Beware of uranium’s Midas touch

Comment: Ms. WORSLEY, great letter, we want to say: HECK NO, WE WON'T GLOW!!!! Ban Uranium mining & milling now!!

By Published by The Editorial Board
Published: June 5, 2009

To the editor:

I am so frustrated by our populace’s belief in the uranium mining “study.”

Study of what? How much money the investors of a Canadian company will make? How much money Walter Coles and his friends will make? How much money everyone other than these people will lose by being subjected to the loss of their livelihoods and lives by having one of the most hazardous and toxic businesses in the world located in their backyards?

Please, wake up and fight, folks. We need every voice.

We, the citizens of Virginia — and more narrowly, the citizens of Pittsylvania County — have been described by Norman Reynolds (Virginia Uranium CEO and the CEO of Santoy upon the transaction’s closing), as being “… very nuclear friendly, … it’s a state that is very comfortable and supportive of nuclear energy.”

I guess what hit me here was where this quote was referenced — in an article on the Web site http://www.midasletter.com, an investor’s online newsletter. Most of us know the story of Midas — everything he touched turned to gold.

But if you read the “rest of the story,” here’s how it goes: Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched an oak twig and a stone; both turned to gold. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table.

“So Midas swelled at first with pride when he found he could transform everything he touched to gold; but when he beheld his food grow rigid and his drink harden into golden ice then he understood that this gift was a bane and in his loathing for gold, cursed his prayer.”

In a version told by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Midas found that when he touched his daughter, she turned into a statue as well.

Is this our future by allowing the uranium bulldozer to roll?
Just say no.
And you better say it loud.

LINDA WORSLEY
Chatham



http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/beware_of_uraniums_midas_touch/11499/