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We are a group of environmental advocates united in providing a one-stop source for Virginia's environmental news. We each focus on different issues, but share the vision of a Commonwealth that preserves and protects its natural resources. Please join us!
I wanted to let readers of Article XI know about an online discussion occuring this week on The RoundTable, the blog for The Roanoke Times editorial board. The topic is a new state law that expands the rights of coal companies to use vacant mine shafts for storage of waste and other activities related to active mining operations nearby.
Two guest writers have weighed in on the topic: Dan Radmacher, former editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times, and Thomas Hudson, president of the Virginia Coal Association.
You can read commentaries about the issue and join in the conversation at blogs.roanoke.com/roundtable.
News Release
For Immediate Release January 26, 2012
CONTACT: Glen Besa 804-387-6001
Sierra Club, Appalachian Voices hold Funeral for the Mountains Outside Coal Industry's Legislative Reception in Richmond
"We're here today to tell the coal industry, Governor McDonnell and legislators that we oppose subsidies to the coal industry in Virginia," said Glen Besa, Virginia Director for the Sierra Club. "Today, in southwest Virginia, coal companies are blowing up mountains, destroying communities and displacing families and getting Virginia taxpayers dollars to subsidize these actions."
Mountaintop removal coal mining is a form of mining in which the tops of mountains are blown up with explosives and then huge earth moving equipment is used to push the debris or overburden into adjacent stream valleys so that the miners can get to the thin coal seams in the mountain at the least expense. More than 2000 miles of streams have been destroyed in Appalachia as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Before the General Assembly yesterday was legislation that would end the tax credits for the coal industry (HB 446 by Toscano) and which would extend the coal tax credits (HB 1192 by O'Quinn). A subcommittee of the House Finance Committee voted yesterday to extend the coal tax credits that amount to over 30 million of taxpayers' dollars per year through 2020.
"The coal tax credits are simply tens of millions of dollars a year in corporate welfare," said Tom Cormons, Virginia Director for Appalachian Voices. "Virginia needs to dedicate these funds to economic diversification efforts that actually create jobs rather than giving them away to the shareholders of big coal and utility companies."
Demonstrators outside the Omni Hotel in Richmond held a mock funeral for the mountains complete with a casket and bag piper playing "Amazing Grace". Governor McDonnell was to address the Coalfields Regional Legislative Reception at the Omni Hotel in Richmond as the demonstration took place. Demonstrators read the names of the more than sixty mountains that have already destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining.
"Virginians do not know that their tax dollars are being used to blow up mountains in southwest Virginia," said Besa. "We're here to shine a light on this practice and let Governor McDonnell know this is not right."
A recent report found that "Pennsylvania's natural gas industry and its trade groups spent $3.37 million on lobbying between January and September 2011." During the same timeframe environmental groups spent $178,909. That's an 18 fold difference in spending between PA's natural gas industry and Pennsylvania's environmental groups interested in human and environmental health.
Similar lop-sided spending ratios can be seen throughout the country. In Virginia in particular, the flood of congressional lobbyists under the wing of one company, Virginia Uranium Inc. is a testament to the enormous spending disadvantage that Virginia's environmental groups have related to industry giants. But environmental groups in Virginia have something that money still can't buy on an effectively sustained basis: the power of people to mobilize around particular issues and affect the eventual outcome.
Once cynically scoffed at by executive heads of powerful energy companies like Dominion VA Power, the power of the people has manifested itself in effective political ways over the past year, culminating in one of the people's biggest victories on the human and environmental health front: the delay of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
While it's true that the environmental community in VA alone put a lot of valuable time and effort into mobilizing people around the Keystone XL pipeline, it was a policy victory that even some within the environmental community didn't foresee. It's the power of the people, stupid!
Our democratic political system rises and falls on the legitimacy of its political institutions. Even though Citizens United unleashed the spending frenzy of big corporations from across the country, our political leaders are still beholden to the majority will of the people. Thus, if the people come out and get involved in issues important to their lives, there's the strong potential to make a significant public policy impact that can help build a better future in Virginia and the country as a whole.
Success in the environmental and human health arenas won't be easy. But with sustained participation and enthusiasm, "we the people" can gain a greater portion of the reigns to our future. The future is ours for the taking, so let's take it!
A vigorous, healthy democracy with active voters is our best insurance against the special interest money of polluters who actively lobby to weaken our clean air and clean water standards.
