RK ARCHIVE - Yesterday's Legislative Lobby Day

(if you read nothing else, please scan the info about the uranium mining act at the bottom. This directly affects the Hampton Roads area, particularly Virginia Beach--Rick)

Thanks to Amanda Mason, Sicily Albero-Darata, and Mike Kessler for taking the day off and carpooling up to Richmond with me yesterday.

We attended the Virginia Conservation Network-Va. League of Conservation Voters-Va. Garden Club training, Legislative Lobby Day 2008. The hall was crowded; about 300 people with a variety of conservation interests from all over the state attended, including half a dozen of our friends from up the road at the Williamsburg CAN.

(BTW, look beyond the roses before you pooh-pooh the Va. Garden Clubs; they are formidable--an extremely large, active, effective, and well-connected conservation group who are taken quite seriously by the General Assembly. Va. Garden Clubs have a long list of successful legislative actions.)

During the day we met with six Hampton Roads legislators or their legislative assistants during the day to express our support for many pending acts: (a complete list can be found on our site http://www.twcan.org/docs.cfm , ga2008.pdf )

We tried to keep our visits positive, but we felt compelled to strongly oppose:

* SB 525 Uranium mining act as inadequate. Instead of a 15-member, politically appointed commission, we suggested the state fund a scientific study by the National Science Foundation or National Academy of Science on the science of uranium mining in Virginia.

Passage of this bill would break the decades long ban on uranium mining in Virginia. This is too important a question to be left to politicians and industry insiders. Science should guide policy.

1. with just a slight increase in acidity of the water, uranium deposits are highly water soluble material

2. it takes 1-2 tons of ore to produce 1 lb of yellow cake uranium and of that only 1-2% is reactor quality material, that's a lot of mine tailings

3. this is a slurry process sure to produce acres of dammed radioactive sludge near our waterways and ground water sources

4. the Pennsylvania county (Danville region) gets 44 inches of rain per year, increasing the likelihood of leeching or a dam break

5. uranium mining has never been attempted in an area with such a large population 6. the water shed from this region feeds both the Richmond (James River) and the Virginia Beach (Lake Gaston) water supplies.

This is a completely separate issue from the question of nuclear power generation.

If you've seen pictures of the collapse of a dam holding back hundreds of acre-feet of coal slag tailings, imagine what it would be like with a radioactive uranium slag.

We are environmentalists, but we're not just "environmentalists." We are also citizens and we are ratepayers; we are customers and employers; we are business owners and educators; we are members of communities of faith who take seriously our stewardship of God's gift and we are patriots who care about energy independence for the nation; we are parents and grandparents concerned about the sustainability of the legacy we leave our children, who all just happen to also care about our environment.

Comments

"The World Without Us" (TheGreenMiles - 1/22/2008 12:42:42 PM)

One of the most compelling sections of "The World Without Us" was the discussion of nuclear waste and how we still have absolutely no idea how to safely dispose of it. Even our alleged long-term solutions aren't guaranteed to be safe. It's great that nuclear is low-carbon, but its waste issue is just as much of a poison pill as coal's inability to create cost-effective carbon capture and storage.

nuculear power fetish (rhkennerly - 1/23/2008 9:43:18 AM)

The most disappointing thing about visiting with the legislators was how totally enthralled they are with nuclear power as a pro-green issue. Del. Purkey, in particular, just couldn't stop talking about how green nuclear power is.

Three different times I tried to widen his view to take in the "before the powerplant" mining phase and the "after the powerplant" disposal phase. If you look at it from cradle to cradle, nuclear is anything but green, but my argument bounced right off of his forehead. Hell, Virginia already generates 2-tons of spent uranium rods per year that we don't know what to do with. You'd think that would get his attention. Maybe we could leave them on his desk.

Sen. Wagner's legislative assistant was nearly the same way, but at least she argued back. But Purkey just kept hammering his point as if his saying it often enough would make it true--a real echo chamber effect up there.

And don't get me started on ... (TheGreenMiles - 1/23/2008 10:00:17 AM)

The billions in loan guarantees nuclear power plants require or the way they're a giant bull's eye for terrorists.

Can you imagine a terrorist attack on a wind farm? I can see the news reports now. "0.000001% of the nation's power supply was disrupted today and two squirrels suffered minor injuries when terrorists blew up a windmill today ..."