Uranium Madness

It’s amazing how bizarre the discussion has gotten concerning uranium mining in Pittsylvania County. Isn’t it interesting that most of the complaints are coming from Halifax County? If they want a chemical trespass ordinance it may affect their top cash industries of pot growing and moonshine. I’m all for discussions of a subject however the opponents don’t even want you talking about it! Let’s get to the facts of the matter. The “chicken littles” of the radical NIMBA’s (Not In My Back Yard) want everyone to believe that their word is correct and everyone else is wrong. They are the same ones that get up each morning, take a hot shower, brush their teeth with an electric toothbrush, cook breakfast on an electric stove, then get into their SUV to go to a meeting to protest producing power. How hypocritical! Until more practical sources of power become available we are faced with just a few viable options to produce affordable power. To ignore the use of nuclear power as a way to free the US from the grip of radical oil bandits is ridiculous. The deaths associated with fossil fuel plants is many times the number that can be connected to nuclear power. A distinguished team of researchers from MIT and Harvard released a report that has been described as the most comprehensive, interdisciplinary study ever conducted of nuclear energy maintains that “The nuclear option should be retained precisely because it is an important carbon-free source of power.” The report further states: "Fossil fuel-based electricity is projected to account for more than 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. In the U.S. 90% of the carbon emissions from electricity generation come from coal-fired generation, even though this accounts for only 52% of the electricity produced. Taking nuclear power off the table as a viable alternative will prevent the global community from achieving long-term gains in the control of carbon dioxide emissions." Can it be mined safely? If the NIMBA’ s have their way we will never know. Let’s at least study it for Christ’s sake. Stop acting like the chicken littles who believed the world was flat. Only by education can we all make intelligent decisions. So just sit back and let the Halifax Hystericals stick to cleaning up their own county before they take aim on Pittsylvania. The future is in your light switch.