Feb
01
2012
In just a couple weeks, county officials will decide the fate of commercial-scale wind energy in Floyd County.
In recent months, several major wind energy companies have scouted the area for potential sites to build large-scale wind farms. But, now county officials are considering a law that would effectively ban such development.
Floyd County is unique in Virginia as one of the only localities that does not have established rules for zoning any kind of development, commercial or residential. Typically those decisions are left up to landowners to make for themselves. However, the prospect of building wind turbines in the predominantly rural county has touched off a debate among officials and residents.
Last year, neighboring Roanoke County passed an ordinance allowing the development of commercial-scale wind farms in the county while placing restrictions on the turbines’ height, noise and proximity to residential communities. Wind company Invenergy has proposed building a 19-turbine wind farm on Poor Mountain in Roanoke County, which the company says will produce enough electricity to power more than 10,000 homes in the region.
Now the Floyd County Board of Supervisors is considering an ordinance of its own, but one that would impose much more severe – even prohibitive - restrictions on the height of the turbines. The so-called ridgeline protection ordinance would effectively prevent the construction of wind turbines on ridge tops and adjacent valleys, the locations most suitable for capturing wind energy.
Residents gathered at Floyd County High School last night to debate the issue, with some expressing support for wind development and others backing the ordinance to block the development. Supporters argued that private property owners should be able to develop their land as they wish, and touted the economic and environmental benefits of renewable wind energy. Opponents of wind energy raised concerns about noise pollution and the obstruction of ridge top viewscapes.
The Floyd County Board of Supervisors will meet on February 14th to deliberate over the proposed ridgeline protection ordinance.
Jan
31
2012
In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, last week Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb renewed their push for ending the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling off the coast of Virginia.
In the letter, the Senators argued that opening up the Atlantic coast to drilling would “attract well-paying jobs and hold significant promise for boosting needed domestic energy production.”
Read the Senator’s letter here.
After initially including Virginia in the Interior Department’s 2012-2017 offshore oil and gas leasing program, in late 2011 the Obama Administration reversed course and imposed a 7-year moratorium on Atlantic coast drilling.
Beyond the potential to create thousands of jobs and produce a large amount of domestic energy, Warner and Webb also emphasized the significant royalties the federal and state governments stand to gain. These royalties could serve as a “future source of funding for important state priorities such as transportation, land and water conservation and alternative energy development,” they said.
While the Senators’ letter will put a spotlight on Virginia’s offshore resources, it is unlikely to persuade the Obama administration to change course again. Interior’s 5-year plan is due to be finalized this summer, and the administration appears to be sticking to its guns.
Jan
20
2012
Governor Bob McDonnell announced yesterday that he has directed state agencies to develop draft regulations for uranium mining by December 2012. The Governor tasked the Secretaries of Commerce & Trade, Health & Human Resources and Natural Resources to form a Uranium Working Group to both draft the regulations and conduct an environmental impact analysis at the Coles Hill uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County.
With draft regulations and a site-specific analysis of the Coles Hill site in hand prior to the 2013 session of the General Assembly, the Governor said he would like to see legislators decide next year whether to lift Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining.
Read the Governor’s announcement and directive to state agencies.
The working group will hold at least three public meetings throughout the year to report on its progress and hear input from the public.
The Coles Hill uranium deposit is the largest untapped deposit in the U.S., with enough uranium to fuel Virginia’s nuclear reactors for nearly 75 years. A recent socioeconomic study by the Virginia Coal & Energy Commission said the proposed project could yield more than 1,000 new jobs, $5 billion in economic benefits and more than $1oo million in state and local tax revenue.
A separate study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) determined that although the industry posed environmental risks in its early days, the experience of Canada, Australia and the western states over the last 3o years has demonstrated that uranium mining can be been done safely and with minimal impacts to the environment. The working group will likely draw from many of the international regulatory standards and industry best practices identified by the NAS study.
Dec
22
2011
The National Academy of Sciences released its study on uranium mining in Virginia Monday, providing a clear path forward for safely developing the state’s uranium resources. Click here to read the full report.
“The study shows that major technological and regulatory advances over the past 30 years have dramatically improved the environmental and public health performance of the uranium mining and milling industry,” said Virginia Uranium, Inc. project manager, Patrick Wales.
Virginia Uranium is seeking to develop the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the United States located in Pittsylvania County. A 30-year-old moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia requires state agencies to develop a regulatory and permitting program for the industry before development can proceed. The issue is expected to be a major issue in the General Assembly this year.
VEIA Chairman Ray Ganthner responded to the study saying, “by requiring the adoption of the best practices [identified in the study] and applying the lessons from the industry’s past, the VEIA believes Virginia is fully capable of developing our uranium resources in a safe and environmentally responsible way.”
The NAS study identified many of the best industry practices and regulatory requirements adopted over the last 30 years to address most of the environmental issues associated with the industry. The management of tailings, the non-uranium material leftover from the milling process, has been a particular environmental concern for residents in the surrounding area.
Addressing the issue of tailings management head-on, the NAS concluded that “to date, modern tailings disposal cells have been effective at preventing groundwater contamination.” The report went on to say that “significant improvements have been made to tailings management practices to isolate mine waste from the environment, and below-grade disposal practices have been developed specifically to address concerns regarding tailing dam failures.”
