New Uranium Mining Group Forms

By John Crane

Published: February 26, 2009

Gregg Vickrey, who was chairman of Southside Concerned Citizens’ Chatham-Pittsylvania County chapter, has split from the anti-uranium mining group and formed a separate organization.

Vickrey is seeking nonprofit status for the Alliance, which he said will expand its reach statewide and nationally in other issues in addition to uranium mining in Pittsylvania County. He said the group’s mission is to help people organize and assert their right to self-governance in the face of corporate assaults on the environment and in communities.

“I feel like we can be more effective operating under the Alliance,” Vickrey said Thursday.

The community activist said he and two others, John Chaney and Deborah Dix, officially started the Alliance on Wednesday. Vickrey said the group will continue to work with SCC in opposing uranium mining in the county.

Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit six miles northeast of Chatham. Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining since the early 1980s.

Jack Dunavant, head of the Halifax-based SCC, said there is no animosity between SCC and the Alliance.

“Gregg felt he could do better under another banner,” Dunavant said. “People have different ideas about how to fight this battle.”

Dunavant added that SCC will team up with the Alliance and other groups on issues affecting the quality of life in Southside.

“We all have the same goal: to prevent uranium mining,” Dunavant said.

SCC, with a membership that’s reached more than 300 people, started in 1982 in Chatham to oppose Marline Corp.’s plans to mine and mill the Coles Hill deposit. The group moved to Halifax in 1983, Dunavant said.

Vickrey said people can access the Alliance’s Web site through the old SCC site, sccchatham.blogspot.com, where they will be directed to the Alliance’s site, thealliance123.blogspot.com.

Dunavant said he expects to have a separate site for SCC in about 10 days.

People can join the Alliance with a one-time fee of $25 through May 25 and become founding members, Vickrey said. Those joining the organization thereafter will pay a $25 fee annually. Vickrey said he knows of up to 20 people who will join soon and he hopes to grow it further.

“We’ll eventually have as many members as SCC,” Vickrey said.

Regardless of membership, the Alliance’s blog can still be accessed for free, he said.

The Alliance is not an environmental organization, but a rights-based group, he said.

Henry Hurt, a uranium mining supporter and VUI investor, expressed a hope regarding the Alliance not likely to be realized.

“I hope that they will see the promise of our uranium resource,” Hurt said. “I hope they see the light.”

http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/new_uranium_mining_group_forms/9364/