For that reason the Sierra Club considers voters' rights as environmental rights, and this legislative session we will oppose bills that attempt to restrict citizens' access to the ballot.
Requiring photo identification to vote is an effort by Republicans to suppress the vote in Virginia in advance of the November 2012 election. SB 1 (by Senator Steve Martin) and HB 9 (by Del. Mark Cole) would require photo ids rather than other forms of identification like a voter registration card, a social security card or even a birth certificate. Ostensibly, this is to guard against voter fraud even though there is no evidence of voter fraud linked to false IDs.
On the other hand, as many as 11% of American adults do not have a photo ID, many of them elderly. When you stop driving, your license expires and many former drivers have no need to secure a new photo ID. These citizens and registered voters will now be denied the right vote the next time they go to the polls.
For all Americans who believe in democracy this legislation is a affront to our basic right to vote and you should let your state Senator and Delegate know you disapprove.
EPA's first inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions finds Dominion-Virginia Power to be the state's
Biggest Climate Change Polluter
Following a year of bizarre and destructive weather, the US EPA has just released its first inventory of large emitters of greenhouse gas emissions. The data available on a searchable website shows Dominion-Virginia Power to be the state's largest emitter of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The top three polluters in Virginia were all Virginia Power coal fired power plants: Chesterfield, Clover and Chesapeake Power Stations.
"We are pleased that Dominion is proposing to retire several of its oldest and dirtier coal units," said Glen Besa, Virginia Director for the Sierra Club. " Last September, Dominion announced the retirement of both the Chesapeake and Yorktown coal plants which among the top ten polluters in Virginia.
"The retirement of the Chesapeake and Yorktown coal plants is welcome news except that Dominion has announced its intention to replace that electricity with new gas fired power plants," said Besa. "Natural gas is cleaner than coal but it still is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, also in the top ten of the state's biggest polluters is the Tenaska Virginia Generating Station, a gas fired power plant in Fluvanna County ranked at number nine. "
"Our reliance on fossil fuels, coal, natural gas and oil, all contribute to climate change," explained Besa. "That is why it is critical that we begin the transition away from these fuels that are disrupting our climate and contributing to sea level rise. "
The inventory shows that 74.5 % of our greenhouse gas emissions from large emitters in Virginia come from power plants.
"There is an alternative to disrupting our climate, inundating our coasts and polluting our air," said Besa. "Wind and solar technology that we have today can move us along a path to a clean energy future. In building that future, Virginia will see thousands of new clean energy jobs. It is just a matter of political will."
"Unfortunately, if we wait too long to begin this transition to clean energy, the economic and human costs of climate change will be overwhelming. Just consider the costs of seawalls and levies throughout Hampton Roads, an area second only to New Orleans in vulnerability to sea level rise," stated Besa.
Del. R. Lee Ware Jr. (R-Powhatan) recently stated that mining for uranium in Southside VA will be a "marquee issue" during the next session of the General Assembly starting on January 11.
If it already wasn't clear that uranium mining could shape up to be one of the most divisive and important issues in VA politics since the issue of slavery, you just heard from one of the horse's mouths.
The recent release of the National Academy of Sciences report on uranium mining in VA appeared to both vindicate those in favor of uranium mining as well as those opposed.
The NAS pointed out that there are substantial risks involved in the mining of uranium, especially in VA's case, but that these risks could be reduced through the use of "modern mining techniques."
Of course, an assumption made by the NAS is that companies who mine and mill the uranium ore will be willing and able to pay for modern mining techniques both now and decades into the future. There's absolutely no certainty this will occur.
But notice also that risk cannot be eliminated, merely reduced. Reduced to what, you may ask? Unfortunately, the risks involved with uranium mining and milling are ubiquitous and difficult to quantify for the purposes of measurement and ultimate reduction.
If you really want to know why so many Virginians fear and oppose uranium mining and milling in our state, one only needs to look at the human and environmental health track record of mining and milling efforts across the country over the past 30 years. The results are as grim as the lungs of coal miners.
No amount of economic development and energy independence can give back the lives that are cut short due to mining and milling uranium ore.
Would you want one of your family members in a uranium mine or at a uranium milling facility?
It's good to know that state agencies like the State Corporation Commission have the best interests of the public in mind. Yes, I'm being sarcastic.
