WVTF's Weekend in Virginia Misinforms About VA Uranium Mining

Good grief! You'd think that as ensconced in Coles Hill as Va Tech is, they'd at least have the basic facts about the study right but they don't. Naturally, they don't have lots of other information right either. Frankly, this is a HUGE disservice to the citizens of VA and the supporters of VA's public radio. WVTF should be strongly encouraged to retract all of the misinformation and offer those of us with some understanding of the basic facts equal time to try to offset the damage WVTF has done.

Some of the "facts" reported are that the study has begun, that it's been paid for, that no one wanted to pay for the study within the state government (I know...sort of true, but we've been told it was a matter of no funding, not a matter of no desire) the mining will only be done in Pittsylvania Co, and the NAS is entirely professional and won't be swayed by politics or money.

Listen for yourself...and then send an email stating the correct info to Rick Mattioni, News Director, at mattioni@vt.edu or by calling him at (540) 989-8900.

To listen:

http://www.wvtf.org/news_and_notes/audio/200909211722120.0919bloggers.mp3

Uranium Mining in Pittsylvania County - 9.21.09

Our Weekend Virginia political bloggers exchange views on whether the General Assembly should lift the ban on uranium mining so a huge deposit in Pittsylvania County can be recovered.

http://www.wvtf.org/news_and_notes/weekendva.php

It’s No Big Deal Who Pays For Uranium Mining Study [HUH??]

Apparently the News & Advance has not seen the report on the rampant conflicts of interest within the NAS. We'll be sending it to the editor. Apparently the News & Advance doesn't care about neutrality, even when it comes tosomething as dangerous as uranium mining, something that's never been done safely anywhere in the world to date. Apparently the uranium industry owns Lynchburg and the News & Advance. In our opinion, the News & Advance has done a great disservice to its readers and to everyone who will be adversely affected by uranium mining throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Please know that Coles Hill, in Pittsylvania Co., will not be Virginia's only uranium mine...it will just be the first. A map of the uranium deposits in VA is at the top of this post. The link to the report about the lack of neutrality within the NAS is here: http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/nasreport.pdf and here: http://sccagainsturanium.blogspot.com/2009/09/ensuring-independence-and-objectivity.html

The News & Advance
Published: September 13, 2009

The story from Danville last week about Virginia Uranium Inc. agreeing to pay for a state study on the safety of mining uranium near Chatham has raised some questions. And rightly so.

Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate Ctiy and chairman of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission, said Virginia Uranium will pay for the study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to determine whether uranium can be mined safely in Virginia.

But doesn’t that create the potential for a conflict of interest — even the perception of a conflict? Can the firm that wants to mine uranium get the best safety study that money will buy?

The answer to the first question is yes. The answer to the second question is not really.

Kilgore himself acknowledged the concerns about VUI backing the study financially, but he quickly added that the National Academy of Science’s research abilities are “great.”

While it would be more appropriate for the coal and energy commission or some other state agency that doesn’t have a vested interest in the outcome of the study to put up the money for it, a Virginia Tech department will coordinate funding and will contract with NAS for the study. Virginia Tech’s Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research will coordinate the study’s first phase on the technical and public safety aspects of mining uranium.

The study is expected to cost between $1.2 million and $1.4 million and could begin by the end of this year.

VUI seeks to mine and mill a 119 million pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Walter Coles Sr., VUI chairman, has said he expressed willingness to provide funding for the study since the beginning of the mining proposal.

Mining opponents have questioned the credibility of a study paid for with VUI money and one even went so far last week as to brand NAS as being pro-nuclear.

A spokeswoman for NAS responded that the agency is perfectly capable of performing unbiased studies without regard to who is paying for them. Jennifer Walsh said the academy has performed unbiased, federal level studies in the past involving the tobacco and cell phone industries.

When an industry pays for a study, she said, the NAS usually works with a third organization that provides funding on behalf of a company or industry.

“We would not work directly with them (VUI),” Walsh said. “We would only got to them with questions and concerns. They would have no say-so in the study.”

Walsh added that information-gathering meetings involved in the study would be open to the public and posted on the NAS Web site ahead of time.

The public, then, can follow the progress of the uranium mining safety study, just as it can any other studies being conducted by the agency.

The National Academy of Sciences is a well-respected agency whose expert scientific studies have held up as being as solid as they come. That reputation outweighs the concerns raised about where the money is coming from for the study. And that reputation is not for sale to the highest bidder — not even the owner of Virginia Uranium Inc.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/opinion/editorials/article/its_no_big_deal_who_pays_for_uranium_mining_study/19413/

Health Risks From Mines Covered Up: Department of Energy Files Reveal Legacy of Secrecy and Negligence

Disgusting and infuriating but not surprising, unfortunately. Can we really expect any better protection or information dissemination in Virginia? Let's learn from the past and leave the U in the ground. Let's let integrity triumph over greed.

by Joe Hanel
Herald Denver Bureau

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

URAVAN - Health experts working for the state of Colorado and the federal government knew about the dangers of working in uranium mines and mills 60 years ago, but they hid their knowledge from the workers. As a result, workers died from cancer.

This has been public knowledge since the mid-1990s, when the Department of Energy published the results of its "Openness Project," an extraordinary catalog of government failures in the decades after World War II.

The report blames state and federal bureaucrats for "intergovernmental buck passing and decades of study, a course that resulted in the premature deaths of hundreds of miners."

State and federal regulators did plenty of studies. According to the archives of the Department of Energy's Openness Project: On Aug. 25, 1949, Colorado health officials met with U.S. Public Health Service employees to discuss uranium mine and mill safety. The same month, the Colorado Health Department and Colorado Bureau of Mines asked the Public Health Service to do a formal study of the mines and mills.

Public Health Service official Duncan Holaday was in charge of the study, and he quickly found evidence that unventilated mines were exposing workers to cancer-causing levels of radiation. Vents would have helped lessen the danger.

But the Public Health Service couldn't get access to the mines without permission from mine owners. To get permission, inspectors promised the mine owners not to warn workers of radiation hazards, Holaday testified in a lawsuit brought by Navajo uranium miners.

"You had to get the survey done, and you knew perfectly well you were not doing the correct thing ... by not informing the workers," Holaday said, according to the Openness Project report.

