Friday, January 11, 2008
State of mine
Momentum is growing in the radioactive debate over whether to open a uranium mine in Pittsylvania County. Advocates see a wealth of opportunity; opponents see safety and environmental concerns.
Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times
Jack Dunavant, chairman of Southside Concerned Citizens, is opposed to the proposed uranium mining at Coles Hill near Chatham, Va. "It cannot be done safely," he said.
Eloise Nenon, also part of the group opposing the project, offers another reason why people resist the plan. "These are families who have been here for generations, people who treasure their land and want to protect it."
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Coles Hill uranium by the numbers
- 2,000: acres Land dedicated by the Coles and Bowen families to mining and milling
- 400: acres Acreage whose mineral rights have been leased by Virginia Uranium
- $31: Average long-term contract price in 2005 for a pound of yellowcake milled from uranium ore
- $95: Current long-term contract price for a pound of yellowcake
- 30 years: Possible length of mining operations at Coles Hill
- $15 million: Money raised to date by Virginia Uranium from institutional and private investors
- 12: Number of employees of Virginia Uranium (plus a lobbyist and a public relations expert)
- 300 to 500: Possible number of mining and milling employees required at Coles Hill
- 67 million pounds: Yellowcake purchased in 2006 by owners and operators of U.S. civilian nuclear power reactors
- 38 million pounds: Yellowcake imported by U.S. civilian reactors
Sources: Virginia Uranium; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; UxC Consulting; 2007 Virginia Energy Plan; Energy Information Administration
CHATHAM, Va. -- Walter Coles does not believe that anyone in Pittsylvania County really hates him.
But controversy surrounds Coles and his business partners who hope to someday mine uranium ore beneath farm land ringing the Coles family's circa-1814 manor house about six miles northeast of Chatham.
At today's prices, the extensive deposits could be worth billions of dollars, according to Virginia Uranium Inc., the Chatham-based company of which Coles is chairman.
Although uranium prices can be volatile, the ore could be worth even more seven or eight years from now, probably the earliest the deposit could possibly be mined.
For now, Virginia Uranium wants the Virginia General Assembly and Gov. Tim Kaine to allow an objective, independent study to examine whether mining and milling of radioactive uranium can be accomplished safely in Pittsylvania County.
The company says it will pay for the study, no strings attached.
What happens if research determines the mining project should not proceed on land owned by the Coleses and another family?
"It's dead," Coles said. "We've said that time and again."
Virginia Uranium has fans and foes. One petition circulating around Chatham reads, "Heck no! We won't glow!"
Regional opponents say that even stringently regulated uranium mining is hazardous to human health and the environment.
In December, a regional newspaper reported that Coles had become, in some quarters of this town of 1,300 residents, "a hated man" because of his company's push for uranium mining.
"That's just not true, as far as I know," he said.
About local opponents, Coles said, "I admire them, and like to be around them, and I don't think they hate me. Many of their concerns I share."
State would need to reverse 25-year-old ban
The deposits at Coles Hill harbor an estimated 100 million pounds of radioactive uranium. If that estimate proves true, the deposits might be the largest known ore source in the United States.
In the weeks ahead, Virginians are likely to hear more about the 69-year-old Coles, Virginia Uranium and the company's campaign to persuade state government to allow the independent study.
On Wednesday, Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, introduced a bill that would establish a 15-member executive branch commission to assess the risks and benefits of developing uranium resources in Virginia.
The bill has been referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources.
In 1983, Virginia essentially banned uranium mining in the state because of safety concerns. The ban remains in effect.
Kaine has said he does not support lifting the ban until more is known about uranium mining's risks. He does favor the study.
A group opposing Virginia Uranium's plans, Southside Concerned Citizens, has expressed wariness about any state involvement, fearing officials will be swayed by the promise of future revenues from the mine.
Mining is safer now, but opinions split by how much
Historically, uranium mining has sickened miners and nearby neighbors and contaminated the environment at sites worldwide.
Advocates and opponents generally agree that modern mining and milling controls -- at newer mines in Canada, Australia and elsewhere -- are much improved. They disagree about whether those controls are adequate.
Coles insists he understands his opponents' fears about an operation that would mine radioactive ore from the earth, store and mill it on site and truck out the uranium oxide, or "yellowcake," produced by the milling process.
Many residents have concerns about short- and long-term control and monitoring of the sandy "tailings" that remain after milling -- byproducts containing radioactive materials and hazardous heavy metals.
Southside Concerned Citizens won a short-lived victory last week when Pittsylvania County's planning commission recommended against granting Virginia Uranium a special-use permit.
On Tuesday, however, the county's board of zoning appeals voted 4-2 to grant the permit, allowing the company to construct storage buildings and a septic field to support ongoing exploration efforts at the Coles Hill site. If mining someday moves forward there, Virginia Uranium will probably need to rezone the property from agricultural to industrial.
Last month, along Coles Road, Virginia Uranium began exploratory drilling, work the ban does not prohibit. The drilling is meant to survey the boundaries, quantity and quality of uranium ore beneath land owned by the Coles and Bowen families.
About 2,000 acres have been designated for mining and milling. Virginia Uranium has leased mineral rights to 400 acres. A permit from the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy allows the company to drill 40 holes.
Hundreds of jobs, millions in taxes at stake
As support for nuclear power builds in the United States, the uranium at Coles Hill could become a major domestic supplier of the early-stage feedstock (yellowcake) for enrichment processes that create fuel for nuclear reactors.
Virginia Uranium insists the ore can be mined and milled safely and related work would produce substantial regional economic benefits.
Those benefits could include hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenues, the company projects.
Opponents insist uranium mining is dangerous and that Virginia Uranium's operations would kneecap the economy of an area once tied to tobacco and now to other agricultural products.
"I am convinced that it cannot be done safely," said Jack Dunavant, chairman of Southside Concerned Citizens, a group first mobilized in the early 1980s when Marline Uranium explored the same deposits.
George Stanhope, a neighbor of Coles Hill, said he worries about exposure to tailings, either as windblown dust or groundwater contaminants.
Many uranium mining experts also question whether mining, milling and reclamation can occur without harming human health and the environment.
Virginia native Paul Robinson is research director for the Southwestern Research and Information Center, a New Mexico-based nonprofit focused, in part, on uranium mining in the West.
"I don't think uranium mining is safe or uranium milling is safe," Robinson said.
Mining associations say that the modern uranium industry is heavily regulated and much advanced from decades past. According to the Australian Uranium Association, "Australian and Canadian radiation safety regulations today are among the most comprehensive and stringent in the world."
A Virginia Energy Plan released in September suggested there are "sufficient resources to support a uranium mining industry in Pittsylvania County," but only if studies conclude the industry can operate safely.
Coles, neighbors feel strong connection to land
The Coles family's roots run deep in Pittsylvania County. Ancestors include two members of Congress and veterans of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of 1812 and the Vietnam War. The Coles property includes three graveyards -- two for family members and one for slaves.
Coles said more than a dozen mining companies, large and small, have recently expressed interest in buying or leasing the ore-rich property.
He said Virginia Uranium might someday lease the land but will never sell the rolling pastures to which he ascribes strong ties. Coles contends he will be a better steward than an international mining company.
Eloise Nenon, a director for the citizens group, said many others in Pittsylvania County feel a deep attachment to their land.
"These are families who have been here for generations, people who treasure their land and want to protect it," Nenon said.
Coles, who lives at Coles Hill, was an Army captain during the Vietnam War and later a foreign service officer there supporting pacification efforts. He said life experience has provided the thick skin he might need to withstand months and maybe years of opposition.
"I spent seven years in Vietnam."
