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The smell of uranium corruption in Virginia lawmakers’ acceptance of extravagant travel gifts

The pitch, in a word, stinks. If state legislators want to educate themselves about uranium mining, that’s commendable. But signing up for $10,000 or more in free travel expenses, although allowable under Virginia law, raises big questions about their integrity…...

A junket powered by uranium, Virginia Uranium Inc., a tiny Chatham-based firm that wants to mine uranium in south central Virginia near Gretna, is flying more than a dozen state legislators to France to drum up momentum to end the state’s ban on uranium mining in next year’s General Assembly.Washington Post 17 June 11By Peter Galuszka 

The lobbying effort includes all-expenses paid and three days off in Paris so the legislators can visit a closed uranium mine in the city of Bessines in western France, where uranium was extracted for a half a century until the late 1990s.

Virginia Uranium’s chutzpah is stunning. The four-year-old firm, led by a former Army and Foreign Service officer with no experience in the nuclear industry, had invited nearly all 140 state legislators, but most wisely declined. Those taking the trip this week include L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William), Del. Mark D. Sickles (D-Fairfax), Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton) and Del. William R. Janis (R-Goochland). Sickles told The Post that he is paying his own airfare and lodging.

The pitch, in a word, stinks. If state legislators want to educate themselves about uranium mining, that’s commendable. But signing up for $10,000 or more in free travel expenses, although allowable under Virginia law, raises big questions about their integrity……

The disaster raised questions about the future of global nuclear powerand the need for uranium. Germany, for instance, has announced that it will be shutting down all of its commercial nuclear power stations within a decade or so.

Add it all up and one wonders what is going on down in Chatham, or, for that matter, in the bars, restaurants and hotel rooms of Paris.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-opinions-are-local/post/a-junket-powered-by-uranium/2011/03/10/AGljaGZH_blog.html

June 19, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA