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While I agree that the state of Virginia needs to explore alternative means of producing energy, this area of the U.S. is not well-suited for uranium mining.
I have been studying the issue of uranium mining in this part of Virginia ever since learning a uranium mine was being proposed.
A few days ago, I read an article in the April 4 issue of USA Today regarding a California-based uranium exploration company that leased more than 1,000 acres of land in Slope County, N.D.
Slope County is located in southwest, N.D.
I became curious about how Slope county compares to Pittsylvania County and decided to do research, using very recent data.
While Pittsylvania County has a land area of 983 square miles, the average land area of Virginia's 95 counties is approximately 429 square miles.
This compares to the average land area of 1,334 square miles for the 53 counties that make up North Dakota.
Slope County has a population of 767, compared to the 61,745 residents in Pittsylvania County plus Danville city's 48,411.
If we could "place" those 767 Slope County residents into Pittsylvania County, there would be less than one person per square mile.
In comparison, including the combined populations of Danville, Chatham, Gretna and Hurt which totals 52,282, this figure for Pittsylvania County would be 107 people per square mile.
Another fact is that the only two listed towns for all of Slope County are Amidon (population 26) and Marmarth (population 140).
The five counties bordering Pittsylvania have an average county population of approximately 50,840. The six counties bordering Slope County have a county population average of 5,576.
The nearest and largest town to the proposed uranium site in Slope County is Bismarck, N.C. Bismarck's population of 55,532 is approximately 120 miles away from the mine site.
Traveling 120 miles in every direction from the proposed Pittsylvania County uranium site would "take in" too many population centers to list in this letter.
For example, the population of Roanoke is 94,911 and the population of Lynchburg is 65,269.
In addition, there is in excess of 1.2 million people living along the busy I-40 corridor between Winston-Salem, N.C., to the west and Wake Forest, N.C., to the east.
All three populated areas are less than 120 miles away from the proposed Virginia mine site. A look at a map will show more examples.
There are other comparisons to make between a uranium mine proposal in Slope County, N.D., and a uranium mine proposal in Pittsylvania County.
One comparison is the average yearly rainfall. The rainfall in Slope County is just a third of the rainfall in Pittsylvania. Science tells us this area of Virginia is too wet for uranium mining.
Another example is state ranking in population. Virginia ranks 12th in population while North Dakota ranks 47th.
In conclusion, I see these comparisons as things the Virginia General Assembly needs to seriously consider.
I hope I have made my point.
Why are we even considering uranium mining in this part of the USA?
Tod Hoffman
Chatham
http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2008/08/13/chatham/opinion/opinion05.txt
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