Maute:Virginia Uranium Violates County Ordinance

SCC Cites Virginia Uranium for County Ordinance Violations

At the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night, SCC member Karen Maute cited numerous violations of the county’s Waste Ordinance by Coles’ Virginia Uranium, Inc. She spoke during the Citizens Input-section of the board’s meeting and, by custom, no response was forthcoming from the board members.

However, the cited violations of Chapter 29 of the Waste Ordinance appear to be obvious and serious and include:
· Article 1 defines “disposal” as “placing any solid waste ….into or on land or water so that said waste may enter the environment ( i.e. air, soil, surface water or ground-water). The current storage method in a tin shed seems to meet the criteria specified.
· Article 3, Section 3.0 requires anyone disposing of “commercial waste…hazardous waste…low-level radioactive waste…nuclear waste…solid waste…toxic waste…etc” to first obtain approval of the board of supervisors. This has not been done.
· Section 3.2 requires a public hearing, of which none has been held.
· Page 18 requires that any drill cuttings whose radioactive readings are in excess of the immediate background surface readings must be removed from the site for appropriate disposal or storage, or, buried no less than 3 feet below ground surface to insure that the radiation readings are the same or no less than background surface readings. Since VUI expects the cuttings to be above surface level readings, this puts their on-site storage of cutting material in violation of the Waste Ordinance?
SCC Chairman Jack Dunavant stated today that he will provide members of the board, the county administrator, and the ordinance compliance personnel with printed copies of the complaint. “We expect that the county elected and appointed officials will exercise due diligence and perform their duties as per the counties own regulations”, he continued. No court action is anticipated at this time.