A very involved, extremely dedicated SCC affiliate sent me the following information:
What happens if the House passes the amendment in the budget bill for the DMME to plan for developing mining regulations for uranium, but kills SB525 that says a study must be done before regulations are put in place?
Has the state now just put us all in the position of shooting ourselves in the foot if we don't support the study bill?
If the study bill is killed, and the DMME has a whole set of uranium mining regulations to propose in 2009, what's to say someone won't propose legislation to adopt those regulations WITHOUT a study??? Saying they have gathered their own evidence and documentation within the past year to show this can be done while safeguarding residents and the environment?
After today's organizational meeting of the Chatham chapter of SCC, my personal response would be .............Who cares?
As a group, we have come to the point that what does matter is the following:
we need to focus all energy and expense on that which we CAN control or realistically affect.....namely, the local governing bodies
we need to elect those who support our positions to town councils, city councils, county supervisor boards, school boards, sheriffs, treasurers, etc. If we they can be elected, they need to be ours!
we need them to pass "chemical and corporate anti-trespass ordinances”.
we need them to pass anti-uranium mining and drilling ordinances.
we need them to appoint people who support our positions to local planning commissions, local boards of zoning appeals, local health department boards, etc
we need to solicit doctor and nurse associations to oppose mining
we need to solicit hunt clubs, gun clubs, etc to oppose mining
As we have become aware and determined today, ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL in terms of impact and importance!
Then, when we control the LOCAL politics, we will control our destiny and no corporation and no state legislature will be able to do anything about it!!!!!
At that point, we will have won!!!!!!
Please help us in any way you can towards this objective. You can play a decisive role here. We must CONVINCE our local public that VUI's economic argument is false; that there will be no real economic gain for the current residents in the area.
The ECONOMIC argument is the ONLY reason we do not have an angry mob in front of town hall; as they did in Halifax. People really want to believe that hundreds, thousands of GOOD jobs are coming with the mining, because they want the jobs for themselves or family members.
The reality is that mine workers and staff will be imported from elsewhere until the mine dries up and the only real jobs for locals will be low-paying service industry jobs.
That is where your skills can help us!!! Help us prove that contention with real-world, real-time results elsewhere!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs004.htm#emply
This is the link to the US Dept. of Labor that Mr. Coles is fond of quoting although usually somewhat out of context.
If you open the link and scroll about 1/2 way down, you'll see just how many actual people are employed in mining in the US. There's a table that shows that nearly 80% of all US mining operations have fewer than 20 workers. Yep, that's right...less than 20.
Southside cannot be duped into believing that a uranium mine will bring hundreds of jobs into the area. It may bring in hundreds of robots but robots don't pay taxes or buy homes or contribute to their communities in meaningful ways. UMI will bring in its own people for administrative jobs...it will bring in some of its own miners. It's not going to supply hundreds of Southside citizens with meaningful employment...or with any employment.
And if it is, then perhaps Mr. Coles should quote Dept of Labor statistics more pertinent to the uranium mining industry, not the mining industry in general.
Smidgen Barnes
Louisville, KY
Post a Comment