Gov. Bob McDonnell’s Uranium Working Group will return to Chatham Wednesday, Oct. 17, for a meeting on uranium mining and milling.
The meeting, which will focus on public health and safety, will begin at 6 p.m. at the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex on U.S. 29 north of Chatham.
Other topics include mill licensing; tailings storage, disposal and monitoring; mill site closure and decommissioning; drinking water regulations; private well regulatory framework; recreational use of waters; reconstitution of radon program; environmental monitoring; and epidemiological surveillance.
McDonnell established the Uranium Working Group in January to examine health and safety concerns, environmental questions, and the economic impact of uranium mining.
The group includes experts from the Virginia Department of Health, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, and Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy.
Cathie J. France, deputy director of energy policy for the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, described the group’s role as a “fact-finding mission.”
“There have been a lot of studies done and those studies have raised a lot of questions,” she said.
“We have not made any conclusions. We will not take a position one way or the other on whether the ban should be lifted. The information we provide will be used by decision-makers.”
France said the working group will draft a regulatory framework, but will not write regulations on uranium mining and milling unless told to do so by the General Assembly.
Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining since 1982.
Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine the Coles Hill uranium deposit about six miles northeast of Chatham.
Discovered in the late 1970s, the deposit is worth an estimated $7 billion.
Company officials said the uranium mine and mill would support more than 1,050 jobs and provide an annual economic impact of $135 million over 35 years.
The Uranium Working Group held its first public meeting in June in Chatham on uranium mining permitting and regulations.
A second meeting was held in Chatham in August with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees uranium milling.
The group’s third meeting was in Virginia Beach and focused on water and air concerns surrounding uranium mining.
Its final meeting in November in Richmond will target worker health and safety and emergency preparedness and response.
The working group is scheduled to present its findings to the governor in early December.
It will be up to lawmakers to decide whether to lift the state’s 30-year ban on uranium mining.
The General Assembly meets in January.
The public will have a chance to comment at the Oct. 17 meeting or can submit comments by mail or the website, www.uwg.vi.virginia.gov.
A summary of written comments is presented at each meeting.
According to France, written questions will be collected from the audience before the meeting and after the presentations.
“The moderator will ask the questions and the panel will answer them,” she said. “Public comment will be taken at the conclusion of the question period.”
In addition to comments and the group’s scope of work, most of the uranium studies, including ones going back to the early 1980s, have been posted on the website.
Citizens can also sign up for an email list.
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