In May 1952, the Public Health Service gave its initial results in a report that was released to only state and federal officials and mining companies. A news release said "no evidence of health damage from radioactivity had been found." But the Openness Project report notes lung cancer takes 10 to 20 years to show itself, and public health regulators knew about the risks as early as the 1940s.

In 1960, the Public Health Service at last gave the governors of uranium states such as Colorado what it said was a conclusive link between uranium mining and lung cancer. Yet the Atomic Energy Commission, the Public Health Service and the states continued their talks and studies.

The biggest radiation hazard for miners was radon, a radioactive gas that is formed when uranium decays. Although uranium is radioactive, the radioactive particles are most dangerous when ingested. That happens most often when radon is inhaled in mines with poor ventilation.

It wasn't until 1967 that the federal government finally set a standard for radon in uranium mines, about the same time Colorado and Utah started serious enforcement. Most small Colorado mines weren't ventilated until the 1960s, more than two decades into the uranium boom.

By 1990, miners in one study group had seen 410 deaths from lung cancer - almost five times the rate that statisticians would expect.

The judge in the Navajo miners' case called it the "tragedy of the nuclear age."

Congress in 1990 passed a law to compensate the surviving miners and millers called the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. But of the 165,000 claims filed, only 43,000 have been paid, according to Labor Department statistics cited in a 2008 Rocky Mountain News investigation.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/08/11/Health_risks_from_mines_covered_up/

Auditor: TVA Lawyers Limited Ash Spill Report in Kingston, TN Coal Sludge Catastrophe

By DUNCAN MANSFIELD (AP)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority failed for more than 20 years to heed warnings that might have prevented a massive coal ash spill in Tennessee, then allowed its lawyers to stifle a $3 million study into the disaster's cause to limit its legal liability, an inspector general's report said Tuesday. (emphasis mine...SB)

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and chairman of the TVA congressional caucus, said the report "raises major concerns which must be taken seriously ... to ensure that such a coal ash spill never happens again."

The 111-page report from TVA Inspector General Richard Moore came as officials from the nation's largest public utility made a third appearance before a congressional panel since the spill last Dec. 22.

TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore was among those scheduled to testify Tuesday before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure's subcommittee on water resources and environment.

The breach of 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic-laden coal ash from the earthen dams and holding ponds at TVA's Kingston Fossil Plant into the Emory River and lakeside homes has raised questions about the risks and lack of regulation of hundreds of similar sites around the country.

In the wake of the disaster, an estimated $1 billion cleanup and several pending lawsuits from residents, Knoxville-based TVA hired consulting firms to analyze what happened at Kingston and offer recommendations for handling coal byproducts there and at 10 other TVA coal-fired power plants in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky.

"TVA had a clear but difficult choice to make in the aftermath of the Kingston spill," Moore's report said.

"One choice was to conduct a diligent review of TVA management practices as well as to conduct a technical physical examination of the failed structure and then to publish whatever was discovered to the world.

"The second choice was to 'circle the wagons,' carefully craft press releases to project TVA in the most favorable light and to tightly control any reports done by TVA of the failure to minimize legal liability."

The inspector general said management's decision to allow TVA's lawyers, the Office of General Counsel, to hire the consultant and narrow his focus for a critical "root cause" study of the disaster "predetermined the choice that would be made between accountability and litigation strategy."

"The OGC did what good lawyers do; they defend their client," Moore's report said.

Moore's report praises subsequent actions by TVA's Board of Directors on July 21 to publicly acknowledge "that mistakes were made" and to accept a study more critical of management by McKenna Long and Aldridge.

But Moore, using his own engineering consultant, Marshall Miller & Associates, ripped a 6,000-page, 10-volume, $3 million study by AECOM USA Inc. on the cause of the disaster released June 25.

Moore criticized the report for failing to consider management practices and for giving too much weight to a hard-to-find "slime layer" of watery ash deep below the ash pile as the trigger for the collapse. The slime layer explanation tended to lessen the "culpability" and "legal liability" of TVA management, he wrote.

The Marshall Miller study said the spill "could have possibly been prevented" if TVA had heeded concerns about the stability of the Kingston ash pond raised by TVA employees and consultants as early as 1985 and again in 2004.

Barry Thacker, an independent engineering expert in Knoxville, has said leaks in 2003 and 2006 also were signs of growing problems from water pressure deep within the facility. Thacker has discounted the slimes, though the inspector general's study suggested they are plausible.

The main problem, Moore suggested, is a long-held view among those running TVA's coal-fired power plants that "ash was relegated to the status of garbage at a landfill rather than treating it as a potential hazard to the public and the environment."

"For TVA to be successful in avoiding another Kingston spill," Moore wrote, "... employees must be educated to think differently about ash management than they have over several generations."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h-f_GmtTyvPi4DPV7Y9IrZkxc8wwD99NGNA84

[CO] Uranium Mill Issue Will Set National Precedent

MONTROSE – Deep divisions in the Paradox Valley community may well remain after the Montrose Planning Commission’s vote Wednesday night on whether to recommend a special use permit for a uranium mill in Paradox Valley.

Friendships have been severed, with some on the side of agriculture in the valley and some who want to hearken back to the good old days of uranium mining their parents and grandparents enjoyed decades ago.

Whatever the decision of the planning commission, Energy Fuels’ request to build a huge mill on 800 acres will be the first built in the United States in almost 30 years, and will have national implications, some say.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said recently that nuclear energy is “the wave of the future” and is encouraging nuclear energy development.

The proposed mill would set a precedent for the rest of the country, said Travis Stills of the Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango, but for the wrong reasons.

“They’re trying to claim it’s the resurgence of the uranium industry and trying to tie it into the nuclear equation,” he said. “It could be a national story because it could be the place where all the stuff goes. It could be looked at as a disposal facility.”

As originally proposed, the mill would only process raw uranium ore from nearby mines. But at a public hearing in Nucla last month, Energy Fuels CEO George Glasier said the mill could also extract uranium from radioactive groundwater.

After Glasier spoke, Stills went to the podium and expressed his displeasure with what he called “a major shift” in policy on what would be processed at the mill.

Only two uranium mills are operating in the U.S. at this time, the White Mesa and Shootaring Canyon mills in Utah, Stills said, both process radioactive wastes.