“If uranium mining, processing, and reclamation are designed, constructed, operated, and monitored according to modern international best practices,” the report predicted that “near- to moderate-term environmental effects specific to uranium mining and processing should be substantially reduced.”
The NAS went on to explain that modern tailings management sites are designed to withstand severe weather events such as hurricanes and earthquakes, and are have been successful at preventing contamination of air and water in communities surrounding operations. The study acknowledged numerous other improvements by the industry in recent decades in the areas of worker safety and groundwater protection.
The NAS study particularly focused on industry practices and regulatory models from Canada, where uranium mining and milling has occurred for more than 50 years with a fairly exemplary record for environmental performance. The study pointed to the McLean Lake and Rabbit Lake operations as good examples of how rigorous government oversight and advanced technologies have been effective at protecting water quality and other environmental factors.
The study concluded that “best practices, if properly implemented in association with rigorous monitoring, should address or allow the site operator to take action to mitigate the majority of short-term environmental effects from routine uranium-specific mining and processing activities.”
Virginia Uranium Project Manager Patrick Wales said the company is committed to adopting “the best practices and regulatory requirements identified by the NAS as essential to protecting the environment and public health.”
The NAS study also emphasized that Virginia Uranium would have to navigate a lengthy regulatory process, involving intensive review by multiple regulatory agencies, before a single shovel would enter the ground at the Coles Hill site. If the moratorium is lifted in 2012, the NAS said, operation of a mine would not take place for another 5 to 9 years.
Other studies focusing on the socioeconomic aspect of uranium mining in Virginia by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission and the Research Triangle Institute have highlighted the significant economic impact of the proposed Coles Hill project, including more than 1,000 jobs and $135 million for Virginia’s economy each year.
Dec
13
2011
Virginia Tech Geosciences Professor Dr. Robert Bodnar wrote an insightful Op/Ed in Sunday’s Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star about America’s reliance on foreign countries for our most vital resources and manufactured goods. Dr. Bodnar urges Virginians to embrace the sense of shared responsibility and purpose espoused by his parents’ generation and issues a clarion call for America to begin using more of our own resources and manufacturing more of the goods on which we depend for our high standard of living. Here is the full text of Dr. Bodnar’s Op/Ed:
As we approach the end of 2011, the debate concerning uranium mining in Virginia is reaching a crescendo as those in favor and those opposed anticipate that a bill to overturn the existing moratorium on uranium mining will be introduced into the Virginia General Assembly in 2012. While this is an important issue, especially to those who live in Southside Virginia and in other parts of the commonwealth that might host uranium deposits, the implications extend far beyond the question of whether or not to exploit the largest unmined uranium deposit in the United States.
The broader and more important question concerns the future that we, as residents of the commonwealth and citizens of the United States, want to forge for our children and their children and grandchildren. America is in decline because we have become dependent on others to provide all of the resources and gadgets that we have become accustomed to, and which lead to the high standard of living and quality of life that Americans enjoy.
The United States became a great nation because for the first two centuries of our existence we were mostly self-sufficient in terms of energy and raw materials needed for manufacturing. We produced tangible goods that not only provided jobs to Americans, but also provided income as those goods were sold at home and abroad. Today, we produce little in the way of tangible goods in this country, as iron and steel, furniture, textiles, electronics, and most other types of manufacturing activities have moved to other countries.
This loss of domestic productivity comes at a great cost. In 2009, the United States spent $309 billion to import oil, enough to hire all of the 14 million unemployed at an annual salary of $22,000. Much of this oil was imported from countries that are openly or covertly working toward the our destruction.
Many of those who oppose uranium mining claim that cheaper and higher-grade sources of uranium are available from stable overseas producers. This is true to some extent, but many of the people who suggest that we should import this valuable energy resource are the same people who have bumper stickers on their cars that read “Buy Local.” Perhaps they mean that we should buy local if it benefits them, or at least doesn’t inconvenience them or expose them to risks.
Many of those who oppose uranium mining oppose any and all types of mining or infrastructure development. Some of these people will drive their gasoline-powered cars to town hall meetings to oppose offshore drilling for oil, or use their computers that contain copper and gold and many other metals to send out emails opposing development of copper mines. Some go to rallies to oppose building nuclear power plants and then return to their air-conditioned homes and watch TVs that are powered by electricity generated by a nuclear reactor.
There are many reasons to support the mining of uranium in Virginia, if it can be shown through rigorous scientific studies that it can be done with minimal and acceptable risk to the environment and to human health. Most Americans enjoy the many benefits that mining and other types of resource extraction provide, and it is not morally or ethically acceptable for Americans to expect others to face potential risks and inconveniences associated with producing those resources if we are not also prepared to accept some of the risks ourselves.
Let us stop being a country of elitist hypocrites who oppose anything that might inconvenience us while at the same time demanding the many benefits that resource extraction and manufacturing provide.
I grew up listening to parents, grandparents, and friends who lived through both world wars and the Great Depression, and the important lesson learned was the shared sense of responsibility that this generation espoused: the willingness to sacrifice for the common good.
That sense of shared responsibility is lost today in America, and I fear that the bright future that my parents and their parents built for my generation through their sacrifices will not be there for my children and their children and grandchildren.
Saying “yes” to mining and producing a valuable non-carbon-dioxide generating energy resource within the commonwealth can and should be the first step toward re-establishing our energy independence and helping to build a brighter future.
