Safety and accountability are nonpartisan priorities

June 18, 2012

The News & Advance reports, "A state panel that is amid a wide-ranging examination of the prospect of uranium mining in Virginia is headed to the Southside county where a proposal to mine one of the world's largest deposits of the radioactive ore has ignited a fierce environmental debate. The Uranium Working Group will outline its progress to date and hear from the public during a meeting Monday in Chatham."

Progressive Point: Virginia's economy is strongest when focused on sustainable solutions such as continuously improving our infrastructure and creating new jobs in the growing renewable energy industry. Our Commonwealth's government is most accountable when its meetings and processes are open to the public. Mining for uranium puts Virginia families at long term risk for a short term corporate payout.

Virginia Uranium is paying over a dozen high powered lobbyists to try to gloss over the risk uranium mining poses to our supply of clean drinking water. The General Assembly this year failed to lift the ban thanks to the severe risks that uranium mining creates.  Bob McDonnell's push to regulate uranium mining out of site of public scrutiny risks Virginians health for the sake of campaign donors' profits. Safety and accountability are nonpartisan priorities.

Get the Facts:

• In response to anti-transparency criticism, Gov. McDonnell announced a meeting on the issue but gave less than 24 hours notice. (Washington Post, April 4, 2012)


• Virginia Uranium, the company seeing to mine uranium in Virginia, has hired over a dozen lobbyists from five different firms and has donated over $150,000 to political campaigns in the last 4 years. (VPAP)


• "The Uranium Working Group's work plan presented at a March 7 meeting of the Uranium Mining Subcommittee drew instant, sharp criticism for its lack of transparency, which was deemed particularly reprehensible in light of the report by the National Academy of Sciences, which told us that international best practices are 'founded on principles of openness, transparency, and public involvement in oversight and decision-making.'" (GoDanRiver.com, April 1, 2012)


• Del. Donald Merricks, Del. Danny Marshall III, Del. James Edmunds, Del. Tommy Wright, and Sen. Frank Ruff all said in a letter to Virginia's General Assembly that the risk of uranium mining to the people of Virginia and its environment is too great and that the ban should not be lifted. (Virginian-Pilot, January 3, 2012)


• A recent NAS study validated the concern that a flood, hurricane, or earthquake could result in an uncontrolled release at a uranium facility--all three of which Virginia has experienced this year. (Cale Jaffe, senior attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, Keep the Ban, December 19, 2011)

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