Some governments listen to their people.

It's refreshing to see that some governments are not corporate controlled and these governments actually listen to their people. Germany is shutting down their dirty, dangerous nuclear power plants and choosing clean, green energy of the future.

Finally they tells us...It's meltdown in Japan....

So Japan is now going to switch to wind power for it's future energy needs....

Virginia needs to wake up and keep the ban on uranium mining.

We can take advantage of our incredible wind resources off our coast that are safe and won't end up killing us.

Plus wind will bring more jobs to Virginia without the billion dollar clean up bill.

Contact your state delegate and state senator today. Tell them to stop the nuclear madness and keep the ban!!

Uranium threatens the Roanoke River

Uranium mining is so dangerous that you don't have to actually do it to have an important tributary placed on the top ten list of America's most endangered river. Virginian's need to rise up quickly to protect our families, communities and state.

This is truly nuclear madness!

KEEP THE BAN COALITION NEWS

For Immediate Release
May 12, 2011 (corrected May 17, 2011)

Coalition to Keep the Ban on Uranium Mining in Virginia Growing Statewide

Coalition announces dozens of supporting localities and groups, launches petition drive and website

Contact:

Cale Jaffe, Southern Environmental Law Center, 434-977-4090

Mary Rafferty, Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, 804-225-9113, ext 105

Naomi Hodge-Muse, President of the Martinsville/Henry County NAACP, 276-632-9674

RICHMOND, VA – The Keep the Ban Coalition today announced 41 localities and organizations that have taken action—writing letters, adopting resolutions, etc.—that support keeping in place the state’s longstanding ban on uranium mining. This is evidence of a growing statewide movement. Local governments that have passed resolutions or otherwise taken action include the City of Virginia Beach, and civic groups include the Reston-based National Wildlife Federation, whose membership passed a national resolution of support in April.

The coalition today also launched a statewide petition drive, starting with 1,000 signatures of Virginians who support keeping the ban on uranium mining, and launched a new website, www.keeptheban.org, aimed at raising awareness of the health, environmental and socio-economic impacts associated with uranium mining, milling and waste disposal. Uranium has never been mined commercially in the East, nor in a predominantly wet-climate region of the U.S., like Virginia.

“Virginia has had a ban in place on mining uranium for nearly 30 years, and for good reason,” said Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville-Henry County NAACP and leader of the Sierra Club Keep the Ban Team, Martinsville. “There are just too many questions and potential risks of radioactive and toxic materials contaminating our streams, rivers and drinking water. With all the storms and hurricanes we get, this is the worst possible place you could put a uranium operation.”

The uranium industry is lobbying to lift the ban and begin mining uranium in Virginia, starting at a major deposit at a Pittsylvania County site called Coles Hill, first discovered in the late 1970s. The industry also secured leases on other suspected deposits in Culpeper, Fauquier, Floyd, Henry, Madison, Orange, Patrick, and Pittsylvania counties. Potential uranium deposits were also detected in Franklin and Nelson counties. Recently, Virginia Uranium, Inc. told Wall Street investors that it plans to introduce legislation lifting the uranium mining ban in the 2012 session of the General Assembly.

Coalition partners note the well-documented links between exposure to uranium waste and myriad health problems, including bone, liver and breast cancer, lung and kidney diseases, and birth defects. Another concern is the severity and frequency of storms in the region, which could damage uranium facilities and potentially wash contaminated storm water and uranium waste into nearby water resources. In the last 40 years, nine hurricanes and countless other major storms have deluged Virginia. In 1969, Hurricane Camille dumped 31 inches of rain on central Virginia. This April, at least 30 tornadoes were recorded in Virginia, including one in Halifax County about 20 miles from the Coles Hill site.

Virginia Beach, which gets its drinking water from Lake Gaston, downstream of the Coles Hill site, recently released the findings of its $437,000 study which concluded that a catastrophic failure of a uranium waste containment structure at the site could contaminate the city’s drinking water for as long as two years. Roughly 1.2 million people in Virginia and North Carolina rely on the Roanoke River system downstream of the Coles Hill site for drinking water.

