By John Crane
Published: March 4, 2009
The Pittsylvania County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will meet with members of the Board of Supervisors next week to discuss uranium mining.
The meeting is open to the public and will take place at 6 p.m. March 12 at the Senior Center at 508 N. Main St. in Chatham.
“I’d like to find out the positions of the supervisors,” NAACP President Willie T. Fitzgerald said Tuesday.
NAACP members have invited Board of Supervisors Chairman Coy Harville, who represents the Westover District, and Banister Supervisor William Pritchett to answer questions about the political issues involved in uranium mining. The membership, which numbers about 400 in the county, is interested in learning more about uranium mining and related matters, NAACP Secretary Elizabeth Jones said.
Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. The state has imposed a moratorium on uranium mining since the early 1980s. The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission approved a study in November.
The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution last month calling for a thorough, unbiased study that would ensure no harm to the environment, residents, businesses or other institutions in the county from uranium mining before it is deemed safe.
Pritchett, a member of the county NAACP, said he doesn’t know enough about uranium mining to form an opinion on the topic. Pritchett said he is taking a wait-and-see approach until the two-year study is complete. The Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee hopes the study will be conducted by the National Academy of Sciences.
Pritchett said there is hysteria surrounding uranium mining and that most of the constituents in his district are against the idea.
Henry Hurt, a Virginia Uranium investor, said he is pleased that the NAACP is holding a meeting on uranium mining. Hurt said he or another VUI representative will attend the event.
“It will be interesting to hear what they have to say,” Hurt said.
Virginia Uranium conducted a presentation for the NAACP’s Pittsylvania County branch in September, he said, and has given tours of the site for the group’s members.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment