It’s not hot-off-the-press, but it’s news worth mentioning
again. On Friday, Gov. Bob McDonnell left Del. Don Merricks (R-Pittsylvania
County) with the distinct impression that the moratorium on uranium mining will
not touched upon anymore in 2013 and that it might not be touched on again for
some time to come (yeah right!).
After his meeting with Gov. McDonnell, Del. Merricks stated
that “The only thing that could happen is if the governor were to amend another
bill or issue an executive order, which he assured us he wasn’t going to do.”[1]
Please note that Gov. McDonnell’s ‘assurances’ are only as viable as the
political winds which shift his policy positions from one pole to the next and
from one day to the next.
According to Merricks, Gov. McDonnell assured several
legislators from Southside Virginia that “he wasn’t planning to do anything
right now”[2]
on Watkins’ request that McDonnell use his executive authority to begin the
creation of uranium mining regulations.
As for the nuclear energy consortium agency being proposed,
Merricks also stated that “I hope people will rest assured it has nothing to do
with mining.” Really, because the “nuclear energy consortium agency” certainly
seems to hint at being involved with all things uranium. But perhaps the
concerned people of Virginia are simply acting out of “emotion and fear”[3]
again, as Sen. John Watkins suggested after he pulled his uranium mining bill
from the senate.
But for Virginians who have been keeping track of the
uranium mining issue, the struggle to keep the ban has only just begun. With so
much uranium ore in the ground and so much profit to be had, the big bad wolf
known as Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI) will be back on the hunt again as soon as
it can. For all anyone knows, VUI is working at this very moment to undermine
the ban on uranium mining in Virginia (wouldn’t that be shocking!).
Just as this time around, Virginians wont lay down in the face
of such an enormous potential threat. VUI may have billions of reasons to mine
for uranium ore. But for the Virginians who stand to directly lose from uranium
mining in Virginia, the reasons for opposition go beyond any quantitative
figure.
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