Mary Rafferty with the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter said that nine local groups have formed around the state in recent months to campaign for keeping the ban on uranium mining in Virginia (see list below).

“I’m fielding calls every week from concerned citizens across the state with requests for more information and for ways to get more involved. Mining proponents think this issue will be won behind closed doors in Richmond, but the people of Virginia are demanding it be debated in town halls and onfront porches,” said Rafferty.

“If the ban is lifted, it will be lifted statewide, which means Virginians throughout the state could potentially be affected by uranium mining, milling and waste disposal in their communities, or miles upstream,” said Cale Jaffe, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The coalition website is designed to educate the public on the risks posed by lifting the ban on uranium mining, milling and waste disposal in Virginia. The site has fact sheets and press coverage on the issue, and visitors can sign a petition in favor of the ban and join a local volunteer group.

Government entities that have taken action related to keeping the ban within the last four years

City of Creedmor, NC

City of Henderson, NC

City of Virginia Beach, VA

Floyd County, VA

Halifax County, NC

Granville County, NC

Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments

Mecklenburg County, VA

Orange County, VA

Rappahannock County, VA

Town of Halifax, VA

Town of Hurt, VA

Town of Franklinton, NC

Town of Warrenton, NC

Vance County, NC

Warren County, NC

Organizations in support of the ban that are not members of the Keep the Ban Coalition

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

- Piedmont Residents in Defense of the Environment (PRIDE)

Buggs Island Striper Club

Halifax County Chamber of Commerce (VA)

Martinsville-Henry County Chapter of the NAACP

National Wildlife Federation
North Carolina Roanoke River Basin Advisory Committee

North Carolina Wildlife Federation

Southside Concerned Citizens

Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts

Volunteer groups organized with assistance from the Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter:

- Keep the Ban, Chesapeake

- Keep the Ban, Norfolk

- UBAN, Floyd County (VA)

- Roanoke Group of the Sierra Club

- Sierra Club Keep the Ban Team, Martinsville

Members of the Keep the Ban Coalition

Dan River Basin Association

League of Individuals for the Environment, Inc.

Roanoke River Basin Association

Piedmont Environmental Council

Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter

Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project

Southern Environmental Law Center

Virginia Bass Federation

Virginia Conservation Network

Virginia League of Conservation Voters

"Why Are We Playing Russian Roulette With the American People?": Longtime Nuclear Critic Ralph Nader Advocates Phasing Out Nuclear Power Industry

"Why Are We Playing Russian Roulette With the American People?": Longtime Nuclear Critic Ralph Nader Advocates Phasing Out Nuclear Power Industry

Why is President Obama saying "we" are committed to a nuclear renaissance? There should be no royal "we" in the USA. It appears that President Obama has sold his soul for nuclear industry money.

We the people deserve a national moratorium on nuclear energy while we discuss what is "our" best course forward for achieving our energy needs is a safe, sustainable, manner.

Why are we setting up a scenario where private investors will only invest IF the taxpayers are on the hook for the costs? This corporate welfare needs to stop. If another nuclear plant won't be built unless the taxpayer is on the hook then it should NOT be built! No more corporate welfare for this nuclear industry that has never been able to exit in 60 years unless it's feeding at the public trough!

Uranium Quote of the Day

According to Sarah Fields:

Uranium mining is still a dirty, polluting , hazardous, and environmentally destructive industry. State and federal regulatory programs are still back in the 1980s. Some kinds of emissions are not regulated (same story at uranium mills), and there are no clean up standards for the mines after decommissioning. There are still many uranium mining areas in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah that have never been cleaned up. A federal staff person recently described an area on public land in Utah with historical uranium mining impacts and 2 small proposed mines as a "War Zone."

