mining for uranium...

Virginia is my home state... just as California is the state I've adopted.

Several days ago, as I was driving home and listening to the news, there was a story about a new mining operation that wanted to overturn the moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia.

Uranium in Virginia?

I must admit, I'd never heard about it... I did know (having grown up and spent a great many hours running around the woods...)
Virginia is named for the Virgin Queen... Elizabeth I.
Virginia was one of the original thirteen colonies.
The state motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” Latin for “Thus Always to Tyrants” was the phrase John Wilkes Booth shouted as he assassinated Abraham Lincoln.
During the Civil War, some of the bloodiest military battles took place in areas around Northern Virginia.
The state flower and tree are the same... the American dogwood (Cornus florida).
Virginia’s state bird is the Cardinal.
George Washington (the first president of the fledgling United States) was born here, as was Thomas Jefferson. Other presidents also called the “Old Dominion” home, including James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and Woodrow Wilson.
Virginia is the 12th most populous state in the Union, inhabiting over 42,000 square miles.

I did not know that Virginia also contains (possibly) the largest untapped deposit of uranium in the world.

In the 1970s, a proposal was put forth to develop a mine in an area down in Pittsylvania, close to the border of North Carolina, which resulted in a statewide moratorium on uranium mining.

As more information has surfaced regarding the negative impact of uranium, more and more individuals are speaking out quite loudly against the onslaught by mining lobbyists at the legislative level.

Why is it so important to maintain this moritorium?

If uranium is released into the moist climate of Virginia, the result will be catastrophic on human/animal health as well as the environment. Radiation resulting from the mining operation will spread into surrounding areas, contaminating groundwater, and cancer rates in the affected area will skyrocket.

We’ve just experienced the greatest nuclear catastrophe to date... in Japan. (You notice, I said “to date” because radiation fallout is still occurring in Japan, although judging from news reports you would think it’s all behind us instead of just beginning...)

We know that uranium serves only one purpose. It's the mineral used for the production of plutonium and plutonium is used to fuel nuclear energy plants (oh... and nuclear bombs).

So the question is... do we really need to open another Pandora’s box? Does allowing mine development in this area serve the greater good? Or does it continue to line the pockets at the expense of the population?

You be the judge...