Regulators with the State Corporation Commission (SCC) did the people of the commonwealth a huge favor by only allowing half of the price increase sought by Virginia Natural Gas ($25.1 million). The agreement between VA Natural Gas and the SCC gives the former a $11.3 million rate increase. This increase translates into an extra $3.47 per month for the average residential consumer.
VA Natural Gas has over 275,000 customers in southeast VA, a section of VA that is not ripe with wealth to begin with.
Here's the issue my fellow Virginians. We are subsidizing what is essentially a middle-man for our natural gas needs on an inappropriate scale. Couldn't our state government do this? Isn't sustaining our way of life in VA something of a public good?
Why exactly are rates for natural gas distribution being increased, anyways? Last I checked there was plenty of natural gas to go around and to keep prices steady, if not declining.
Here's another issue: the SCC has clearly allied itself with the energy industry above and against the people of VA. If a government institution is not allied with the people that it is established to serve then that institution is no longer legitimate and should be dissolved or reformed.
The people of VA are tired of being dumped on by the powers that be inside the energy industry. Making a profit is one thing. Exploiting your customers is another.
The Virginia Department of Forestry recently released their 2011 State of the Forest report which concludes that VA has lost 16,000 acres of woodlands every year for the past ten years.
According to Charlie Becker of the VA Department of Forestry, the primary cause for the loss in woodlands is development. However, invasive species have also played a considerable role.
Among the invasive species which pose the greatest danger to forest health include gypsy moths and the emerald ash borer.
All of this might be well and good, but you may be asking yourself, why should I care?
As the State of the Forest report touches upon, the emerald ash borer in particular could end up costing VA millions of dollars if the problem isn't dealt with. That is, millions of taxpayer dollars.
Most Virginian's would agree that VA's natural environment is worth preserving for aesthetic, historical, moral, and economic reasons. Thus, it's worth our time, attention, and money to address this growing problem before it's too late.
Addressing this issue may be all the more difficult given the seemingly inevitable environmental budgetary cuts taking shape over the next fiscal year.
If you're concerned about Virginia's forests, give your legislators a call and let them know that sacrificing our state's forests is unacceptable. If we settle for nothing now, we'll probably settle for little action later.
On Tuesday, Gov. Bob McDonnell stated that public safety overrides the possible economic gains stemming from uranium mining in Southside VA. For Virginians in the south, this is particularly good news. For the commonwealth as a whole, this should also come as a breath of fresh air.
While Gov. McDonnell's announcement is far from a renouncement of uranium mining in Southside VA, it does leave the door open for the status quo on the uranium mining ban to hold.
For the past two years in particular, Virginia Uranium has thrown a slew of lobbyists into the legislative mix to influence VA legislators regarding their decisions on whether or not to lift the ban on uranium mining.
With all of the lobbyists hounding at the doors of VA legislators, however, the decision on whether to retain the ban may come down to the concern Virginians publicly show towards uranium mining.
If Virginians concerned about the possible human and environmental consequences get involved in the debate over uranium mining, and in particular voice their concerns to their respective legislators, then the default position on lifting the ban may fall towards the status quo.
For anyone in VA who doesn't feel like they have or will have a voice in this debate, I'd like them to know that they do. In fact, your involvement may be the difference between an environmental and human health disaster and a more reasoned approach towards uranium mining in VA.
So please take a few minutes out of your day to get involved and let your voice be heard. Virginia still has a republican form of government and ultimately your concerns do matter.
Just as responsible parents wouldn't rush into making potentially life-altering decisions regarding their children, so to shouldn't responsible legislators of the General Assembly rush into making decisions about the future of uranium mining in Virginia until further research has been conducted and the legislators themselves have had time to digest the plethora of studies, analyses, and reports that have sprung up over the last two years alone. Putting residents of Virginia at risk is the antithesis of what our state government has been set up to do.
But even before residents of Virginia look at each analysis as equal in objectivity, we each have to ascertain who actually paid for each analysis and what their interests are in having the analysis performed. What are the interests and motivations of those seeking to lift the ban on uranium mining? What are the interests and motivations of those seeking to keep the ban in place?
Greed has all too often blinded those who have sought to undertake one project or another to the true consequences of their actions. Money is a powerful force that can turn facts into fiction, temperance into excess, and civility into rudeness. What's at stake in the case of uranium mining in Southside Virginia, however, are the lives and well-being of thousands of Virginians in southern Virginia. The potential for this issue to affect millions of additional Virginians is ever present, but little discussed, as well.
