Legislators wrong to seek delay

To the editor:

To Dels. Donald Merricks, Danny Marshall, James Edmunds and Tommy Wright and Sen. Frank Ruff:

What a great disappointment it was to read your letter opposing uranium mining that you circulated to your colleagues in the General Assembly. Your profound pessimism is perplexing and utterly groundless. It is hard to believe that you would so casually turn your backs on the terrible economic conditions we are facing and deprive so many of us the very opportunities we and our families pray for.

Your judgment in this matter is in stark contrast to the dynamic and visionary leaders who built our nation, and more particularly, developed our Southside region into the economic powerhouse it once was. Without that old-style brand of leadership, we are doomed to a future of breadwinners working two jobs at below-par wages to feed our families.

Our forefathers did not build this nation and this commonwealth by letting their fears cripple them. With such fear and trembling as you exhibit, who among our founders would have ever set forth across the Atlantic, even across the great mountains to tame the west?

However, despite what you would have your colleagues believe, mining uranium is not like crossing an unknown sea to an unknown land, or facing menacing adversaries in the settlement of the West. The path for safe uranium mining is wide, clear and well lit. The National Academy of Sciences has noted all the best practices now commonly employed in the developed world and has drawn a map of the ways to mitigate the risks that are involved.

The real experts have shown us the way forward — and you have ignored it.

Uranium has been mined safely in Canada, France and our own nation for years. We have the benefit of the Chmura report and the NAS reports. According to Chmura, the operation could support hundreds of jobs, generate $5 billion for Virginia firms and generate $112 million in state and local taxes over 35 years.

While you may find it convenient to hide behind the sheer bulk of these reports to argue for delay, most ordinary folks are able to integrate and synthesize the findings and reach sensible conclusions with reasonable speed.

Nothing in your letter reflects the inspired vision we need from our political leaders. We can always afford hope and courage and creativity, but we Americans have never been able to afford pessimism. We hope that your pessimism will be offset by real leaders in the General Assembly who will strive for a way to take advantage of this great opportunity instead of cowering from the challenges and hoping it will go away.

This issue will not go away as our nation seeks to diminish its 92 percent dependency on imported uranium. Nor should it. What’s needed is the sound leadership so sorely lacking in your letter. All it takes is a strong regulatory framework. We hope that you will see the light and join in making that happen.

After all, no issues raised in the NAS report are new. This whole proposition has been studied and studied. It’s time to stop playing delay games and to move forward.