“A major source of income (for the mills) is waste disposal fees from various folks who have radioactive waste to get rid of,” he said.

The proposed Paradox Valley mill also wants to take in mine waste, not just tailings, he said.

“They should send that to a low level facility, not to a mill tailings cell, which is hazardous enough,” he said.

But Glasier and his many associates have decried health risks of exposure to radioactive materials in the air and water that opponents say could occur because of the mill. Glasier says the industry has made enormous safety advances since the near meltdown of a reactor core at Three Mile Island in 1979.

Glasier said he never had plans for the mill to become a waste disposal facility for nuclear and other radioactive wastes, but was only trying to help the state because of tighter laws on uranium content in drinking water.

New state laws require a new limit on the amount of uranium in drinking water, but in western Colorado, naturally occurring water has higher than those limits, Glasier said.

The mill could have treated municipal water by supplies by loading resin beads with uranium extracted from the water, sending the beads to a disposal facility, after which the beads could be reused.

Without the mill, the water treatment plants will have to install their own resin extraction columns, which is expensive, he said.

“They’ll have no place to dispose of it so they’ll have to ship it to a waste disposal site and they can’t reuse the beads,” he said. “The state wants us to do it, and it would save all these municipalities a great deal of money.”

But Glasier said he dropped the idea of extracting water from uranium because of objections raised at the public hearings.

“Some people were objecting to what would have been a real benefit,” he said. “But those environmental kooks come up with this stuff…They’re saying we’ll process waste, but we have no plans to process anything else but raw uranium ore and the water that comes right out of our mines.”

Other objections to the mill have come from the agricultural community. On to their Web site for Paradox Valley Community Supported Agriculture, William and Vernie Lynn DeMille wrote about how they moved to the valley from Missouri after farming there for 35 years.

“We love farming and we were thrilled when we discovered the Paradox Valley,” DeMille wrote. “Because of its outstanding soil, great climate and protected valley, it is the perfect place to grow excellent crops, both vegetable and fruit.”

Food grown in the valley will be packed with nutrition because of high mineral content of the soil, DeMille said.

During public forums, farmers in the valley objected to the mill, saying they will lose their organic agriculture status because the mill has the potential to pollute the air and water.

Paradox Valley proponents of the mill, most from families who remember the heyday of mining in the area decades ago, scoffed at farmers’ concerns, even displaying a sign at the last public meeting that read, “Uranium dust helps your organics grow” along with “We need jobs on the West End.”

However the planning commission votes, which occurred after the Watch printing deadline, the divisions in the Paradox Valley will apparently not soon heal.

http://www.telluridewatch.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Uranium+Mill+Issue+Will+Set+National+Precedent%20&id=2867706-Uranium+Mill+Issue+Will+Set+National+Precedent&instance=secondary_stories_left_column

'Cheerleaders' for nuclear energy ignore facts

Talk about keepin' it real!

Chatham Star-Tribune

Letter to the Editor

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Virginia Uranium Inc. oligarchy continues to ignore and minimize the negative impacts of uranium mining and milling.

Equally disturbing is this industry's ongoing attempts to erode our civil rights and the legislators who are allowing this travesty.

Virginia Uranium has engaged a host of self-serving experts and VUI family members to write letters of support on their behalf.

Their letters speak, in generalities, of nuclear power and avoid mention of the negative impacts of uranium mining and milling on a community, region and state.

The Nuclear Energy Institute has joined the metastasizing Virginia Uranium Inc. supporters.

NEI project manager Suzanne Phelps weighs in with more of the same.

Ms. Phelps likes to "name drop," citing Gov. Kaine, President Obama and former EPA administrator Whitman as supporters of nuclear energy.

Do any of these folks have a uranium mine and mill in their neighborhoods?

She also says the uranium from Coles Hill could fuel Virginia for 65 years.

Phelps portrays VUI as a philanthropic organization regarding yellowcake dispersal.

Somehow I don't see all that yellowcake, or enriched uranium, being warehoused for decades for exclusive use by Virginia.

Phelps further comments, "That potential speaks volumes about the long-term economic opportunities that Pittsylvania County and area residents can derive from mining practices that embrace environmental stewardship and incorporate lessons learned from worldwide experience in this field."

It appears she has the answer to the question we've all been asking. Where are three places in the world, similar to our climate, watersheds and population where mining and milling have been done safely? How many jobs were created?

Perhaps she'll enlighten us in future epistles.

I especially like the "magic" in Phelp's quote: "Nuclear energy is cheap and clean, and we have plenty of it here in America and Virginia."

You dig up some rocks and there's your energy!

She neglects to mention the radioactive/hazardous wastes that are generated and stored for thousands of years as a result of mining, milling and nuclear power generation.

She also omits information regarding the cost of building a reactor and the tax dollars that subsidize, monitor and clean up after the industry.

We do not appreciate cheerleaders for nuclear energy. We crave factual information regarding mining and milling of uranium.

We deserve local and state representative who are bright enough to know the difference.

Karen B. Maute

Danville

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/06/24/chatham/opinion/opinion01.txt

Northrop Grumman Administrator: VA has nothing to fear from uranium

From our friends at "Virginia Energy Independence Alliance", the cleverly named group that's actually a play on the new name of the Santoy/VUI merger whose website, http://www.virginiaenergy.org/home/ is the best spin and manipulation money can buy and a good PR firm can dream up, comes this little ditty.

I guess that when you're preparing for the day when you can perpetrate wreck and ruin upon everything within scores of miles, you don't want anyone to realize that while you're waiting. Sooo...what's an agent of death and destruction to do?

Spread lies, of course! On everything and everyone! You make yourself sound like the Messiah and those who oppose you like raving lunatics. You go far and wide to find folks who'll do your lying for you...making stuff up as they go along...as long as the bad guys look like the good guys and the good guys look like the evil-doers. This letter below is a fine example...one of the more outrageous we've seen in its degree of fantasy.

We all need to face the facts...uranium mining and milling are not safe and not advantageous to anyone save a few investors and perhaps a handful of peripheral players like PR agents, lobbyists, and those who will sign modern-day fairy tales to make them appear as sincere letters. It's only going to get more and more ridiculous in the days and months ahead...the "facts" will become the fantasies and the fantasies the facts.

