In Pittsylvania Co., Uranium Would Benefit a Few, But Would Endanger Many

From the current Chatham Star-Tribune:


Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:19 AM EDT

Recently, I had cause to search records in the Pittsylvania County Clerk's Office on Marline Corporation, the entity which started the uranium mining effort in Pittsylvania County in the late 1970s-early 1980s and went bankrupt.

I found several pieces of information which were quite interesting to me though I do not know if others will be interested.

First, in the early 1980s Marline leased the parcels of land on which the uranium deposits were located, and these leases were recorded in the clerk's office.

Believe it or not, there was not a single entry made at that time in the indices of the clerk's office using the word "Marline"! (This was before the tenure of the present clerk.)

So if anyone thinks government officials are going to protect the public if mining is done, that fact should be a wake-up call.

So how did I find the records? Last fall the treasurer of Pittsylvania County put these leases up for sale for delinquent taxes - after only about 25 years - and these sales are indexed in the current records of the clerk's office.

I am sure everyone will be shocked to know that Walter Coles was the purchaser of these leases.

Secondly, what interested me about these leases was the boundary line described in several leases.

Specific phrases were "center line of Mill Creek as it meanders"; "an iron placed on the southwesterly bank of Mill Creek"; and "to a centerline in Mill Creek."

These phrases referred to plots ranging in size from four and one-half acres to 10 acres.

Norman Reynolds, an official of Virginia Uranium Inc., has been quoted in a local newspaper article as stating the uranium mine could be 850 feet deep.

It would seem to me to be especially dangerous to dig a hole 850 feet deep on a four-acre parcel of land which is bounded on one side by a creek, or any size such similarly located parcel, for that matter.

This creek would have the potential to pollute with radioactive waste the Dan River, Staunton (Roanoke) River, Kerr (Buggs) Island and the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina, which would contaminate the Atlantic Ocean.

Somehow, it seems to me it is going a little far to allow the personal financial interests of a few to set up a situation with the potential to endanger the welfare of so much of the Earth.

Hildred C. Shelton

Danville

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2008/07/24/chatham/opinion/opinion30.txt