Newspaper Recognizes The Battle Lines

(From the Editorial Page of the Danville Register and Bee 12/10/07)


The first shot
Danville Register and Bee
December 10, 2007

Battle lines are being drawn on the uranium mining issue in Pittsylvania County, even as some local residents profess to know little about the issue.
For Southside Concerned Citizens, a regional environmental group, the issue is pretty simple: “… we have concluded that there is no way that it can be done safely.”
That’s a bold statement, considering that it’s not even known which of the three main mining techniques would be used to take the uranium ore from the ground at Sheva, a rural community about six miles northeast of Chatham.
Uranium is a naturally occurring, radioactive substance. Uranium ore is used to make the fuel for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.
“The promise of new technology to protect us from this mining venture does not exist,” SCC Chairman Jack Dunavant said in a news release. “This venture is simply a rehash of the original 1980s plan to mine at this same site with a little window dressing. There is simply no way on God’s green earth to do it safely.
”Southside Concerned Citizens has two big reasons for that pessimism: The uranium mining industry’s environmental history, and the fact that uranium isn’t mined anywhere that has Pittsylvania County’s terrain, annual precipitation and population density.
Environmentalists are also keenly aware that the uranium deposit hasn’t caused any problems just sitting in the ground. In fact, a Virginia Tech professor wants to study the site to learn more about how Mother Nature keeps such a dangerous substance in check.
But mining the uranium would likely end any chance of learning more about the site’s secrets because it would disturb the surrounding layers of rock and soil.
Perhaps most damming, Southside Concerned Citizens believes both the state and federal governments have a long track record of not protecting people from industrial pollution. That strikes at the heart of this issue because government regulations would decide how the local uranium deposit would be mined. If you don’t think the government can or will protect you, it doesn’t matter what regulations and rules those governments come up with.
Southside Concerned Citizens has developed arguments all the local opponents of uranium mining can embrace. The lines are being drawn over the uranium mining issue because so much is at stake for everyone involved.

The environmental argument--
Uranium has never been mined in a similar geologic area - and never east of the Mississippi River;
-- The uranium at Coles Hill is encased in rock which has prevented it from leaching out to contaminate our air and water, but mining will uncover the rock mantle, releasing large amounts of radioactive contamination;
-- State and federal governments have failed consistently to protect the people and environment from industrial pollution;
-- Toxic dust from the radioactive tailings pile will inevitably travel many miles;
-- The Coles Hill deposit is located in the Banister River watershed, which eventually feeds into the Atlantic Ocean;
-- Uranium has a half life of 100,000 years, it cannot be cleaned up or neutralized and there is no way to safely dispose of uranium waste products;
-- Radiation is cumulative in the human body, meaning that it stays with you for life;
-- Corporate greed far outweighs corporate concern for human life; and
-- Property values will surely decline if uranium is mined in Pittsylvania County.
- Source: Southside Concerned Citizens

Editorials are the consensus view of the Danville Register & Bee's editorial board -Publisher Steven W. Kaylor, Editor Arnold Hendrix and Opinion Page Editor Robert Benson.