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41 organisations join to stop uranium mining in Virginia

“There are just too many questions and potential risks of radioactive and toxic materials contaminating our streams, rivers and drinking water. With all the storms and hurricanes we get, this is the worst possible place you could put a uranium operation.”

Coalition to keep the ban on uranium mining in Virginia growing statewide
, THE GAZETTE VIRGINIAN, 15 May 11, An organization called Keep the Ban Coalition on Thursday launched a statewide effort to keep the existing ban on uranium mining in Virginia. Representatives on the coalition include the NAACP, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center and numerous activists from across Southside Virginia.The Keep the Ban Coalition said Thursday it has the support of 41 localities and organizations that have joined the growing statewide movement urging the Virginia legislature to resist an industry push to lift the state’s ban on uranium mining as early as next year. ncluded among supporters are the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce and Southside Concerned Citizens.

Other civic groups range from the Medical Society of Virginia to the Reston-based National Wildlife Federation, whose membership passed a national resolution of support in April.

Local governments that have passed “keep the ban” resolutions range from the Town of Culpeper to the City of Virginia Beach and include Halifax County Board of Supervisors and Halifax Town Council.

The coalition also launched a statewide petition drive, starting with 1,000 signatures of Virginians who support keeping the ban on uranium mining, and launched a new website, http://www.keeptheban.org, aimed at raising awareness of the health, environmental and socio-economic impacts associated with uranium mining, milling and waste disposal.

Uranium has never been mined commercially in the East nor in a predominantly wet-climate region of the United States like Virginia.
“Virginia has had a ban in place on mining uranium for nearly 30 years and for good reason,” said Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville-Henry County NAACP and leader of the Sierra Club Keep the Ban Team, Martinsville. “There are just too many questions and potential risks of radioactive and toxic materials contaminating our streams, rivers and drinking water. With all the storms and hurricanes we get, this is the worst possible place you could put a uranium operation.”

The uranium industry is lobbying to lift the ban and begin mining uranium in Virginia, starting at a major deposit at a Pittsylvania County site called Coles Hill, first discovered in the late 1970s. …..
Another concern is the severity and frequency of storms in the region, which could damage uranium facilities and potentially wash contaminated storm water and uranium waste into nearby water resources.

In the last 40 years, nine hurricanes and countless other major storms have deluged Virginia.  In 1969, Hurricane Camille dumped 31 inches of rain on central Virginia.

This April, at least 30 tornadoes were recorded in Virginia, including one in Halifax County about 20 miles from the Coles Hill site.

Virginia Beach, which gets its drinking water from Lake Gaston, downstream of the Coles Hill site, recently released the findings of its $437,000 study which concluded that a catastrophic failure of a uranium waste containment structure at the site could contaminate the city’s drinking water for as long as two years.

Roughly 1.2 million people in Virginia and North Carolina rely on the Roanoke River system downstream of the Coles Hill site for drinking water……
Municipalities and organizations in support of the ban

• City of Virginia Beach,

• Creedmor County, N.C.

• Floyd County

• Halifax County,

• Granville County, N.C.

• Orange County, N. C.

• Town of Culpeper

•
Town of Halifax

•
Town of Henderson, N.C.

• Town of Hurt,

• Town of Franklinton, N.C.

• Town of Warrenton, N.C.

•
Vance County, N.C.

• Warren County, N.C.

• Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

• Buggs Island Striper Club

• Dan River Basin Association

• Halifax County Chamber of Commerce

• Keep the Ban

• Chesapeake  
UBAN,

• Floyd County Keep the Ban

• Norfolk
Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments

• League of Individuals for the Environment, Inc.

• Martinsville-Henry County Chapter of the NAACP

• Medical Society of Virginia

• National Wildlife Federation

• North Carolina Roanoke River Basin Advisory Committee

• North Carolina Wildlife Federation

• Roanoke River Basin Association

• Piedmont Environmental Council

• Piedmont Residents In Defense of the Environment

• Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club

• Sierra Club Keep the Ban Team

• Martinsville
Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter

• Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project

• Southern Environmental Law Center

• Southside Concerned Citizens

• Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts

• Virginia Bass Federation

• Virginia Conservation Network

• Virginia League of Conservation Voters

Coalition to keep the ban on uranium mining in Virginia growing statewide


May 16, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | opposition to nuclear, Uranium, USA