Where Are the Farmers?

Danville

Where are the farmers?

To the editor:

Why has our local Farm Bureau been silent on the issue of uranium mining? Why would some local farmers invest in Virginia Uranium Inc., knowing that they will contribute to the demise of farming — the largest industry in Pittsylvania County?

A Jan. 20, 1985, (Marline era) newspaper article quotes former Delegate Glenn McClannan, D-Virginia Beach, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, as stating he felt uranium could be mined safely but “concerns about it, unfounded or not, could damage the state’s farming business.”

I disagree with his opinion that uranium can be mined safely largely because no one anywhere in the world has proven mining, milling and tailings storage/disposal to be “safe.” I do agree that there is great potential to irreparably damage the farming industry if mining, milling and tailings storage occurs.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I invite you to view a picture on the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy’s Web site at http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/DMM/UraniumFig5.pdf

Here you will see an aerial view of Virginia Uranium Inc.’s exploration footprint. Keep in mind, this depicts only the area of exploration. It will not show the actual areas that will be open-pit mined or shafts that may be tunneled under “protected areas.” You will not see the surrounding acres of family-owned farms and the town of Chatham only a few miles away.

You will see farmland that will be lost for decades, if not forever. How might uranium mining, milling and tailings storage affect farmers around, downwind and downriver? A “study” will not be able to determine the impact that uranium mining will have on Virginia’s farming industry. Where are the spokespersons for Pittsylvania County’s largest industry? Where are the farmers?

KAREN MAUTE

Mount Cross