Floyd County Virginia opposes Uranium Mining in Virginia

RESOLUTION IN OPPOSITION TO LIFTINGTHE BAN ON URANIUM MINING IN VIRGINIA

WHEREAS, in 1983 the Virginia General Assembly enacted a moratorium on the mining
of uranium in the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, presently a company know as Virginia Uranium, Inc. has proposed
establishing one of the largest uranium mining operations in North America within the
State of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, presently Virginia Uranium, Inc. is undertaking an extensive lobbying
campaign directed at getting the Virginia General Assembly to lift the moratorium
established in 1983, thereby allowing the company to begin mining operations; and

WHEREAS, it is probable that the mining operations proposed by Virginia Uranium, Inc.
will result in large quantities of highly mobile, radioactive mill tailings, which must be
stored as sludge in ponds, and eventually in dewatered tailings piles that can retain 85
percent of their original radioactivity for hundreds of thousands of years; and

WHEREAS, it is possible that sludge ponds and/or tailings pile confinement structures
could fail, resulting in the release of radioactive materials into surface waters and the
surrounding environment; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s climate includes frequent storms capable
of producing surface water conditions that will transport and disperse radioactive
materials downstream and away from the site of the mining and related storage of
byproduct; and,

WHEREAS, it is probable that the negative environmental, health, and economic impacts
of a release of radioactive materials could result in catastrophic harm to a portion of the
of the Commonwealth’s land area.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the Floyd County Board of Supervisors,
that it does hereby oppose lifting the ban on uranium mining unless and until it can be
scientifically demonstrated with a high level of certainty that no release of radioactive
materials can escape from any proposed uranium mining operation and/or location.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be sent to each member of
the County’s legislative delegations and to the Chair of all groups currently studying
uranium mining in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Adopted by the Floyd County Board of Supervisors on the 12
the day of April, 2011.

Uranium/Nuclear Snake Oil Vendors

This article deserves to be read in it's entirety. According to Chip Ward:

When nuclear reactors blow, the first thing that melts down is the truth. Just as in the Chernobyl catastrophe almost 25 years ago when Soviet authorities denied the extent of radiation and downplayed the dire situation that was spiraling out of control, Japanese authorities spent the first week of the Fukushima crisis issuing conflicting and confusing reports. We were told that radiation levels were up, then down, then up, but nobody aside from those Japanese bureaucrats could verify the levels and few trusted their accuracy. The situation is under control, they told us, but workers are being evacuated. There is no danger of contamination, but stay inside and seal your doors.
The First Atomic Snow Job

The bureaucratization of horror into bland and reassuring pronouncements was to be expected, especially from an industry where misinformation is the rule. Although you might suppose that the nuclear industry’s outstanding characteristic would be its expertise, since it’s loaded with junior Einsteins who grasp the math and physics required to master the most awesomely sophisticated technology humans have ever created, think again. Based on the record, it’s most outstanding characteristic is a fundamental dishonesty. I learned that the hard way as a grassroots activist organizing opposition to a scheme hatched by a consortium of nuclear utilities to park thousands of tons of highly radioactive fuel rods, like the ones now burning at Fukushima, in my Utah backyard.

Here’s what I took away from that experience: the nuclear industry is a snake-oil culture of habitual misrepresentation, pervasive wishful thinking, deep denial, and occasional outright deception. For more than 50 years, it has habitually lied about risks and costs while covering up every violation and failure it could. Whether or not its proponents and spokespeople are dishonest or merely deluded can be debated, but the outcome -- dangerous misinformation and the meltdown of honest civic discourse -- remains the same, as we once again see at Fukushima....

Corporate News Fails US once again....

A ThinkProgress analysis of press coverage by the three major U.S. cable news networks — CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News — from March 14 to March 18 finds that Bahrain received only slightly more than ten percent as many mentions as Libya and that Yemen received only six percent as many mentions as Libya:

Libya: Libya was mentioned 9,524 times by the major cable news networks.
Bahrain: Bahrain was mentioned 1,587 times by the major cable news networks.
Yemen: Yemen was only mentioned 599 times by the major cable news networks.
The lack of coverage of the situation in Bahrain and Yemen isn’t disturbing just because the atrocities being committed there merit coverage. It’s especially alarming because, unlike Libya, both are close U.S. allies and recipients of major U.S. military and economic assistance — meaning that the U.S. actually bears a responsibility to make sure its assistance is not being used in ways that are contrary to American values.

"...if protecting financial consumers — and helping the millions of Americans struggling to hold onto their homes — isn’t worth fighting for, then what is?" Why Elizabeth Warren should be the director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau!

