Virginia

[Kathy]

House panel rejects study of uranium mining

by Anita KumarWashington PostMarch 4, 2008

RICHMOND, Virginia -- Lawmakers concerned about land, air and drinkingwater contamination killed a proposal Monday that would have allowed a study of whether uranium can be safely mined on 200 acres in south- central Virginia, eliminating any chance that the controversial bill could pass this year.

After more than an hour of debate, the House Rules Committee defeated a bill that opponents argued would be the first step toward lifting a 25-year-old state ban on uranium mining. The decision was a blow to Virginia Uranium, a company that had aggressively lobbied the General Assembly to take the first step toward mining what is thought to be the largest deposit of uranium in the United States.

"I think caution is the best course," said Del. Clarke N. Hogan (R-Charlotte), whose district gets drinking water from the area. Hogan, a committee member, has been skeptical of the study for months and is widely credited with convincing other House members to oppose it.

The bill would have created a 17-member commission to oversee a National Academy of Sciences study. The company would have picked up the cost of the report, which had been estimated at $1 million or more.

If the study had shown that mining could be done safely, Virginia Uranium could have used it as leverage in asking the General Assembly to lift the ban on uranium mining.

"What's the harm in doing the study?" asked Buddy Mayhew, a Pittsylvania County tobacco farmer who came to Richmond to speak at the meeting. "Let's have a study. Let's have an independent study by a group that doesn't havea dog in this hunt. It's nothing to them either way."

The Senate had voted 36 to 4 last month to approve the study, with some senators saying they did not support uranium mining but did not mind studying the issue. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) also supported a study, and a state energy report released last fall recommended one as the global demand for alternative fuels grows. It is estimated there are 110 million pounds of uranium, worth almost $10billion, under Pittsylvania County. That would be enough to supply all of the country's nuclear power plants for about two years.

"We are in a big energy mess in this country," said state Sen. Frank W.Wagner (R-Virginia Beach), who introduced the bill. "If we don't want to develop our own energy sources, I think we're making a big mistake."

Virginia banned uranium mining in 1982, soon after the uranium was discovered underneath a plot of land used to raise cattle, hay and timber. Uranium has never been mined on the East Coast, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In the United States, it is mined in drier, less-populated areas in Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nebraska. Walter Coles, who owns much of the Pittsylvania tract, has said the mining can be done safely and in a way that would benefit the community through jobs, taxes and economic development. He did not speak at the meeting and declined to comment after the vote.

Environmental groups, including the Piedmont Environmental Council and the Southern Environmental Law Center, say uranium should not be mined in highly populated Virginia, with its relatively rainy climate. They say they are worried that radioactive materials could contaminate natural resources, cause cancer or other illnesses and have long-term effects on plants and animals.

"There is really a lot that Virginia Uranium needs to do before you take the first step in lifting the uranium moratorium," said Kay Slaughter ofthe Southern Environmental Law Center.

Just so you know the Saskatchewan experience, when a company or a pro-uranium mining government does a STUDY to determine if uranium mining is safe........ the final report always says it's safe. When our governments and health authorities look at the after effects of mining..... they always say it is safe.

Presently, here in Canada, we have companies like "Alberta Star" drilling test holes for uranium in our beautiful pristine North West Terriorties. Government reports have said the past mining practices have had no ill effect on the people or the land/environment....

A good documentary out there on the subject is called "Somba ke: A Money Place" and there is a website dedicated to it.... Check out the comments on this site to read about the Dene tribe medicine man who prophicized the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs - before world war II broke out!

Dr. Neil Cashman (PrioNet) stated at the PrioNet/Prion Institute seminar on CWD last thursday (Feb 28) that in regards to this disease, "we are looking at a process of crystallization". He then went on to comment about how "all of us should be very concerned about the caribou" [in context to his belief that CWD is spread from animal to animal and contamination of the environment with so-called infectious prions].

Yes indeedy, Neil, if Canada allows the mining of uranium in the North West Territories; it is guaranteed we will see a wasting disease in the caribou.

Virginia needs to protect itself from those that would turn it into a wasteland. The residents and agriculture producers of the area must also be aware that if uranium is in the ground, it is likely in their well water. Also, it could be leaking radon gas into the environment contaminating pastures (especially in low lying areas, as radon is heavy air).

Nuclear Power is Not the Answer.... by Dr. Helen Caldicott is an excellent read for those unfamiliar with the whole nuclear industry.

Jim Harding of Saskatchewan wrote a book called, "Canada's Deadly Secret - Saskatchewan uranium and the global nuclear system". This is a very detailed account of the political flip-flopping and sucking up to the uranium industry by Sask's provincial governments, as well as our Canadian Federal Government - who by the way, keep pouring millions of tax payers dollars into a WHITE ELEPHANT. Then they (Atomic Energy Canada Ltd) gives money to the Canadian Nuclear Society so that they can PROMOTE the industry. The CNS members really like to write letters to local papers saying how safe and wonderful nuclear power is. They lie and mislead with no shame. They are paid to do it!

People of the land must unite and stop the madmen of the nuclear fantasy from contaminating our homes/environment and food.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I hate to break it to you Kathy, but the uranium is already there. The background radiation from it is more dangerous than letting these companies remove the uranium to use for what scientists are now calling the greenest energy source available that only improves the environment.

 

[Kathy]

I hate to break it to you Liberty Belle, but from your comments, it appears you know nothing about nuclear power or the uranium fuel chain.

85% of the radioactivity in the ore is left in the mine tailings, which are left at the location where the yellow cake is refined. Northern Saskatchewan and Port Hope, Ontario are sacrifice zones.

Background radiation is nothing compared to the releases from these tailing piles alone.

As for the green-ness of nuclear fuel.... a fat lie! Do the research....

Nuclear power plants don't just magically appear, and the fuel rods don't just magically make themselves. Every process is C02 intensive, and nuclear power has no safe method of disposal of spent fuel rods. Another C02 intensive plan as they want to bury it in the Canadian shield or somewhere out of sight, out of mind.

Then there is the process of decomissioning the plants which hasn't been done yet. WHITE ELEPHANTS - they are called this for a reason.