Taking a stand

SCC Chairman response to: Taking a stand

By Published by The Editorial Board Published: February 15, 2009

"Resolutions oppose lifting the moratorium”… “Unless and until it can be demonstrated to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that there will be no significant release of radioactive sediments downstream or in the air …”

The resolutions are so many words - worth nothing! What is a "reasonable degree of certainty"? Define "significant"! Is this something that will kill only a predetermined number of people?

What we have now in Pittsylvania County, VA is "NO HARM" Currently, the mother lode of uranium is producing "no harm" to the people affected by this deposit. Or is it? Some folks are having their water tested. This has begun since before exploratory drilling began in the Coles Hill area. Their results are horrendous when it comes to human drinking water!

What will be the "reasonable degree of scientific certainty that there will be no significant release of radioactive sediments downstream or in the air …”

Who will decide what these "degrees" will be?

What about the other considerations: Social & economic institutions, both public and private? What "study" will address this? Who will determine the study parameters?

Currently, the uranium in this area causes only as much harm as the drilling and testing. This harm is approved by the state (of Virginia) without any regulations what so ever. This "exploration" cares not if the environment and/or people are harmed! It is not within the purview of the state licensing committee to question such things!

Resolutions need to be MUCH STRONGER! They need to accept nothing less than "NO HARM"! Even then, they are non-binding to the state and federal legislature.

So, to go on record with all concerned parties, nothing less than a permanent ban of uranium mining & milling in the Commonwealth of Virginia must be enacted by the representatives elected to protect the people!

From local towns and cities, to County Boards of Supervisors, and our State Legislature, this is what MUST be done to protect the people! Nothing else will do!

Why, because we do not currently have to worry about this plague except what might occur naturally in the environment.

Nothing less will than a "reasonable degree of scientific certainty that there will be no significant release of radioactive sediments downstream or in the air …” is what the politicians ask for. Nothing less than nature, the way things currently are, no harm from man made interference, no harm from mining & milling is what the people should, and do, demand of our elected and appointed officials throughout the Commonwealth!

Comments in BOLD are Shireen Parson’s comment to Editorial

Taking a Stand,

Uranium mining and milling is one of the biggest issues facing Pittsylvania County’s political leaders. But it’s also an issue over which they have little direct control. Richmond has the power, not the town councils in Chatham, Gretna and Hurt or the Board of Supervisors.
Oh really? The Declaration of Independence and the US and Virginia constitutions DO NOT declare that "Richmond has the power." On the contrary, those documents declare that the governing authority belongs to the people, and that governments at all levels act with the consent of the governed.

Still, that hasn’t stopped discussions, debates and even the passage of non-binding resolutions.
He got that right -- the resolutions are not laws -- they have no power. In essence, instead of standing up and exercising their governing authority to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of their communities and their environment, the municipal governments are begging the state legislature to do the right thing. And the state will NOT do the right thing.

What good is a non-binding resolution? Those resolutions will help to speak
for the people who live closest to the proposed mine and mill. "Help to speak..."? The people can speak for themselves, and they're saying NO URANIUM MINING. And they're demanding that their local elected officials stand up and do the will of the majority.

The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee is developing the state’s official study of uranium mining and milling. What? No mention of the fact that every member of the CEC is on the take from VUI?

But the uranium ore locked in the rocks beneath Coles Hill can’t be mined today because of a moratorium put in place by the General Assembly a quarter-century ago. The state study is important because it’s the first important step toward trying to get that moratorium lifted. The study is simply a rubberstamp to OK the development of a regulatory program for uranium mining in the state, which will be approved by the legislature, and the moratorium disappears -- poof!

So, where do local governments come in? They are closest to the people, and they are their constituents’ voice on this issue. Their discussions, debates and resolutions have already yielded some surprises. Local governments are not the people's "voice" -- they're the people's SERVANTS. They're only job is to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of the people and their environment.

The town councils in Gretna and Hurt not only want to be included in the state study, their resolutions oppose lifting the moratorium “… unless and until it can be demonstrated to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that there will be no significant release of radioactive sediments downstream or in the air …” A "reasonable degree of certainty"? Certainty is not a variable -- it's an absolute. Something is either certain, or it is not. "No significant release"? ANY release of heavy metals, toxic chemicals and radioactive materials is significant and unacceptable, and uranium mining ALWAYS releases those contaminants into the environment. These resolutions are meaningless.

Chatham Town Council is being asked to go beyond that by detailing what kinds of plans it would have for an emergency at Coles Hill, as well as the operation’s impact on the community’s history and heritage and Hargrave Military Academy and Chatham Hall.

"What kinds of plans" the town council would have for an "emergency"? Like a hurricane? Or flooding? Or an earthquake? Or an explosion gone wrong? Or a truck full of ore overturning into a local creek or river? Like the plans the county had for ensuring that its landfill wasn't leaking?

“We need something more than what the town of Hurt has done,” said Eloise Nenon, a founding member of Southside Concerned Citizens. Really? "Something more"? Like, maybe something that will actually protect the citizens and their environment? How about chemical trespass ordinances and a county ordinance banning corporations from mining uranium?

The Board of Supervisors, at the request of Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis, could take another look at their previous work on this issue. Davis is concerned about what a uranium mining operation would do to real estate values, businesses and educational and financial institutions. "Their previous work on this issue?" What have they done? Nothing! "Real estate values, businesses and educational and financial institutions" ? If they don't ban uranium mining, they can kiss them all goodbye.

“I think the Board of Supervisors needs to make a statement or two about how it feels about uranium mining,” Davis said this week.. The board of supervisors must do the will of the majority of citizens who elected them and who pay their salaries. They must exercise their governing authority and ban uranium mining.

Eventually, most local people will take a side in the uranium mining and milling debate. But for today, most Pittsylvania County residents appear willing to wait out the state’s study.
That’s a luxury their elected leaders don’t have.

County leaders have to lead on the uranium mining issue.

The majority of local citizens have already decided that they refuse to suffer the catastrophic effects of uranium mining. Their leaders must act in accordance with will of the people and ban uranium mining.
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Shireen Parsons,
Christiansburg, Virginia