Foes of lifting Virginia’s decades-old ban on uranium mining are trotting out what they consider to be the heavy artillery. In this Washington Times piece, we learn of a news conference that featured an assortment of chicken littles and political class cluckers. But buried inside this bromide is a real gem:
“People are concerned,” Ben Davenport, chairman of First Piedmont Corporation in Chatham, said. “Sure, we want more jobs … but at what cost?”
The news conference was hosted by the Virginia Coalition and The Alliance for Progress in Southern Virginia.
Mr. Davenport said that they want Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, to form a group to evaluate the economic impacts of the mine, as well as short and long-term liabilities that could result from lifting the ban.
This is all quite bland. Or it is until we dig slightly deeper and learn that Mr. Davenport’s First Piedmont Corporation operates a landfill in Pittsylvania county, site of the proposed uranium mine. Mr. Davenport’s company can accept all sorts of waste that’s gone through the appropriate channels. The Ringgold site accepts:
…industrial, commercial (excluding food), construction, demolition, debris, asbestos, industrial sludge, special waste and other industrial waste streams.
Naturally and properly, the company is careful to note that it operates according to the rules and regulations of the commonwealth in order to protect its employees and the environment.
But that doesn’t mean Mr. Davenport’s company hasn’t had a few setbacks. A quarry the company once leased in Pittsylvania county and used as a dump for industrial waste is an EPA Superfund site. It’s quite a charming place:
The First Piedmont Rock Quarry Site, located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia (5th Congressional District) is a 4-acre former quarry that was used as an industrial landfill. Between 1970 and 1972, the First Piedmont Corporation leased the former quarry to dispose of 65,000 cubic yards of waste material, including 15,000 gallons of liquid waste generated by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. The Virginia State Health Department (VA DOH) ordered the site closed after a fire, possibly caused by spontaneous combustion of waste materials buried in the quarry. In December 1987, the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs): First Piedmont Corporation, Corning Glass Works, and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, signed a Consent Order to conduct an investigation into the extent of the contamination and to identify technologies available for cleanup. Sampling of the soils on the site has detected elevated levels of heavy metals; including arsenic, chromium, lead, and zinc. Elevated levels of lead and zinc have also been detected in surface water. Although the site is located adjacent to a residential development of 260 people, no site contaminants were detected during the sampling of the wells serving these homes. Approximately 380 people live within one mile of the site and an estimated 1,800 people live within two miles of the site.
Spontaneous combustion? The more we learn about the opponents of the uranium ban, and their deeply held concerns about this, that and the other, the more difficult it is to take them seriously.
