This picture was taken at Coles Hill for the anti-mining group Southside Concerned Citizens on the morning of Sept. 6 after the area received nearly 4 inches of rain. By Published by The Editorial Board of the Danville Register & Bee and the Madison Messenger
Published: September 28, 2008
Southside Concerned Citizens brought the uranium mining debate to Danville on Thursday.
For too long, Virginia Uranium Inc.’s interest in mining and milling uranium ore has been framed as a Pittsylvania County issue. It’s obvious that uranium mining and milling six miles outside of Chatham will — if allowed by the state — affect the entire Dan River Region.
Already, the region has felt an economic impact from VUI, as local people and subcontractors have been hired to work at the Coles Hill site.
But members of Southside Concerned Citizens think the lasting legacy of uranium mining will be the spread of radioactivity in the air and water.
They believe uranium dust will enter the air we breathe as the rock at Coles Hill is broken apart by controlled demolitions. Those demolitions are a first step toward pulverizing the rock to get at the valuable ore locked inside.
Environmentalists also have been circulating photos of pooled rainwater and water flowing over public roads near the Coles Hill site to demonstrate how radioactivity from the mine site could work its way into local waters.
Uranium has been mined and milled (processed) all over the world. But in this country, it hasn’t been mined in a place like Pittsylvania County.
Our wet and sometimes windy climate, mixed with the area’s population density, is in stark contrast to most of the uranium mining and milling sites found in this country.
Virginia Uranium Owner Walter Coles Sr. said earlier this week that uranium was milled safely in Canonsburg, Pa., not far from Pittsburgh (no mining was done at the site).
While it’s true that uranium and other ores were milled at Canonsburg from 1911 until 1957, uranium still persists in the groundwater — as does the need for the federal government to watch over the wastes buried there.
“The encapsulated materials will remain potentially hazardous for thousands of years,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management. “… The disposal cell is designed to be effective for 1,000 years, to the extent reasonably achievable, and, in any case, for at least 200 years. However, the general license has no expiration date, and DOE’s responsibility for the safety and integrity of the Canonsburg Disposal Site will last indefinitely.”
That underscores the need for a state study of current uranium mining and milling technology.
For better or worse, mining and milling uranium in Pittsylvania County would affect the entire community. The people of Danville, Chatham, South Boston, Halifax and Gretna must pay attention to Virginia Uranium, the environmentalists, the health experts, the politicians, the industry’s historical record and the state of mining and milling technology today.
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