Uranium, McCain and Perriello

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: September 11, 2008

So much for reliable information

To the editor:

As a native of Pittsylvania County who has lived near the Coles Hill uranium site most of my life, I have a special interest in learning as much as I can about the effects of mining. That’s why I attended the recent “educational seminar” held in Chatham by Southside Concerned Citizens.

Instead of finding anything “educational,” I sat through two hours of one-sided, unsubstantiated claims that we all are about to be wiped out. The folks holding the meeting seemed to think we should believe it just because they said it.

They used pictures of places far removed from Southside Virginia showing open-pit mines that had not been reclaimed, creating the false impression of what it would look like here.

Three people were running this “seminar,” including Shireen Parsons of Christiansburg. Odd as this may seem, Parsons, who was promoting something she called a “chemical trespass ordinance,” saw fit to say to the audience: “I am not a communist.”

She said that some people think she is a communist, and she simply wanted the audience to be reassured that she was not.

Among the very extreme claims, these folks said that if we ever allow uranium mining, all of Eastern Virginia will be destroyed and Gretna, Chatham and Danville will be uninhabitable. They claimed that no state or federal laws would protect us against such destruction.

Here’s how I see it: If environmental laws can stop a man from timbering because he might disturb a hoot-owl, I believe some of those same laws would take exception to destroying all of Eastern Virginia.

They also claimed that if the Coles Hill deposit is mined, blasting would go on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for 35 or 40 years. Then Parsons said that residents all over Pittsylvania County (almost 1,000 square miles) would be able to hear this constant blasting.

To me, that doesn’t make any sense.

On the other hand, I know some of the local people involved in Virginia Uranium, and I know them to be honest as well as long-time friends and good neighbors. I have attended several of their “educational” briefings and asked hard questions about radiation, dust, tailings and water. They have provided reasonable and carefully documented responses and have never hesitated to point out areas where more study is needed.

ROY CRIDER, Chatham

To the editor:

It never ceases to amaze me at how pro-McCain this area is, in spite of the damage the past eight years has done to the middle-class citizens of Danville and the surrounding areas.

I am a lifelong liberal, but I watched the Republican National Convention. McCain was silent on the issues. All I heard him — and the other right-wing fat cats — talk about was how he was going to make sure that the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. Maybe not in those exact words, but with the unemployment rate as it is around here and oil companies making the insane profits they’re making, it just doesn’t make any sense to support a man who will let them get away with it!

Republicans support big business and their ridiculous profits and are out of touch with the middle class. Any man that owns seven houses doesn’t care if your house gets foreclosed on.

Universal health care is another thing everyone can benefit from, but McCain won’t touch it — God forbid rich, unfair insurance companies are prevented from taking your monthly premiums and not paying for your treatment when you need it the most. Wake up, Danville!

TRAVIS R. MOORE, Ringgold

To the editor:

In response to, “Perriello is right for us,” (Sept. 7, page A11), the author touted Tom Perriello’s background working in other countries and his views on immigration (which are a joke).

First of all, his work overseas means nothing in the 5th District. If he were so in touch, would he not be working here to help the underprivileged — or at least somewhere in this country? But alas, he cannot even practice law to benefit anyone here in Virginia.

We have laws on the books against hiring illegals, and look how they are not enforced. These “anchor babies” will drain our system dry. Once they start getting free housing and food stamps, we will be right back in the middle of being a welfare state. But then again, maybe that is what the author wants.

A vote for Perriello is a vote for a welfare state, where citizens will be expected to pay for illegals as well as the ones we are already paying for. U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode is not politically correct and that is why you know he is telling the truth.

E. WYATT MOORE, Danville