Uranium debate still fierce

Jun 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rex Springston Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Gov. Bob McDonnell's uranium-mining study group will provide its first public update tonight in Pittsylvania County.

The group is studying the safety of mining the radioactive metal, particularly at a proposed site in Pittsylvania about 145 miles southwest of Richmond.

Environmentalists last week continued to criticize the openness of the group, saying it operates behind closed doors and provides little new information on its website.

Maureen Matsen, McDonnell's energy adviser, said the group is working hard to be transparent, adding that tonight's meeting will consist of about an hour of presentations and an hour of interaction with the public.

"It's really important that the public have an opportunity to ask questions and comment," said Matsen, the study group's leader.

Matsen acknowledged Wednesday that the website had not been kept fresh. "We hope to have that rectified posthaste."

New material, providing details on issues the group is studying, went on the site Thursday.

The study group will develop information to help the 2013 General Assembly, which is expected to consider lifting the state's 30-year uranium mining ban.

A December report by the National Academy of Sciences said Virginia faced "steep hurdles" in protecting people and the environment if the state pursued mining. The report also said modern mining methods could reduce risks.

Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said that report showed Virginia shouldn't mine uranium. A month after the report came out, McDonnell ordered the state study.

"We are just concerned that the governor is keeping the door open to uranium mining when the door ought to be closed," Besa said. "A lot of people are concerned that the game is rigged" in favor of mining.

Matsen said the December report, which didn't examine the Pittsylvania site, left a lot of questions unanswered. She said the study group was being objective.

"This is a fact-finding, information-gathering process as opposed to a consensus-building process," she said.

The study group will provide public updates at four meetings. Tonight's is the first. Others will be held in August, October and November.

A group member talked more generally about work plans at a meeting of a legislative panel in March. The updates will be more detailed.

Each of the updates will cover different aspects of mining, milling and dealing with radioactive waste. Tonight's session involves issues such as managing mine waste and developing permits for mining.

Speakers will include a representative from Wright Environmental Services Inc., a Colorado-based consultant hired by the state for $513,000 to provide expertise in uranium mining.

Robert Burnley, a former Virginia environmental chief, said he is impressed with the scope of the group's study, but he thinks the effort is premature.

"I still don't understand why we doing all this work before uranium mining has been approved," said Burnley, representing environmentalists who want the mining moratorium to stay in place. "What they are doing is planning on the moratorium being lifted, it looks like to me."

Those doing the study, officially called the Uranium Working Group, include officials and technical experts from the state's mining, health and environmental agencies.

Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine and mill the metal from what it says is a 119 million-pound deposit in Pittsylvania worth about $7 billion. Uranium fuels nuclear power plants.

Virginia Uranium says the plant would provide jobs while posing little risk to the community. Opponents fear the mine could cause air and water pollution.

Opponents include environmentalists, some Southside Virginia community leaders and Virginia Beach officials. Beach officials fear pollution from the mine could reach rivers leading to the city's drinking water.

The General Assembly was expected to decide this past session whether to lift the mining ban, but McDonnell asked legislators to hold off so his group could study the issue more closely.

rspringston@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6453