The VA Sierra Club recently called out Gov. Bob McDonnell for his expensive and seemingly all pervasive road-building projects throughout the commonwealth while proposing less expensive alternatives.
One proposal by the VA Sierra Club would scrap the current proposal for the Route 460 toll road, a $2 billion gargantuan project that would link Suffolk and Petersburg with a four-lane road. As if a four-lane road by itself would decrease congestion!
The VA Sierra Club proposed instead to promote funding for safety and mobility upgrades towards the current highway and creating the Patriots Crossing project.
Not surprisingly, Gov. McDonnell's office defended the proposed Route 460 transportation project, claiming that Gov. McDonnell is "committed" to a safe and efficient system of transportation.
Notably, the words "green," "clean," or "renewable" were not mentioned in the defense of the McDonnell transportation projects.
Yes, McDonnell has advocated for a few clean energy alternatives and paid lip service to safe and efficient systems of transportation, but the truth is that in order to really increase safety and efficiency you have to take drivers off the road. You do that by promoting car-pooling, public transport, and other alternatives to driving solo.
It probably sounds like heresy to ask Virginians to give up their freedom to drive their cars. But if Virginians and Gov. McDonnell want greater safety and efficiency, that's what they'll have to do.
In the meantime they could start by following the alternatives proposed by the VA Sierra Club, an organization that's stood the test of time for a reason: they are usually right.
Just yesterday, Governor Bob McDonnell announced that he was throwing more state money at the Coalfields Expressway in Southwest Virginia, a boondoggle road project of the first order. Worse yet it is an abuse of the state government's power of condemnation to benefit coal companies like Alpha Natural Resources. Local property owners will see their land condemned so that coal companies can get at the coal under their land using the pretense of building a road. Governor McDonnell is directing VDOT to condemn land for the benefit of private coal companies.
The proof of this abuse is evident in the Governor's announcement in which he discloses that the developer of the Coalfields Expressway is not a highway contractor but the coal company Alpha Natural Resources. It is also important to note that Alpha Natural Resources made over $270,000 in campaign contributions in 2011, $192,000 to Republicans including $50,000 to Governor McDonnell's Opportunity Virginia PAC and $77,000 to Democrats. This is the kind of shameful abuse and back dealing that erodes public confidence in the integrity of government.
The uranium subcommittee of the Virginia Commission on Coal and Energy recently discussed the Chmura study, released last week, with an audience in Southside VA. The Chmura study assessed the socioeconomic impacts of uranium mining. It's one of many that has the potential to sway the General Assembly's decision on whether or not to lift the ban on uranium mining in VA.
At the meeting, audience members were given the opportunity to ask questions regarding the study.
The final conclusion of the Chmura study was that jobs would be created through the milling and mining of uranium, but there would also be a stigma associated with farming and tourism.
But there was never really any question about whether uranium mining in VA would create jobs. Of course it would.
The real questions are, what kind of jobs would be created and how many?
Since Virginia doesn't have a trained workforce specializing in the extraction and milling of uranium ore, Virginia Uranium Inc. (the major company vying to lift the uranium mining ban to mill and mine the substance) would either have to train Virginians to do these jobs or more likely, bring trained workers from Canada or elsewhere to do many of the most skilled jobs.
Here's another question rarely asked, do Southside Virginians even want uranium mining in their part of the state? The answer has been overwhelmingly "no."
So if Southside Virginians don't want uranium mining taking place in their section of the woods, what gives any company the right to go ahead with the extraction and milling of uranium for "economic development?"
It seems that in 21st Century Virginia, individual rights and liberties are only respected if they do not impede economic growth.
At the Virginia Conservation Network's General Assembly preview at the Capitol Building in Richmond on Saturday, the agenda for conservationists and lovers of human health was laid out for the upcoming General Assembly session beginning in January.
The 2012 General Assembly session stands to be another year of tough battles for the conservationist community as issues such as clean energy credits, uranium mining, the Chesapeake Bay restoration, and a number of other important environmental issues face tough and well-financed opposition groups.
The case of uranium mining in Southside Virginia will perhaps be the most hard-fought and consequential issue for the lives of thousands, if not millions, of Virginians. If the ban on uranium mining is lifted, opponents of uranium mining say that it is only a matter of time before the drinking water for over a million Virginians is contaminated with radioactive "waste."