Prepare yourself! It's going to be a bit like Alice as she stepped through the Looking Glass...nothing will be as it appears. It's important to remember, though, who's telling the truth...and can verify their stories through myriad respected sources: those anti-uranium advocates who Virginia Energy will continue to portray as "opponents spreading fear" (aka telling the hard, cold truth) and those pro-uranium advocates who will sing you to sleep with lullabyes of the goodness and wonder of radioactivity, illness, contamination and devastation.

You can continue to get your daily dose of "true truth" (honest facts backed up by science and history) here...I promise.

And now on with the show!

In a letter to the editor of the Virginian-Pilot, Mike Cohen - Virginia Beach resident and contract administrator with Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding - reassures Hampton Roads and Southside residents that they have nothing to fear from uranium mining in Pittsylvania County. Pittsylvania County is home to Coles Hill, the largest untapped uranium deposit in the U.S. Mr. Cohen tells residents that so much of the fear spread by opponents of mining the Coles Hill deposit is based on erroneous myths and complete fallacies that are easily invalidated by science.

Indeed, the premise that our water supply is in danger reflects an ignorance of the water chemistry and material characteristics of uranium and its related products, which make such long-distance transport virtually impossible…

Uranium is a naturally occurring component of soils, building materials and coal. It is already present in every source of our water supply, as well as our homes, office buildings and yards.

Radon, the decay product of uranium most frequently cited as a danger, is steadily emitted from the earth below us and accumulates in our buildings. The simple fact that we construct airtight buildings accounts for more human radon exposure than all of the mines in this country combined…

Finally, we are exposed to far more hazardous contaminants than uranium every day in [Hampton Roads]. Ships, trucks and trains carrying deadly chemicals come in and out of the port every day, many of which have the potential to contaminate our air and water supply in a severe accident. Yet we tolerate that risk because of the benefit to our economy.”

Mr. Cohen believes the development of the Coles Hill deposit will provide enormous economic benefits by creating as many as 1,000 new jobs and breaking our dependence on foreign energy.

So when you read in the coming months about Coles Hill, remember to keep the big picture. While there are potential risks with any large project, we stand to lose much more by leaving our natural resources in the ground.”

http://www.virginiaenergy.org/2009/06/23/northrop-grumman-administrator-va-has-nothing-to-fear-from-uranium/

State, Nation Need Area’s Uranium (Not Really)

Mr. Huffman calls anti-uranium folks "misinformed' and then sets about quoting VUI's mantra about all the jobs and revenue mining and milling will bring to Southside. Au contraire, Mr. Huffman...right now there is a total of 320 jobs in uranium mining in the US. Coles Hill is going to double the US total? I don't think so. Any benefits derived from mining and milling at Coles Hill will accrue to the Coles family, those who have leased their land to VUI and a handful of local investors of which I'm betting Mr. Huffman is one. Read about the mining towns out west, Mr. HUffman...the stories do not have happy endings, by and large.

Mr. Hoffman also says the nation and state need the uranium Coles Hill will provide. No offense, Mr. Huffman, but I'm not sure it's us that are misinformed. If the nation's nuclear industry could re-use what it calls depleted uranium, we'd have enough to power the existing nuclear plants for over 500 yrs. I'll get you a citation for that, sir. An article to that effect has been published on this blog but I'll research it for you.

Right now, we have no way of knowing how the uranium mined in VA will be used. But we know how it will used in one of two ways. It will either be used in power plants or it will be used in weaponry. Those are its only 2 uses. If it's used as nuclear fuel, then theby-product, depleted uranium, will either be stored heaven knows where, contaminating everything in the vicinity as the barrels begin to rust through (it's happening in Paducah, KY at the enrichment plant) or it will be incorporated into military ammunition. The massive amounts of depleted uranium used in the Iraq War alone has killed and contaminated hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqis alike.

It killed my friend John the day after his 45th birthday from lung cancer. He never smoked nor drank and didn't work around second-hand smoke. He did, however, fight in Gulf War I and subsequently did several more tours in the Middle East in Air Force communications. His civilian doctors told him they had no doubt that his exposure to depleted uranium, burning oil, and contaminated sand were the cause of his lung cancer which was so virulent that it had actually invaded his heart, highly unusual. We do NOT need Virginia's uranium.

By Published by The Editorial Board
Danville Register & Bee

Published: June 4, 2009

To the editor:

I wholeheartedly support the mining of uranium at Coles Hill. While people keep using scare tactics and misinformation to stir up fear, these fears remain unfounded.

Technology has come a long way in the past 30 years and we would be fools not to take advantage of what we have been given. This operation could give us hundreds of high-wage jobs and bring millions of much needed revenue to our county. In a time when businesses are shutting down and jobs are being shipped overseas or just eliminated altogether, we have the opportunity to bring an economic boon to Pittsylvania County.

We should not let a handful of misinformed individuals scare a project that will bring so many benefits to all of our families.

WILFORD HUFFMAN
Gretna

http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/statenation_need_areas_uranium/11467/

Beware of Uranium’s Midas Touch

Excellent analogy!

Danville Register & Bee

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: June 5, 2009

To the editor:

I am so frustrated by our populace’s belief in the uranium mining “study.”

Study of what? How much money the investors of a Canadian company will make? How much money Walter Coles and his friends will make? How much money everyone other than these people will lose by being subjected to the loss of their livelihoods and lives by having one of the most hazardous and toxic businesses in the world located in their backyards?

Please, wake up and fight, folks. We need every voice.

We, the citizens of Virginia — and more narrowly, the citizens of Pittsylvania County — have been described by Norman Reynolds (Virginia Uranium CEO and the CEO of Santoy upon the transaction’s closing), as being “… very nuclear friendly, … it’s a state that is very comfortable and supportive of nuclear energy.”

I guess what hit me here was where this quote was referenced — in an article on the Web site http://www.midasletter.com, an investor’s online newsletter. Most of us know the story of Midas — everything he touched turned to gold.

But if you read the “rest of the story,” here’s how it goes: Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched an oak twig and a stone; both turned to gold. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table.

