By Published by The Editorial Board, Madison Messenger and Danville Register & Bee
Published: October 7, 2008
To the editor:
If Virginia Uranium Inc., is so certain uranium can be mined and milled safely at Coles Hill, then it is their responsibility to prove that assertion.
I have attended their “informational” programs, and found that they talk a great deal about nuclear energy production and very little about uranium mining and milling, thus avoiding the hard topics that are at the heart of this matter.
They like to cite Canonsburg, Pa., a town where there was at one time a uranium mill — but not a uranium mine — as a place where uranium production has been done safely. The taxpayers footed the bill for a massive cleanup in that town, and the radioactive dump must still be constantly monitored at a huge cost — also paid by the taxpayers.
This will be the case basically forever.
This is not an example of anything other than a careless mistake which has been covered up, a festering wound that must be constantly attended to.
Virginia Uranium wants us to believe that a “study” will reveal somehow that uranium can be safely mined and milled at Coles Hill. They want us to believe that the toxic byproducts — the radon gas, the hundreds of tons of radioactive dust, the millions of gallons of radioactive water they would create — can magically be rendered harmless. They may actually believe in their hearts that this is somehow true. But it is not. Like The Wizard of Oz, they don’t want us looking too closely behind their curtain of smoke and mirrors.
The long-term health and safety of the citizens of Pittsylvania County and Southside are not the concern of Virginia Uranium Inc. Their real concern is the billions of dollars they will gain — a gain that will be at the risk of causing a huge environmental disaster with which we will all have to live and for which we will all have to pay — not only in dollars, but also with our health and the health of generations to follow.
VUI must do two things before they can expect to be taken seriously. First, they must show us a real plan for how they intend to proceed with this mining, a specific plan of action which spells out how they will keep the citizens of Pittsylvania County and Southside safe. Then, they must show us real examples of places where uranium has been mined and processed safely. Thus far, they have done neither, because they cannot. No one can.
JESSE ANDREWS
Halifax
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