Given the close proximity of the Coles Hill uranium mining site to communities and large living areas in every direction, not to mention a number of important bodies of water, it's difficult to imagine how such a novel form of uranium mining and milling would be undertaken without disastrous consequences.
Were uranium to be mined and milled in Virginia, it would be the first such case in a state with more rainfall than evaporation, creating a level of uncertainty about the safety of the entire process that simply cannot be ignored.
A point that should be stressed is that if the General Assembly decides to lift the ban for uranium mining only in Southside Virginia, it will only be a matter of time before the exception of Southside VA becomes the rule throughout the entire state. That is to say, uranium mining could spread throughout Virginia. Do you want that in your backyard?
On a windy but otherwise nice Wednesday afternoon, the VA Sierra Club, in conjunction with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) and volunteers, met at the front of Dominion VA Power's headquarters in Richmond to protest its efforts to kill clean energy in VA.
After stipulating its reasons for protesting in front of Dominion's Richmond headquarters, the groups marched to the VA State Corporation Commission to deliver over 2,500 signed petitions that made clear the demand for clean energy in Virginia.
But for Virginians who want clean energy to make a considerable dent in VA energy landscape, the road to that goal won't be an easy one. Dominion has made it clear through its actions that it is willing to spend more money promoting its green intentions (i.e. marketing) than actually implementing clean sources of energy that Virginian's can use.
Dominion VA Power is not above the economic laws of supply and demand. The supply of clean energy technologies is readily available as well as the demand for these technologies in VA. If Dominion does not get on board with the demands of Virginians, Dominion will not only lose the good-faith of its customers (even more than it already has), it will eventually lose out on the opportunity to take advantage of the "green wave" that will soon overtake America's "energy portfolio."
The James River Association, a nonprofit conservation organization, recently released its biennial report on the health of the James River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. This new report will provide an update to its 2009 report findings.
In 2009, the James River Association gave the James a C-plus based on habitat assessments, wildlife, and pollution.
However, in the wake of stark state environmental budget cuts and the possibility of a Republican taking over the Oval Office in 2012, the outlook for improving upon impressive gains made in the James River seem remote.
While the McDonnell administration reluctantly engaged in the TMDL negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency in 2010, the administration will no doubt be even less inclined to aggressively spend the money and time on cleaning up a river that many within the Republican Party of VA somehow think is doing fine or simply not worth the expenditures.
If the McDonnell administration chooses to ignore or deprioritize the cleaning of the James River, it would be an episode of fiscal hypocrisy when you take into consideration the amount of time and money that has been spent already on restoring the James River.
Virginia has already made a commitment to see one of its state treasures restored. We have to see it through, budget cuts, Republican presidents, or not.
"Going green" seems to be a tough chore for Dominion VA Power. Dominion recently announced that it will pay $5,600 in civil fines for a 700 to 800 gallon fuel oil spill that occurred at its Yorktown Power Station on Nov. 1, 2010, hardly more than a slap on the wrist for Dominion.
The fine is expected to be paid as soon as the Virginia Water Quality Control Board pulls the measure through the formal bureaucratic process.
The latest incident of Dominion's highlights the uncertainties inherent in the extraction and transportation of oil, natural gas, uranium ore, or any other natural resource. The only problem with these natural resources is that "leaks" can have serious human and environmental consequences, consequences from which there may be no short-term remediation.
Moreover, given the temporary nature of many mining and extraction companies in particular, the logic of capitalism would dictate against long-term efforts at remediation oftentimes necessary to completely "clean up."
While Dominion VA Power is an exception in that it has firm roots in Virginia, its centrality to Virginia's economy and close political ties with many levers of government give pause to the idea that coherent regulations can reduce or eradicate environmental disasters arising from negligence, incompetence, or complete disregard of environmental safeguards.
700 to 800 gallon fuel oil spills, and other related incidents, by Dominion hardly seem like a simple mistake. It is a systemic problem that should be addressed immediately before there is no natural world left to value.
"The earth is not dying. It is being killed, and the people killing it have names and addresses." --Utah Phillips
At this moment we are flying over the continent of Africa on our way to the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa. In a cruel twist of cosmic and human injustice, the residents of the continent of Africa who have contributed so little to the glut of greenhouse gases how heating our planet are among those hardest hit by climate change.
Desertification, drought, floods and famine are now caused and intensified by climate change. These not so natural disasters only worsen the political instability and the human suffering in many parts of Africa. These severe weather events only stand to get worse until my country, the USA, gets serious about addressing climate change.
