on the other, is appalling.
Aylor’s comment about “very heavy dust” resulting from uranium mining would be a clever little bit of linguistic sleight-of-hand if its implications were not so insidious.
Yes, uranium is the “heaviest” of the naturally occurring chemical elements, but this relates to the mass of its atoms.
The pulverized rock of the very hard and brittle Leatherwood granite that encloses the uranium ore would cause the grain size of the pulverized mine tailings to be miniscule – a very fine dust – that the wind would easily pick up and make airborne.
Children’s experiments showed that balloons released in Chatham became distributed hundreds of miles away and provided simple but eloquent proof of the potential widespread effects of airborne radioactive dust from uranium tailings.
Proponents of uranium mining would like to wipe the slate clean of the sorry epidemiological history and the terrible human costs associated with uranium mining and processing.
Aylor would have us forget the toxicity, the cancers, and the birth defects that are the legacy of uranium mining in the Navaho Nation of New Mexico and Arizona.
This was not during a period of “unregulated mining” as he avers. Thousands of pages of the federal record attest to the evasion of regulations by bankrupt uranium mining corporations which successfully avoided responsibility for this catastrophe.
Instead, we the U.S. taxpayers have paid millions in compensation to the victims, and the Navajo people continue to pay the high human costs.
The shadowy corporate structure of Virginia Uranium Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Canadian Yukon corporation, VA Uranium Holdings, Inc., according to the Virginia Environmental Law Journal, would virtually guarantee that the Commonwealth of Virginia and the U.S. government would be hard-pressed to effectively locate and prosecute perpetrators of an environmental disaster emanating from Coles Hill.
It is far from true that the Navajo uranium debacle “has no comparable parallel today” as Aylor claims.
Just look at the well-documented and ongoing cases of French uranium mining in the African country of Niger or the uranium mining city of Jadugoda, India.
These and other uranium processing operations around the world indisputably show that increased morbidity and mortality associated with environmental exposure to uranium byproducts of both workers and residents continues unabated.
To claim otherwise is fatuous.
Uranium mining corporations are unable and unwilling to effectively monitor their deleterious activities and ameliorate their historical disregard for human health.
I wonder about the timing of Aylor’s letter.
The pro-uranium initiative was turned back this year at the General Assembly by public outcry and Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining continues.
Why then this letter now?
One must surmise that the uranium mining advocates are re-grouping and hope to somehow get the last word in foisting their skewed, myopic, and self-aggrandizing agenda onto the rest of us, using personal attacks, intimidation, misinformation, and lots of money.
Let us respectfully but critically listen to what they have to say, always bearing in mind that, like Jefferson, we should “tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”
Noel T. Boaz, Ph.D., M.D. founded the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville.
Merricks will not seek re-election
http://www.newsadvance.com/go_
Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, said Wednesday morning he will not run for re-election this year.
Merricks represents the 16th District covering Pittsylvania County, part of Henry County and Martinsville. He has served since 2008.
Merricks told the Register & Bee that he wanted to focus more on his business, J.W. Squire Co., as he heads toward retirement.
"I need to spend more time here at the business," said Merricks. "The last several years have been difficult... With the economy and the business and everything else, it's been a bit hard."