Nuclear is the worst investment for jobs

According to this study taxpayer dollars should NOT be diverted to nuclear technology since it has the worst record for jobs creation. Agriculture, water infrastructure, solar, wind, smart grid, roads and bridges repair, livestock, crop agriculture provide more jobs per dollar.

In addition the corporate generated myth of nuclear as clean energy is now being exposed as a big lie with the most recent disaster in Japan.

In this age of terrorism we need safe, clean, sustainable energy--let's invest in the technology of the future and create more jobs per dollar with wind, solar, biomass and let the private investors do nuclear if they so desire but without the taxpayer funded corporate welfare.

Solar energy is CHEAPER than nuclear (and will continue to grow cheaper than nuclear over time) and it creates more jobs.
Contact your state and federal officials and tell them NO taxpayer bailout for nuclear profiteers. We need value for our tax dollars...end the government bailouts for corporate profiteers!

Quote for the Day involves Nuclear Reality

"As a physician, I contend that nuclear technology threatens life on our planet with extinction. If present trends continue, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink will soon be contaminated with enough radioactive pollutants to pose a potential health hazard far greater than any plague humanity has ever experienced." --Dr. Helen Caldicott

Water Story

Virginia needs more tax money. Our greatest resource is our water.

Why not have a bottle deposit to protect our water and use this money for protecting our water and our environment?

And while you are thinking about water....remember we need to protect our water.

Support Virginia's moratorium on uranium mining.

Another Unusual Morbidity Event in the Gulf

Now 60 baby dolphins have washed up dead.

Move along folks...nothing to see here...don't connect the dots...it can't be due to that BP oil spill...that would be so "UN-Scientific."

BP Hid the Oil but the Damages continue to surface

Seventeen dead baby dolphins wash ashore....


I say BP should get the death penalty and have their corporate charter revoked.

Nuclear Energy is too Expensive!

Why is tax money being spent on nuclear when it's now proven that solar is CHEAPER than nuclear and everyone knows it's cleaner and safer? This should end all arguments on the need to mine uranium for nuclear energy now. This gap will only widen with increasing costs of nuclear energy versus decreasing costs of solar energy. Cheaper and getting cheaper versus more expensive and getting more expensive. Source

Radiation is Dangerous...

With anti-uranium moratorium lobbyists visiting our elected officials in Richmond to hurry up and lift our uranium moratorium whose side do you think our state government is on....the few folks who want to get rich off uranium mining or the people of Virginia who will bear the consequences? Don't forget to ask who is filling their campaign coffers.

I contend Virginia will lose more jobs than are gained from this insane idea to make Virginia the first wet climate to mine uranium.

Folks in Arizona just beat back the uranium mining interests...they know better than to trust this industry.

Remember uranium is dangerous....radiation is dangerous. Go on facebook and friend Uranium Free Virginia. Research this for yourself...give your insurance company a call...they won't insure your home or property for any damages from this venture.

Knowledge is power. Educate yourself then spread the word.

Can't trust Big Corps....

Look how BP was able to cover up their oil....will anyone make them clean up their mess?

IF the USA can't make BP clean up their mess how is Virginia going to regulate dangerous uranium mining?

Streamkiller Bill Passes

The Virginia Senate and House have both passed legislation (SB 1025 and HB 2123) in an attempt to limit federal regulation of mountaintop removal coal mining permits under the Clean Water Act. Governor Bob McDonnell is expected to sign the legislation into law. This legislation takes existing authority away from the citizen water control board and places it solely at the discretion of the Director of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME). By giving this authority to a single political appointee, we lose the expert guidance during the permitting process by the citizen field experts who sit on the water control board. This maneuver also leaves questions as to its legality since our EPA-approved permitting process gives this authority directly to the board. Senators Ticer, Whipple, McEachin, Petersen, and Marsden stood up for clean water and opposed the Senate bill in committee. Please email your senator today to tell them how you feel about their vote.

Will Virginia become a sacrifice zone?

I'm starting to understand why the places where uranium is mined are called sacrifice zones or dead zones. There are no regulation concerning the radioactive waste and how it should be handled. This is shocking. No wonder they have a history of mining in desert areas that are sparsely populated.