“So Midas swelled at first with pride when he found he could transform everything he touched to gold; but when he beheld his food grow rigid and his drink harden into golden ice then he understood that this gift was a bane and in his loathing for gold, cursed his prayer.”

In a version told by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Midas found that when he touched his daughter, she turned into a statue as well.

Is this our future by allowing the uranium bulldozer to roll?

Just say no.

And you better say it loud.

LINDA WORSLEY
Chatham

http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/beware_of_uraniums_midas_touch/11499/

You Can Count on What Walter Coles Says [Huh?? Oh, Dear!]

Two things, Mr. Geyer...

1) Who are you to call those opposed to uranium mining and milling in VA "ignorant obstructionists"? Aren't you the man who tried to stop the sewer lines from being laid in Chatham in the mid-1980's? Talk about obstructionist!

2) If Mr. Coles is to be believed on all matters, believed beyond question, then he needs to know immediately that his VUI and VUL buddies have lied and continue to lie to him about the hideous dangers of uranium mining and milling! Please...tell him ASAP that he's being fed a huge bill of goods re: the safety of the mining/milling operations and that he is unwittingly spreading these lies to his friends and neighbors, including you! We'll all anxiously await his press conference in which he'll explain that he has been grossly misled about the dangers and that they'll be ceasing and desisting all uranium-related activity at Coles Hill ASAP. OK? Thanks so much!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 10:07 AM EDT

For the last two years, I've listened to the renewed controversy over whether the Coles Hill uranium deposit should be developed.

It's the same sound and fury many of us had to endure 25 years ago.

What prompts me to speak up are these ridiculous attacks on Walter Coles.

While I don't claim any expertise on uranium mining, I do know something about Walter Coles.

I've known him since he was in my class at Chatham High School a long time ago, and I've kept up with him during all years since.

The one thing for sure is that you can count on what he says about anything.

From his combat tour in Vietnam to his business dealings as a farmer, Walter Coles is always marching to basic principles that we all should follow more seriously.

I am sickened when I hear these goofball attacks on his integrity by people who either do not know him or who are among that class of ignorant obstructionists who place their own petty wishes above the good of everyone else.

As long as Walter Coles and people like him are in the helm of Virginia Uranium, I say that we should push ahead full speed with the study.

With the recommendations from that study, we should commence developing this uranium deposit as soon as possible.

If ever we've faced a time of critical need for new money and new jobs, this is it.

We are lucky that this world-class resource is in the hands of a man like Walter Coles.

People need to get behind him and make this happen.

Kenneth Geyer

Chatham

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/06/04/chatham/opinion/opinion04.txt

Uranium mining could help reduce taxes

I too am retired and on a fixed income. I don't like taxes either. But in my spare time, I've looked at every resource available to me to find evidence of just one "safe" uranium mine anywhere in the world. There is none. Why would anyone be so naive as to presume that the world's very first "safe" U mine will be at Coles Hill? Wake up, Mr. Shelton...the possibility of somewhat lower taxes versus thousands of generations of contaminated air, water, wildlife, crops, etc. and cancer-ridden humans, including children. And you're choosing this gamble to save yourself a few dollars?

From the Chatham Star-Tribune

Before these noisy anti-everything folks run off this multi-billion dollar uranium project, I'd like to point out what a great development this can be for our whole region.

It can provide solutions to the multitude of troubles that have an impact on us all.

Like a lot of people, I am retired and on a fixed income.

I worked hard throughout my life, saved money, and invested it I what seemed to be stable enterprises with little risk.

It turned out that no matter how stable you thought your investments were, they took a terrible beating in the recent economic collapse.

I know I've lost a good portion of my life's savings.

I'm too old for a new job in a mining industry, but I'm not too old to have to pay these skyrocketing taxes our supervisors keep piling on us.

These uranium people are eager to pay county taxes of all sorts, and this would be the biggest corporation we've ever had.

We need to tell them to come on and get started.

That is the smart way to reduce the tax burden on us all-especially those of us on fixed incomes.

In other words, let's tax the ones who have money instead of those of us who don't have money.

And with all the new jobs, there will be more money in our local economy and the tax burden will be spread among more people.

I'm glad the state is going to study the safety issues of uranium mining, but I can guarantee you one thing: No matter how safe it is, this crowd yelling about the dangers will just keep on yelling.

My view is that if we can get a man to the moon and back safely, we can sure extract one of God's natural resources and put it to use for mankind.

Philip Shelton

Blairs
http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/05/20/chatham/opinion/opinion02.txt

Virginia Energy's Tremendous Push for Uranium Mining Sells Out Southside

Oh, my God!! Virginia Energy, an energy coalition, has jumped on the "mine, baby, mine" bandwagon with both feet! Whew! Scare tactics, misinformation, half-truths, major-league spin...all timed to coincide with the Study Commission's meeting next week This video specifically talks about the uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County and how mining it will save Virginia! It even shows the lane into Coles Hill, Register & Bee headlines`and local unemployment statistics,. It calls on folks to support the mining study!! Virginia Energy is selling out Southside!

Southside, we have one week to get the rest of the Commonwealth on board the anti-uranium mining train...the mining study is going to focus on, and eventually open, the entire state to mining and at this point, most of Virginia is being portrayed as either disinterested or mining-friendly. That message really has to change...FAST.

Take a look...it's simply incredible!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFScxZ8VozU

From the video's tag on YouTube...

"America is too dependent for its energy on unstable, even adversarial countries like Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. This puts America's national security and energy future at risk. Virginia's abundant, untapped supplies of vital energy resources can be part of the solution and will create thousands of new jobs. Find out more at www.VirginiaEnergy.org."

Mining a good idea [?!]

There's sooo much education yet to be done in Southside.

No one will be buying any land...it's already owned or leased by the small handful of people who stand to profit from it.

Mining Coles Hill will not bring jobs...right now, there are only 321 uranium mining jobs in the entire US. Businesses are not going to locate in the shadow of a uranium mine. Look at other places in the country where mines have come and gone. So have the towns.

It will not be great for the community...real estate sales are already hurting (and not just because of the general economy). Real estate agents must inform prospective buyers that a uranium mine could be located nearby. See above statement about businesses.

