Who Pays and Who Profits ?

Reprint from the Danville Register and Bee

Can you put a price tag on your health and safety, air that you breathe and water that you drink? If you could, what might that figure be?What if someone else was assigned to put a value on your health? Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to put a price tag on these very items on your behalf.The company will be lobbying to have studies conducted to determine if the mining of uranium and the disposal of tailings (radioactive waste) can be done safely in Pittsylvania County. VUI will be comparing apples and oranges regarding other mining situations in Saskatchewan, Canada, and Colorado - and hoping that the General Assembly won’t notice.

What does safely mean? No health or environmental consequences, or some? How much “some” is acceptable to you? How much “some” is acceptable to VUI? How much “some” will be acceptable to Virginia’s General Assembly?So how much “study” does one need? A little? A lot? How does the General Assembly know when all appropriate studies have been conducted to ensure your health and safety? Who will conduct the studies? How do we know their agenda will be purely scientific?How much will the General Assembly or VUI be willing to pay for such studies? Do you think the commonwealth or VUI will want to spend a little or a lot for these studies?Who will pay for the regulatory agency to oversee the mining and disposal of radioactive wastes? What if the state or VUI can’t afford - or won’t adequately fund - implementation of the safety measures the studies reveal?Who will pay your medical bills if there is contamination due to windborne or waterborne radiation or other pollutants from this venture?What happens when mining is complete and radioactive wastes are lying in the ground, profits have been made and investors have moved on?

Hopefully, if VUI doesn’t declare bankruptcy, there will be funding for monitoring and clean up of any contamination. Of course, if bankruptcy or some other funding failure occurs, you will pay for monitoring and clean up.In addition to health and environmental issues, monetarily this appears to be a lose-lose situation for you and the commonwealth of Virginia.

If they get the General Assembly’s blessing, I visualize the VUI board and investors sitting on the branches of bare December trees like vultures waiting for the kill and swooping down to pick the bones of the carcass of Southside. They can fly South when things get rough. They’ll be able to afford it. Will you?

Where do our elected officials stand on this issue? Ask them. Then, tell them you do not want to degrade your health and environment by mining uranium and disposing of radioactive wastes in Pittsylvania County. No need to conduct studies. Mining and disposal of radioactive wastes in Pittsylvania County is a BAD, BAD, BAD idea.

KAREN B. MAUTE
Mount Cross