The Virginia Coalition is a diverse group of current Southside Virginia job creators who are concerned about the health of our employees and workforce, as well as our future ability to recruit new companies and employees into the region given the health implications of uranium mining. We are CEO's, business owners, entrepreneurs, economic developers and current and former legislators who have a simple request: READ The Reports before voting on a matter with such far reaching ramifications.
The risks to our health are too great to rush the vote!
Uranium has never been mined in Virginia, and our wet climate presents a totally different set of risks than those in the more arid Western US.
Virginia is unprepared to regulate the uranium mining industry and inadequate oversight would pollute Virginia for many generations.
Uranium waste is radioactive for thousands of years and must be contained on-site indefinitely.
The first proposed site alone would generate at least 28 million tons of uranium waste – enough to fill 145 Super Wal-Marts.
The water supply for over 1.9 million people in Virginia and North Carolina is at risk of contamination.
Exposure to uranium has been linked to cancer and respiratory diseases and can exert toxic effects on bodily functions.
Uranium mining and milling and its risks continue to leave residents asking questions about what would happen if Virginia Uranium Inc. develops the Coles Hill site.
About 200 people packed the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research on Tuesday night to hear the findings in the National Academy of Sciences’ report on uranium mining in Virginia and to ask questions of study panel members and staff.
Repeatedly, study committee chairman Paul Locke told residents many of their specific questions regarding impacts of the proposed Pittsylvania County project would need to be answered by a site-specific study.
“Nothing is as important as a site-specific study,” said John Cannon, chairman of the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority and president of The Virginia Coalition.
Cannon said he’ll take the questions raised at the meeting to legislators and a state workgroup that would be studying the issue and drafting a regulatory framework as requested
...Virginia Uranium Inc. doesn’t plan to ask for money from the Tobacco Commission, the Governor’s Opportunity Fund or any other economic development incentive program to start its uranium mine and mill in Pittsylvania County.
That doesn’t mean that uranium mining in Virginia isn’t going to come without any cost to Virginia’s taxpayers — and the meter is now running.
Gov. Bob McDonnell recently announced that he would ask the General Assembly to delay action on lifting the state’s moratorium for another year. That position only makes sense, because most of the studies on uranium mining have only been released in the last few weeks of 2011. There simply hasn’t been time for Virginians — including the 140 members of the General Assembly — to read and fully understand the issues raised by those studies.
But McDonnell, who envisions Virginia becoming
...Credit: BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH
Del. R. Lee Ware Jr., R-Powhatan, chairman of the state's uranium panel, said the governor's action will allow officials to make an informed decision.
Gov. Bob McDonnell asked the General Assembly on Thursday to retain Virginia's uranium mining ban — at least for another year — so state experts can study a proposed mine site in Pittsylvania County.
Legislators were expected this session to consider lifting Virginia's 30-year mining ban, but little momentum emerged for the change. The governor's action appears to push that decision back to 2013.
"Before we make any decisions about whether or not to proceed down the path to development, we must be certain that uranium mining can be conducted safely and responsibly," McDonnell said in a statement.
Next year is also when Virginians vote for a new governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 House members. That could add an extra
...
“Mining is an inherently dangerous activity. Uranium is an inherently dangerous mineral,’’ McDonnell told reporters. “So before we go forth . . . it seemed to me the prudent course of action was to keep the moratorium in place and then see whether or not we can develope a regulatory construct.’’
State legislators, who are split on uranium mining, have largely deferred to McDonnell on what was expected to be one of the most contentious issues in this year’s 60-day General Assembly session . In essence, McDonnell neutralized the moratorium issue for the year even if legislators introduce mining bills.
The state Coal and Energy Commission ’s uranium subcommittee recommended to McDonnell this week that the state continue to study the issue.
Virginia Uranium, the company seeking to mine the site in Southside, had lobbied aggressively to lift the ban this year, speaking to more than 100 legislators and flying more than
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