The mine will not be built, it will be dug and blasted. Deeply. One pound of yellowcake/ore requires blasting/digging/pulverizing 2 tons of rock. If, as VUI estimates, there are 110 million pounds of ore under Coles hill, then they'll need to pulverize 220 million tons of rock. That's going to be one h-u-g-e hole...and a massive amount of radioactive sand to blow to Kingdom Come.

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: May 1, 2009

To the editor:

Regarding the plan to mine uranium on Coles Hill, I believe it is a good idea. There have already been people from Australia trying to buy that land and we have people right here that are willing to do it.

This mining would bring jobs and tax revenue and would be great for our community. I’m sure it can be done safely and I hope it gets built.

LUTHER HAMMACK
Chatham

http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/mining_a_good_idea/10713/

Addressing the Uranium Mining Hype (Guest Post)

"Drew" does an interesting blog called "Dem Bones". You can find an excellent guest post to his blog on the "hype" surrounding the potential uranium mining in VA here:

http://dembones-dembones.blogspot.com/2009/04/addressing-uranium-mining-hype-guest.html

It starts out, "I hope one day to meet Joe Bouchard and hear more about what he says to answer the questions that were posed in this article. In the meantime, I have my own answers and a few questions about points made in that article."

Take a look...it's thought-provoking!

Activist: Claim of 'Green' Nuclear Power is False

By DAVE GRAM , 04.10.09

AP

An internationally known writer and anti-nuclear activist got a warm reception from Vermont lawmakers as she heaped criticism on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and the atomic power industry.

But one thing Dr. Helen Caldicott didn't get during a visit to the Statehouse was the meeting she was hoping for with Gov. Jim Douglas. "He needs to be educated," she said.

In Thursday's morning talk to the House and Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Caldicott, an Australian-born pediatrician, took aim at several aspects of nuclear power, including claims that it helps to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

She spoke of the ill health effects of radiation and long-lasting nature of radioactive materials that are byproducts of nuclear power. And she sharply criticized Vermont Yankee and the nuclear industry for promoting themselves as "green" alternatives to energy sources that use fossil fuels and are heavy emitters of carbon dioxide, a gas blamed for global climate change.

"A nuclear power plant doesn't stand alone. It has to be fueled," Caldicott said in an interview after her legislative testimony. "And there's a huge industrial infrastructure behind a nuclear power plant."

She pointed to a section of her 2006 book, "Nuclear Power Is Not The Answer," which takes aim at a nuclear fuel processing plant in Paducah, Ky., that processes uranium fuel for the U.S. nuclear industry.

She said the Paducah plant, owned by United States Enrichment Corp., uses power equivalent to that produced by two 1,000-megawatt, coal-fired power plants. She said it also uses CFC 114 - a gas used widely in refrigeration until it was banned under an international treaty in 1989 over concerns it was damaging the earth's ozone layer.

Caldicott said the nuclear processing industry was "grandfathered" under that treaty, meaning not subject to the ban, and wrote that the gas "leaks unabated from the hundreds of miles of cooling pipes used in the uranium enrichment operation at Paducah, Kentucky, and its sister facility in Ohio."

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/10/ap6279079.html

People Died Because of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident, Why Won't Corporate Media Admit It?

By Harvey Wasserman, AlterNet.
Posted April 6, 2009

Thirty years after the melt-down, an Iron Curtain has formed between corporate and independent media, with nuclear power at its center.

Chernobyl exploded and Three Mile Island missed by a whisker. They both killed people.

But thirty years after the Pennsylvania melt-down, a Soviet-style Iron Curtain has formed between the corporate media and the alternatives, with nuclear power at its center.

The Soviets denied for days that the Chernobyl accident had happened at all. America's parallel corporate media says "no one died at TMI."

Take National Public Radio's Scott Simon. On March 28, Simon smirked on air that "no one was killed or injured" at Three Mile Island, "not so much as a sprained ankle."

Except when people are fleeing them, as they did 30 years ago, radiation releases have never been linked directly to joint sprains.

But cancer, leukemia, birth defects, stillbirths, malformations, spontaneous abortions, skin lesions, hair loss, respiratory problems, sterility, nausea, cataracts, a metallic taste, premature aging, general loss of bodily function and more can be caused by radioactive emissions of the type that poured out of TMI. And all such ailments have been documented there outside the corporate media.

Simon and everyone else inside the corporate media missed the well-organized, well-executed press event in the statehouse at Harrisburg on March 26. Despite solid publicity from Eric Epstein and the long-standing Three Mile Island Alert, not a single corporate reporter covered presentations by nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen and University of North Carolina epidemiologist Dr. Stephen Wing.

Once a top industry executive, Gundersen has shown that the containment at Three Mile Island Unit 2 did not completely hold, and that far more radiation was released than previously believed.

Dr. Wing reports that levels of radiation-related disease significantly rose in the downwind area. Wing and three co-authors looked at statistics used in a major study by Columbia University and other sources. They concluded that -- despite official denials -- the numbers clearly indicate serious potential health effects.

Gundersen and Wing were neither hiding nor alone. University of Pittsburgh radiology Professor Emeritus Dr. Ernest Sternglass and health researchers Joe Mangano and Jay Gould have long since documented that public health catastrophe. House-to-house surveys from local residents Jane Lee and Mary Osborne confirm the damage. Massive anecdotal evidence collected in a book and radio show by Robbie Leppzer appears at www.turningtide.com. Published in 1982 by DellDelta, Killing Our Own correlated the death toll at TMI with that from other mis-uses of radiation. Other books have followed with similar conclusions.

This tidal wave of proof about the TMI death toll spread through the "alternative" media prior to the accident's anniversary. Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales talked with me about it on March 27. Announced by the Institute for Public Accuracy, the story appeared on the Pacifica and Counterspin/Fair radio networks , and with Peter B. Collins on the Thomm Hartmann Show. It was also heard on stations such as WORT (Madison), KBOO (Oregon), KDKA (Pittsburgh), radioornot.com, and more. Websites like Huffington Post, CommonDreams, AlterNet, FreePress.org, NukeFree, CounterPunch, BuzzFlash, Smirking Chimp, Daily Kos, and dozens more got the story out, as did environmental groups like Greenpeace, NIRS and Beyond Nuclear.

