“What we need to do is say, ‘Stop! No! We don’t want this!'”
That was the advice of Linda Carr Muller, chair of the Rappahannock Group of The Sierra Club, who cautioned members of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club at its Nov. 15 meeting, that highly funded industrial interests are determined to undermine Virginia’s 30-year-long ban on uranium mining.
“Virginia is for lovers of a clean environment, a healthy environment,” Ms. Muller said. She warned that approval of uranium mining is a threat to the quality of air, land and water throughout the Commonwealth and would be detrimental to farm products, fishing and tourism.
Almost all of Virginia’s local governments, including Orange County and the Town of Orange, have passed resolutions to oppose lifting the ban.
The uranium mining ban went unchallenged until recently, when the cost of uranium began to rise and the uranium industry began to lobby state legislators to allow mining operations.
Twelve thousand acres of land from Orange County north through Fauquier County have been identified as potential mining sites.
“It’s a very serious issue,” Ms. Muller said. “This represents one of the gravest environmental exposures that we have.”
She urged citizens to call and write their state delegates and state senators to demand that they oppose lifting the ban on mining.
Since 2008, Ms. Muller said, Virginia Uranium Co. has donated $364,000 to members of the General Assembly in the form of campaign contributions or travel and gifts. The purpose of these donations, she said, is to influence the decision of whether the ban should be continued. The issue is expected to come before the session of the General Assembly that convenes in January 2013.
“People like you and other organizations have said, ‘You know what? We don’t want this here! We value our health; we value our land; we value our water!’ ”
Ms. Muller urged club members to become better informed on the issue by visiting the following Web sites:
- Keep the Ban — A group of state and local environmental organizations supporting the ban on uranium mining
- Piedmont Environmental Council — Covering the regions of Albemarle, Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock
- Southern Environmental Law Center — Environmentally focused legal advocacy covering the states of Virginia, North Careolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama
- Virginia Chapter Sierra Club — Part of the National Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization
- Virginia Conservation Network — More than 100 environmentally focused nonprofit and community groups
- Virginia League of Conservation Voters — The Virginia organization part of the League of Conservation Voters
- National Academy of Science “Uranium Mining in Virginia” study
- Uranium Working Group — Established by Gov. Bob McDonnell in January 2011