I checked my mail the other day and found an interesting item from the Sierra Club, warning me of the dangers of uranium mining and imploring me to vote for Hank Davis.
This was not surprising as Hank Davis has made his opposition to uranium mining a central tenant in his campaign. However, voters are now beginning to discover that he was not always so opposed.
In a letter to the Editorial Board of the Danville Register and Bee, a chief geologist for Virginia Uranium, the company currently pursuing permission to mine the valuable resource, has brought to light some facts about Hank Davis’ record including the fact that he once supported uranium mining in the 1980’s and received a considerable sum of money from Marline Corp. the business that was trying to initiate a project at the Coles Hill site at that time.
Now it is certainly understandable and even permissible for someone to change their position, however, it is interesting that Davis would have no problem with uranium mining at a time when technology was not as far along as it is today. It is entirely possible that the technology is still not advanced enough to mine the uranium safely. The current study being done by the National Academy of Sciences will help to make that confirmation one way or the other.
The Republican candidate Bill Stanley has taken a more measured postion, pledging to support mining only if it can be done without harming the environment and if it is economically viable. Davis has taken a much more dogmatic position without having all of the facts at hand. He seems to have done the same thing back when he was advocating for Marline Corp. in favor of mining. Obviously he believed that mining was viable then, and the same concerns existed then as today.
Many would not be opposed to mining if it can be done responsibly, hopefully soon it will be possible for a region that has been devastated by unemployment to be able to capitalize on its resources.
Disclaimer: I am currently working in association with the Bill Stanley for Senate campaign. The views I have expressed are mine and mine alone.