Read the rest of this article here: http://www.alternet.org/environment/135278/people_died_because_of_the_three_mile_island_nuclear_accident%2C_why_won%27t_corporate_media_admit_it_/?page=entire

Local professional attends national conference on nuclear power

OK, one more time...freshly mined uranium ore is only one aspect of the dangers. The bigger danger, by far, is exposure to RADON gas and its progeny. Play down exposure to raw ore all you want, VUI...but let's be honest: it's just a smokescreen to distract folks about the real danger...RADON.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 9:17 AM EDT

Virginia Uranium's Mick Mastilovic, vice president of operations, recently attended the National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements' 2009 Annual Meeting in Bethesda, Md.

The two-day conference, titled "Future of Nuclear Power Worldwide: Safety, Health and Environment," brought together leading experts from around the world for an in-depth discussion of issues related to the safety, health and environmental protection aspects of new nuclear power reactor systems and fuel production and processing strategies.

Participants in the conference included representatives of several countries, scientific organizations, nuclear industries, and governmental agencies engaged in the development and regulatory control of advanced reactor systems and fuel concepts.

One of the most notable findings reported at the conference was that Americans now are exposed to more than seven times as much ionizing radiation from medical procedures as was the case in the early 1980s.

The increase was primarily a result of the growth in the use of medical imaging procedures.

The featured presenter, Dr. John D. Boice, Jr. of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and International Epidemiology Institute, reiterated that to date no radiation-induced genetic diseases have been demonstrated in humans and that biological effects are not noticed under a dose of about 10,000 milli-rem (common measurement for radiation).

"The conference was an opportunity to learn more about the much researched topic of radiation," said Mastilovic.

"It was enlightening to hear leaders in the field talk about the research they have done and are doing. Each presenter had valuable information that helps all of us better understand radiation."

This research has direct implications for the potential uranium development operation in Pittsylvania County.

"Confirming that there are no reported developmental effects in humans who are exposed to under a 10,000 milli-rem dose of radiation was very reassuring," Mastilovic said.

"The dose above ground for a mine-worker at Coles Hill is estimated to be under 17 milli-rem above background, or close to 600 times less than the level at which the effects of radiation could even be noticed."

Put another way, it would take about 600 years for a worker at the Coles Hill uranium mine to get a cumulative dose that could even register demonstrated effects.

To put that in perspective, 17 milli-rem is what someone can expect to get from just fertilizing their lawn.

While radiation exposure is not seen as a significant hazard with the potential uranium mine, it is something that will be thoroughly evaluated, properly permitted and continuously monitored.

Mastilovic has over 15 years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to joining Virginia Uranium, he was with USEC, a leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants, as director of production operations.

Previously, he worked in the product development and process engineering departments at Framatome (now Areva) in Lynchburg, and worked on the development of power generation and transmission assets for PSEG.

Mastilovic has a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia, a master's degree from Carnegie Mellon University and has an MBA from Cornell University. He is a registered professional engineer in Virginia.

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements seeks to formulate and widely disseminate information, guidance and recommendations on radiation protection and measurements which represent the consensus of leading scientific thinking.

The council is always on the alert for areas in which the development and publication of materials can make an important contribution to the public interest.

While founded in 1929, the council was reorganized and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1964 as the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

More information about the NCRP including their publications, you can visit their Web site at www.ncrponline.org.

The council's mission also encompasses the responsibility to facilitate and stimulate cooperation among organizations concerned with the scientific and related aspects of radiation protection and measurements.

Virginia Uranium Inc. is a Virginia corporation founded by the Coles and Bowen families in 2007 to promote the development of the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the United States, which is located at Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County.

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/04/09/chatham/news/news67.txt

Censored Uranium Document Sparks Debate at Legislature in Saskatchewan

Bear in mind that Saskatchewan leads the world in uranium exports...

April 2, 2009

Under fire over blacked-out sections of a report, a Saskatchewan cabinet minister says the government has an "overzealous" person censoring freedom of information requests on uranium development — not an unwillingness to be open.

Enterprise and Innovation Minister Lyle Stewart said he doesn't understand why a government document — a request for proposal connected to the Uranium Development Partnership — was so heavily censored before being made public.

"It absolutely sends the wrong message," Stewart said Wednesday. "We've been open as we can be about this whole process from start until now and we will continue to be and so I'm extremely unhappy that some overzealous official in CIC [the Crown Investments Corporation] has caused this problem."

The Opposition NDP has been raising concerns about the document, obtained by a private citizen through a freedom of information request, saying it had big chunks blacked out.

Those sections included details of what the government wanted a panel on uranium development to "deliver" and in what period of time, Opposition leader Lorne Calvert said.

"The questions about timelines, deliverables — these are pretty fundamental things that the taxpayer has a right to know," Calvert said.

The government says it will make public more of the censored documents on Thursday.

It also plans to make public the UDP report on the potential for further development of uranium on Friday. Stewart, who told the legislature the report cost "under $2.5 million" has already promised that none of that report will be censored.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/04/02/uranium-document.html

Geologist Supports Uranium Mining [at Coles Hill]

We are simply taken aback by much of what this geologist has to say, particularly regarding radon dangers and water contamination. It flies in the face of everything we've read from many other experts, including Dr. Doug Brugge and Dr. Gordon Edwards. Dr. Brugge has a letter addressing some of these issues just a few page-scrolls below this article. The article on "The Nuclear Goliath" also just a few page-scrolls down tells a different story too. Of course, Dr. Beard does preface many of his comments with "I don't think..." which indicates his lack of certainty about some very important issues. Would it have been less misleading to have said, "Well, yeah, this could happen..."?

We think it's important note that in addition to his being with the Museum of Natural History, Dr. Beard is also an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech and that he's been a part of Virginia Tech's work project at Coles Hill, including the core sampling which was begun several months ago.

It is also important to remember that the Virginia Museum of Natural History has been the recipient of large monetary donations from entities connected to the mining of Coles Hill and the core samples drawn from Coles Hill by Marline in the late 1970's and early 80's have been donated to the Museum. It is unlikely that someone connected to the Museum and to Virginia Tech's Geosciences Department and doing work at Coles Hill, would be too critical of the activities at Coles Hill, including mining.

How the powers that be, including the Study Committee, can state that there will be an unbiased study done is beyond me. It would seem that Virginia Tech and Coles Hill are so used to being in bed together, they don't even fight over the covers anymore.