This is the 17th UN Climate Conference and the 4th I have attended at the urging of my wife Tyla Matteson. At each conference, we learn that climate science is yielding ever more dire warnings at the same time that the political will among our "leaders" to take meaningful action only seems to diminish. We meet people from all over the world working for climate justice, many of whom are already impacted by climate change.
It might be easy for Americans to be depressed, fatalistic, feel guilty or practice denial about the looming disasters associated with the major shifts in the climate that are only a generation or two in the future. After all, as Americans and as the planet's all time big polluters what can we do in the face of a well-financed disinformation campaign sponsored by the wealthiest corporations in the world - the oil companies?
The political influence of the oil and coal industry allows them to destroy the planet and inflict incalculable suffering on present and future generations while the fossil fuel sector makes exorbitant profits that they plow back in to lobbying, campaign contributions and outright bribery in some countries to sabotage political progress on climate change. You have to wonder how they can sleep at night.
The top strategic priority of the Sierra Club is to confront the dominance of coal and oil on the American economy, politics, and our environment. That is exactly what we must do: confront and defeat a oil and coal industry that puts greed over the long term well being of our planet and all the people and living things that inhabit her.
So get motivated, get involved and work to save the planet and to defend present and future generations that are counting on us. We have allies across the world--get to know them. Failure is not an option. Let's go!
It seems as if the VA State Corporation Commission was established to provide big businesses like Dominion VA Power virtually every demand they think up. On Wednesday, the commission did just that as it gave permission to Dominion to add a charge for large-scale residential solar customers.
The "stand-by" charge will be applied to customers of Dominion Virginia Power with solar systems of 10 kilowatt hours or greater.
Dominion didn't completely get its way, fortunately. The State Corporation Commission was gracious enough to spare Dominion's solar customers from a generation charge that would have been compounded with a transmission and distribution charge as well.
Dominion has estimated that the standby charge would "only" apply to a "handful" of customers.
The number of customers that the standby charge applies to misses the point entirely, however. What Dominion has done is taken away incentives for residential customers to "go solar" so that Dominion can retain its hefty monopoly over energy supplies, among other unpraiseworthy reasons.
It's time for Virginians and lovers of the environment and human health to stop playing nice with Dominion. Dominion has used the trust of its customers to string them along with false promises and dirty energy solutions.
The writing on the wall is clear: Dominion will only move rapidly towards renewable sources of energy if Virginians take action to voice their demands for renewable energy. Only then will profits take second seat to the potential of a fervent customer backlash across the state.
In what has become one of the few non-uranium mining industry reports on the possible effects of the proposed uranium mining and milling projects at Coles Hill, the Roanoke River Basin Association (RRBA) released its own site-specific report.
In brief, the report concluded that the uranium mining site at Coles Hill would lead to long-term and "chronic degradation" of water quality while increasing competition for water in the Roanoke River Basin.
The report comes a month before the National Academy of Sciences is set to release their own report on the potential effects of the Coles Hill uranium mining site.
The recent report released by RRBA was completed by longtime researcher and manager of water quality, Dr. Robert Moran.
Despite the uranium mining industry funded studies which have concluded that uranium mining at the Coles Hill site poses few credible dangers, Virginians know intuitively that operations like these do not occur in vacuums. That is, the chances of radioactive uranium tailings entering local water sources are far from remote.
Amid the claims and counterclaims regarding the safety of uranium mining in Southside Virginia, one can hardly give credence to the conclusions of an industry with so much to gain from the lifting of VA's moratorium of uranium mining. As with most things in our own time, you only need to follow the money to gain a better picture of reality.
But if the ban were lifted in VA, the reality for many Virginians in Pittsylvania County would undoubtedly become bleak fairly quickly.
VA should seek diverse forms of energy to power its future. There is, however, a right way and a wrong way. Without reservation, lifting the ban on uranium mining would be categorized under the latter.
Clean water is something that many of us take for granted. However, imagine for a minute that your drinking water comes from a source where toxics regularly find their way into. Moreover, imagine that those responsible for making sure your drinking water is safe for consumption have relinquished their duties for complex political reasons.
While many such examples exist throughout the U.S., there's one particular example in VA around the Blacksburg area where a recent meeting called by the Environmental Advocates of the New River Valley met to discuss their options for confronting this issue.
