Halifax County Chamber opposes uranium mining in Southern Virginia

Chamber adopts anti-uranium resolution Halifax County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has gone on record adamantly opposing uranium mining in the commonwealth. Gazette Virginian 7 Oct 12,
According to Chamber President Nancy Pool, the board adopted an anti-uranium resolution during its Sept. 27 meeting.

The Halifax County Chamber of Commerce created a task force in 2008,
as requested by then Delegate Clarke Hogan, to study the issue of
uranium mining in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The task force sought questions and concerns from local citizens,
interviewed a number of people, did extensive reading and research and
ultimately created a report titled “Community Concerns Related to
Uranium Mining in Virginia” released in December 2008, Pool said. ….
According to the resolution, since 2007 a number of studies have been
completed by reputable sources such as the National Academies of
Science, Chmura Economics and others, and the county chamber also has
sponsored its own thorough review of uranium mining.

In the chamber’s review, the resolution states it was determined the
uranium mining industry has experienced widespread, frequent and
repeated environmental excursions which have contaminated groundwater
and aquifers with toxic materials.The findings also reveal predictive
modeling by mine operators has often been unreliable with the
consequence that initial permitted environmental standards, judged
appropriate and protective of health, frequently have been violated.

Remediation of contaminated groundwater and aquifers to their original
state has proven to be expensive and rarely successful in full
restoring water quality as well, the resolution states…. It is
necessary for the ban to continue on mining uranium since both
Pittsylvania County and Halifax County have considerable annual
rainfall and net precipitation, have experienced frequent severe
weather events, a recent earthquake and have a hydrogeological profile
that will present difficult challenges to the mine operator, the
resolution states.

Also the moratorium’s continuance is necessary because both
Pittsylvania and Halifax counties have significant populations that
reside in proximity, downwind and downstream from the proposed mining
site….. And finally, chamber directors believe it is absolutely
certain no assurance can be given that uranium can be mined safely in
the commonwealth at the Coles Hill site without incident and that no
harm will be imposed on the health, economy or environment of Halifax
County or any other locality in southern Virginia.

The General Assembly may hold a vote on lifting the mining ban in
early 2013. http://www.yourgv.com/index.php/news/government/6418-chamber-adopts-anti-uranium-resolution