Dr. James Beard addresses the Rotary Club on Tuesday. (Bulletin photo by Kim Barto)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

By KIM BARTO - Bulletin Staff Writer

A geologist from the Virginia Museum of Natural History said Tuesday he does not forsee major health or environmental risks from a proposed uranium mining operation in Pittsylvania County.

Dr. Jim Beard told the Martinsville Rotary Club that he hopes a state study will allow mining to proceed at the Coles Hill deposit in Chatham. With 119 million pounds of untapped uranium ore worth about $10 billion, the deposit is believed to be the largest trove in the country and the seventh largest in the world.

The Virginia Commission on Coal and Energy voted in November to study whether uranium can be safely mined there. No uranium can be mined in Virginia unless the General Assembly lifts a 1981 ban.

“Uranium has this aura of horribleness around it, but it’s not that toxic,” Beard said. “I would have no objection to living a mile from that mine myself,” he added. “I think the risks are going to turn out to be small.”

Beard said he thinks the state “is proceeding in a responsible fashion” by doing the study. “If they determine it should be mined, I think it should be mined,” he said. “I hope for the sake of Virginia, and Southside Virginia in particular, that it works out.”

Beard said uranium mining would create an important domestic source of energy for the United States. “The energy potential of that mine is 100 times the total potential of offshore drilling” for oil off Virginia’s coast, he said, adding that the uranium’s potential equates to one-fourth of the country’s oil reserves over the next 15 to 20 years.

“If we’re going to have some energy stability in this country, we have to make some choices,” he said. Nuclear power is “the wave of the future” and already is widely used in Europe, Beard said.

“This is an opportunity for Southside Virginia to move forward in an industry that will be very, very important in the 21st century,” he said.

Beard said there is “certainly a problem with the waste” created from using nuclear energy, “but everything has a cost.” He added that there is “not a huge volume of waste from nuclear power. I think that’s a solvable problem.”

One of the biggest concerns is whether contaminants from the mining will leach into groundwater. “I don’t think it will be a problem,” Beard said, because he said the ore minerals are stable.

Mining opponents have expressed concern that communities downstream of the mine could experience serious water contamination, but “no way is that going to happen,” Beard said. Another concern is whether mining would release radioactive dust into the air.

“Airborne dust is going to be a problem with any mining operation, not just uranium,” Beard said. Radon already is escaping from this deposit, he said. More radon probably will be dispersed if mining begins, he said, “but it’s going to be so dispersed, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

The mine would be roughly the scale of the quarry in Fieldale and would entail some of the same disruptions, with “trucks and blasting,” Beard said. “You can’t say everything’s going to be rosy and perfect” near the mine site, he said. “But there’s very little disruption for a lot of good.” In uranium mining, ore is taken out of the ground and processed into yellow cake. The substance does not become dangerous until it is enriched, Beard said.

The Martinsville Rotary Club has heard opinions from both sides of the uranium mining issue. Past speakers have included a geologist from Virginia Uranium Inc., the company formed by families whose land sits above the uranium, and the head of Southside Concerned Citizens, an organization that opposes the proposed mining operation.

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=18313

A Clean, Energy-Driven Economy Will Create New Opportunities for Virginia

Oh, yeah...this guy's been paying attention. What is it with some of these folks? They can write but they can't read? One more time...uranium is NOT clean.

March 27, 2009 12:50 AM
by Bernie Niemeier, Publisher

The public’s acceptance of environmental sustainability is past the tipping point. The temporary retreat of $4 per gallon gasoline has done little to diminish the lines of consumers carrying reusable shopping bags or postpone the need to develop better alternative fuels.

Many business leaders are among those promoting sustainability. That’s a fact you would not expect given current stereotypes. Business executives are a maligned bunch. Too often they are portrayed as fat cats, interested in little more than spending time on the golf course and in private jets or, particularly of late, collecting big bonuses.

Like most stereotypes, these fit too easily to be true. It’s been awhile since many executives have seen bonuses. In fact, business has been pretty tough lately. The Wall Street Journal reports that 61 companies in the S&P 500 index replaced their CEOs last year. In the first five weeks this year, 11 more were added to those ranks.

In coping with the stress of managing in a difficult economy, many business leaders that I know take advantage of Virginia’s wealth of outdoor recreational opportunities. We have a set of robust state and national parks; one of the best trout stocking programs in the country; and easy access to mountains, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Business leaders understand that these natural resources contribute to the Virginia’s outstanding quality of life.

Virginia also is a state of diverse energy resources. Coal and nuclear power provide the vast majority of our energy needs. Despite opposition in some quarters, these sources are being continually improved. The development of clean-coal technology, for example, is a major opportunity for Virginia to leverage the research of its outstanding universities.

After a 30-year wait on new construction, expansion of nuclear facilities in Virginia and around the country appears likely. Despite its detractors, nuclear is the cleanest and most efficient source of energy available. Companies like Areva in Lynchburg are poised to become global suppliers of the latest nuclear equipment and technology.

In addition, alternative fuel projects such as wind turbines and biodiesel are increasingly common around the state.

Although controversial, natural-gas drilling off the Atlantic coast and uranium mining in Pittsylvania County are also possibilities for Virginia to create economic opportunities in the emerging new-energy landscape.

Smart-grid technology, which would distribute all available energy sources efficiently to consumers, is another area where our university research can excel.

Energy will be the driver of future growth. The good news is that energy production helps all sectors of our economy. Power is a real product. Research provides the kind of jobs that Virginia is well positioned to provide.

The emphasis placed on the energy sector by the Obama Administration presents an opportunity. Virginia’s record of benefiting from federal investment is an asset we hold in abundance compared to other states.

The prospect of an energy-based economic revival is more than welcome after the failure of an economy characterized by financial manipulations, many of which had more in common with casino gambling than with job-producing industries.

At Virginia Business, our view is that investments in energy production and green technologies will be good for the environment.

Today’s executives understand the full value of sustainable business practices. We enjoy a green environment and all it has to offer, as a resource for recreation and as a new business opportunity for Virginia.

http://www.virginiabusiness.com/index.php/opinion/article/a-clean-energy-driven-economy-will-create-new-opportunities-for-virginia/199614/