The RAAP (Radford Arsenal) has been cited by the EPA for a number of environmental violations, violations which constitute a health risk to those drinking from water sources where RAAP toxics eventually make their way. Unfortunately, some of the toxics make their way into the New River via its estuaries and possibly into the drinking water of thousands of Roanoke residents.
To date, it doesn't appear like much has been done to tackle the problem on the part of the EPA, the VA Department of Environmental Quality or any of VA's relevant elected officials like Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner or Congressman Cantor.
The phrase, "if we settle for nothing now, we'll settle for nothing later," is as true for this issue as it is for any other. If we do not take action to clean up our state's drinking water now, we might as well throw in the towel for the hope of healthier water systems throughout VA.
The time to take action is always in the here and now.
Does Virginia Tech's Board of Governors know something the rest of Virginia doesn't about the potential for uranium mining in VA's southern region?
On Monday, VA Tech's Board of Governors gave the go-ahead to a proposed master's and doctoral degree program in nuclear engineering, paving the way for more trained workers in the nuclear industry in Virginia.
According to VA Tech, the proposed graduate and doctoral degree programs could start as early as 2013 if they are also okayed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
Of course, maybe these new programs are simply the result of existing market forces which will need a newer generation of trained nuclear engineers as the older generation heads into retirement.
However, the programs proposal comes at a moment in Virginia's political timeline when the issue of uranium mining in southern VA is to be decided next year.
Given this pending decision and Virginia Tech's ties to Virginia Uranium Inc. (the primary company lobbying for a lift to the ban on uranium mining in VA), the decision to create a set of higher-level nuclear engineering programs seems more than a coincidence.
Let's hope for the sake of all Virginian's that nuclear engineers won't be needed to fill any new nuclear-related positions anytime in the foreseeable future, unless, of course, it's to decommission those already in existence.
VA's Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, has made it clear that he doesn't like protecting human and environmental health.
Cuccinelli also sinned against his own party when he used public funds (i.e. the tax dollars of Virginians) to sue the Environmental Protection Agency and to pursue an unwarranted case against a former University of Virginia climate scientist.
But with the potential for the VA Senate to swing back into the hands of the VA Republican Party, the Cuccinelli agenda may finally have the decisive and devastating impact that he has attempted to inflict since the beginning of his tenure as VA Attorney General.
If the thought of Cuccinelli and his agenda wielding more power in VA's government sounds scary, your anxiety is absolutely warranted.
VA has the resources and public support to become one of the most economically and environmentally progressive states in the country.
Unfortunately, public figures like Cuccinelli and their policies would not only roll back environmental health firewalls, they would ultimately roll back economic growth as well, defeating their own goals inadvertently.
That's because environmental health is a prerequisite for the business success of numerous industries in VA, like the utility sector, the farming sector, the industrial sector, and the list could go on.
Of course, if Cuccinelli has his way, the average worker in VA would see his or her health deteriorate amidst the increased level of toxins in the environment. Poor worker health leads to poor job productivity.
The choice is clear, vote Democrat and vote for human and environmental health this Tuesday.
Posted by Lee Crockett of Pew Environment Group October 31, 2011
Anglers like me are often impressed with size. We seek out the largest fish, revel in stories about the "big one" that got away, and proudly display photos of our most impressive catches. But it's a small, unassuming fish, the Atlantic menhaden, which forms the backbone of ecosystems and economies along the East Coast of the United States. Unfortunately, after decades of poorly regulated fishing, menhaden are in serious trouble.
The good news is that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which manages the fishery, is poised to take historic steps to restore this valuable species. When the ASMFC meets next week in Boston from November 7-10, it will consider the many ways menhaden are used: for commercial products such as omega 3 fatty acid pills and factory farm feed; as bait for commercial and recreational fishermen, who target larger fish; and, most importantly, as a pillar of the East Coast marine food web.
Two weeks ago, Governor McDonnell hosted an Energy Conference in Richmond. In anticipation of the conference, the Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network criticized the Governor for the lack of emphasis on renewable energy and energy efficiency in the agenda. The Governor responded by claiming that the conference agenda was "balanced" and included discussion about renewable energy. However, none of the panelists at the conference represented organizations involved in environmental grassroots advocacy. From the inside, the dominant theme of the conference came across as, let's MINE, DRILL, FRACK, and BURN now while there is still money to be made! Oh, and EPA, please stop pestering us.
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