Uranium Mining Offers Many Questions

Go, Terry!

Chatham Star-Tribune

Letter to the Editor

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:48 AM EST

After attending the uranium mining subcommittee's meeting in Chatham on Jan. 6 and hearing the concerns of area residents, I am still amazed how anyone could possibly believe that this is a good idea.

How can open pit uranium mining in Virginia be good? Did you not read in the paper and listen to the news about the worst coal disaster in history happening in Tennessee before Christmas? A holding pond malfunctioned and now their river is destroyed. Do you not think that the holding ponds that will contain radioactive uranium tailings can't possibly malfunction? If that happened, our Banister River could suffer the same demise. What will happen to the residents of Halifax County and residents all the way to Virginia Beach that get their drinking water from that river? What will happen to the wildlife that drinks from that river? What will happen to the fish?

Coles Road has been closed due to flooding just as recently as Jan. 8, according to the Virginia Transportation website. What happens to our groundwater when the tailings' ponds overflow due to excessive rainfall? What happens to the air when the yellowcake dust is blown for miles and miles on a windy March day? Ask the residents in Tennessee what it feels like to put your heart and soul into your home only to lose it in the blink of an eye.

There are approximately 320,000 people living in a 35-mile radius to Coles Hill. Does that sound like a sparsely populated area? We receive an average 42-44 inches of rainfall annually. If uranium mining is allowed in Pittsylvania County, are you so naive as to think that it will stop there? There is uranium all over Virginia and in North Carolina. If the moratorium is lifted, Pittsylvania County may be the first area mined, but you can rest assured that it won't be the last.

Do you think that anyone will still want to send his or her children to Hargrave Military Academy, Chatham Hall or Averett? Don't you think that your home values will plummet? As far as local job opportunities, how many local miners do you know?

Now let us consider the health risks. In the literature that I've read over the past year, it speaks of increased risk of birth defects and cancer in areas near uranium mines. Don't confuse this with living near nuclear power plants where the uranium used has already been refined. I am talking about uranium mining operations where the uranium is being extracted from the ground, mined and milled.

Virginia is a beautiful state. I was born here and have lived here most of my life. I live approximately 15 miles downwind and downstream from the proposed uranium site in Pittsylvania County. My family and my husband's family live approximately six miles from it. Uranium is not in short supply. If mined in Pittsylvania County, two years worth of uranium is not going to fix our so-called energy crisis. Have you seen a guarantee that, if mined, it will stay in Virginia? With Canadian companies backing this, how do we know that it won't be sold to the highest bidder? There are way too many unanswered questions and way too many environmental and health risks to allow uranium mining to be undertaken in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Please write to the members of the uranium subcommittee and voice your questions and concerns. Send correspondence by Jan.19 to The Coal & Energy Commission, c/o Ellen Porter, Division of Legislative Services, 910 Capitol St., Richmond, Va. 23219 or e-mail eporter@dls.virginia.gov. Also write to your local supervisors, delegates and senators. Say no to uranium mining in Virginia before it's too late.

Terry Andrews, RN

Halifax

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