Public invited to speak out at uranium meeting Tuesday

The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee meets Tuesday evening at Chatham High School, where residents can speak out on the scope of a socioeconomic study of uranium mining and milling.

The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. in Chatham High School’s auditorium to allow public comment on a draft of the study’s scope that will examine the social, economic and environmental impacts of this proposed new industry.

“Certainly all pertinent suggestions would be added to the revised draft of the scope that will be crafted after the public meeting,” said David A. Bovenizer, spokesman for Uranium Mining Subcommittee Chairman Delegate Lee Ware, R-Powhatan.

Those wishing to comment can sign up about an hour before the meeting starts and will be given three minutes to speak.

The study’s objective is to “address site- and region-specific social, economic and environmental impacts and sustainability factors such as quality of life, infrastructure, local economic opportunities and property and real estate values,” according to the study’s draft at the commission’s Web site at http://dls.state.va.us/cec.htm.

The study, the second portion of the state’s two-part examination of the impacts of uranium mining and milling, will focus on Pittsylvania County, where Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill near Chatham. Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining and milling since 1982.

The study’s radius from the Coles Hill site six miles northeast of Chatham will be determined partly by public comments from residents and officials and partly by the “realities, socially and economically, of the nature” of VUI’s proposed operation, including the number, type and income of its employees, Bovenizer said.

Written comment on the study will accepted through June 30 and can be sent to the Coal & Energy Commission, c/o Ellen Porter, Division of Legislative Services, 910 Capitol St., Richmond, Va. 23219 or to eporter@dls.virginia.gov.

The Virginia Tobacco Commission is providing up to $200,000 to the Coal and Energy Commission for the socioeconomic study, which is the second section of a two-part study.

Regarding possible candidates for conducting the socioeconomic study, the Uranium Mining Subcommittee asked for statements of interest, cost and time from The College of William & Mary, University of Virginia, George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University and Old Dominion University.

The subcommittee asked for the statements as a prerequisite to drawing up the current draft of the study scope and to enable the subcommittee to apply for a grant for the socioeconomic study, Bovenizer said.

The study cannot be bid until in its final draft form, Bovenizer said.

The National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council is conducting the other part of the study examining the scientific and technical aspects of uranium mining and milling. That portion of the study, indirectly paid for by Virginia Uranium Inc., is expected to be complete in the fall of 2011.