Thursday, September 3, 2009

Virginia Uranium Inc. will pay for mining study

Comment: This blog like the comments after the article but has removed the blogger's names! Their comments are informational about the crooked so call "uranium mining study in Virginia"!

By John Crane

Published: September 2, 2009

The chairman of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission says Virginia Uranium Inc. will pay for the state study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the commonwealth.

Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-1st District and chairman of the VCEC, said he will send a letter to the National Academy of Sciences to let officials there know VUI will fund the study.

Kilgore said he understands concerns about VUI financially backing the study, but the NAS’s research abili-ties are “great.”

“I think they will come out with a good study, a thorough study,” Kilgore said Wednes-day.

So far, the sole entity that has expressed willingness to pay for the study is VUI.

“It looks like that’s our only option,” Kilgore said.

The study’s first portion, which will examine the technical and public-safety aspects of mining and milling, will cost between $1.2-$1.4 million, Kilgore said. Virginia Tech’s Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research will implement funding and will contract with the NAS for the study. The study’s first phase should begin by the end of the year, Kilgore said.

VUI seeks to mine and mill a 119-million pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Walter Coles Sr., VUI chairman, said he has expressed willingness to provide funding for the study since the beginning, but has not spoken to Kilgore.

“We’ve had this offer on the table since day one,” Coles said, adding that he hopes the VCEC will continue to look for other funding sources.

Mining opponents say a study paid for with VUI money will not be objective.

“It certainly reduces the credibility of the study in a hurry,” said Eloise Nenon, a founding member of Southside Concerned Citizens. Nenon said the NAS is known to be pro-nuclear.

“The study is going to be tainted by the money,” said Jack Dunavant, SCC chairman. “We know this would happen all along.”

The study’s second part would focus on mining’s socio-economic impact, in-cluding effects on real-estate values and businesses, Kilgore said. The VCEC will seek another institution, such as George Mason University or James Madison University, to perform the second portion of the study. Kilgore said the second phase would probably begin in early 2010.

The scope of the study’s first phase includes, among additional items, examination of public-safety and health impact of uranium mining and milling; review of the geologic, environmental, geographic, climatic and cultural settings and exploration status of uranium resources in Virginia; identification and description of the main types of uranium deposits worldwide, including, for example, geologic characteristics, mining opera-tions and best practices; a review of global and national uranium market trends; a review of the state and federal regulatory framework for uranium mining, milling, processing and reclamation; identification of the issues that may need to be considered regarding the quality and quantity of groundwater and surface water and the quality of soil and air from uranium mining, milling, processing and reclamation; as relevant, water and waste management and severe weather effects or other stochastic events may also be considered.

Reader Reactions
Posted by ( j ) on September 03, 2009 at 8:12 am


I have said since the very beginning that this “study” was already written and lying on Walter Cole’s desk, just waiting to be delivered to Richmond.

What a blatant example of how stupid they think we all are. It’s insanity for the state to allow the very entity which will profit from this to submit the report on the “safety” of uranium mining, which is also ridiculous since there is no “safe” mining of any type. It’s another glaring example of the arrogance of government. (anyone paying attention here?)

Aside from the very real cancer-causing risks of having open-pit uranium mining in our area, there are also economic dangers. Tourism, what little we have, will grind to a halt. Who wants to vacation at the uranium hole? There is also the huge expense involved with perpetual(that means forever) monitoring of the massive piles of radioactive waste which will be stored right in our backyard, again FOREVER.

Unfortunately and tragically, by the time the local pro-mining lunatics discover the very real risks from having a uranium mine in their backyards, it will be far too late to do anything about it and an apology won’t suffice.

The only local people who stand to profit from this are the GREEDY families which own the land. The rest of us only stand to inherit the polluted wind…and water…and land.


Posted by ( h ) on September 03, 2009 at 5:07 am


Good grief, has all levels of government lost a sense of rational thinking? How is this going to be percieved as an unbiased study?


http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/virginia_uranium_inc._will_pay_for_mining_study/13632/

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