U.S. Agriculture, Energy Secretaries to Visit Pittsylvania County Saturday, July 18th

We are taking the unusual step in publishing 2 articles in the same post because the information each contains complements the other. As always, we appreciate the reporting of both Tim Davis, editor of the Chatham Star-Tribune and Linda Goin, editor of Appomattox News.

There will be seating for 200. They should be looking for 2000! There is no way to stress too strongly just how important this meeting could be! And we suggest trying to be there way, way before 12:30 pm...this is going to be a major event!


By TIM DAVIS/Star-Tribune Editor
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 9:25 AM EDT

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu will visit Pittsylvania County Saturday [July 18] as part of President Obama's "Rural Tour."

Vilsack and Chu are scheduled to talk about green jobs and a new energy economy with a focus on weatherization and carbon sequestration.

The cabinet secretaries are scheduled to fly in to Danville around 10:30 a.m. and visit Piedmont BioProducts, a biodiesel pilot project at Ken Moss's Windy Acres Nursery in Gretna.

After a quick lunch, Vilsack and Chu will hold a town hall meeting at Buddy Mayhew's farm on Carter Lodge Road in Blairs.

The town hall meeting, which is open to the public, will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

"We're expecting a large crowd," said Freddie Wydner, the county's agricultural director.

A large tent will be set up and there will be seating for around 200 people.

"If you want a seat, you'd better arrive early," Wydner said.

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/07/15/chatham/news/news53.txt

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White House Listening Tour Slated for Pittsylvania County

Saturday, 18 July 2009

Buddy Mayhew’s farm

1501 Carter Lodge Road
Blairs, Virginia

(Directions below)

The public is encouraged to arrive around 12:30 p.m. with an anticipated arrival by the Secretaries at 1:00 p.m. The Secretaries plan to take comments and questions until approximately 2:30 p.m.

By Staff Reports on July 15th, 2009

The White House recently announced that President Obama has directed many members of his Cabinet to begin what it describes as a “listening tour” of rural America this summer. The tour will be in Virginia’s Blairs community on Saturday, 18 July 2009. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack will be on a mission to develop “green jobs.”

The Obama administration stated they will focus on weatherization and carbon sequestration.

A town hall meeting will be held at Buddy Mayhew’s farm (1501 Carter Lodge Road, Blairs, Virginia).

Directions to Buddy Mayhew’s farm from Danville: Take Route 29 North. Turn right onto Spring Garden Road (Route 640). Go 1.7 miles, then turn left onto Carter Lodge Road (Route 825). Go 0.2 miles to Buddy’s farm.

Directions to Buddy Mayhew’s farm from Chatham: At the ‘top’ of White Oak Mountain, turn left onto Carter Lodge Road. Go 1.4 miles to Buddy’s farm.

http://www.appomattoxnews.com/2009/white-house-listening-tour-slated-for-pittsylvania-county.html

Senate Introduces Mining Reform Bill

By Josh Harkinson
Thu April 2, 2009

Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico has just introduced a mining reform bill in the Senate, bringing Congress one step closer to updating the nation's most outdated public lands law, the General Mining Law of 1872. A similar bill from House stalled in the Senate last year, where Majority leader Harry Reid, the son of a gold miner, has been a powerful ally of the hard rock minerals industry. Mining companies are still allowed to remove minerals from public lands without paying a cent in federal royalties. As I reported in a recent profile of Reid, Nevada remains an anachronism in a region that is becoming much less tolerant of the America's most polluting industry.

Bingaman's bill is less progressive than a similar House measure, but might win key support from Reid and moderate Republicans. According to Velma Smith, the manager of the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining, the bill proposes reducing the House's proposed 8 percent royalty to something between 2 and 5 percent, to be set at the discretion of the Department of Interior. It would also impose a reclamation fee of .3 to 1 percent.

In what's been a keen interest of Bingaman's, the bill also asks the National Academy of Sciences to perform a study on uranium mining. Smith says uranium, which is the only energy mineral overseen by the mining law, may be moved to a leasing system. Environmentalists have been concerned that mining on any one of 1,200 uranium mining claims along the Colorado River could pollute the water supply for Las Vegas and Southern California.

In other important respects, the Senate and House bills are the same. Both call for stricter environmental permitting of mines, better ways for lands to be set off-limits to mining, and more financial assurances that mining companies will clean up after themselves. The cost of cleaning up abandoned mines in the U.S. is now estimated to be at least $32 billion.

Will Reid support the bill? "I really don’t know," Smith says. "My sense was that Senator Bingaman's office took a long time vetting this with a lot of people. I don’t see this as an extreme bill by any means. So I think there’s a chance for the industry and environmentalists to come together."

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/04/senate-introduces-mining-reform-bill

You're Invited! Uranium Mining Educational Meeting in Riceville, February 21

The Public is Invited!

Uranium Mining Educational Forum

Saturday, February 21

9:00 AM

Riceville Missionary Baptist Church Family Life Center

1644 Riceville Road

(behind the 640 Rescue Squad Bldg)

For more information, call 434-432-8682 or 434-324-8797