To: Senator Richard Saslaw (D), Senate Minority Leader
Sen. Richard Saslaw: Withdraw Your Support for Uranium Mining in VA
Sen. Saslaw, the petitioners hereby call on you to immediately withdraw your support for lifting the ban on uranium mining in Virginia. It appears that you are carrying tainted water for this ill fated project in exchange for the $10,000 campaign contribution that you received from Virginia Uranium, since the threat to public health and the environment far outweigh any short term economic benefits.
The inevitable leakage or release of deadly and toxic radioactive waste material with a half life of 75,000 years from the mining site would be catastrophic for those nearby and a million other people downstream who depend on the water from Lake Gaston. Additionally, if mining is permitted at the current site in Southside Virginia, other uranium mines will likely follow that could threaten water supplies in central and northern Virginia.
Uranium levels in drinking water present a direct threat to public health from increased risk for kidney disease, childhood leukemia, lung cancer, bone cancer, birth defects, weakened immune systems, hormone disruption, and damage to DNA. The best regulations will not stop chronic radioactive waste release into the environment that will eventually occur as it has in the past, so let's keep the ban and the uranium in the ground where it belongs.
The inevitable leakage or release of deadly and toxic radioactive waste material with a half life of 75,000 years from the mining site would be catastrophic for those nearby and a million other people downstream who depend on the water from Lake Gaston. Additionally, if mining is permitted at the current site in Southside Virginia, other uranium mines will likely follow that could threaten water supplies in central and northern Virginia.
Uranium levels in drinking water present a direct threat to public health from increased risk for kidney disease, childhood leukemia, lung cancer, bone cancer, birth defects, weakened immune systems, hormone disruption, and damage to DNA. The best regulations will not stop chronic radioactive waste release into the environment that will eventually occur as it has in the past, so let's keep the ban and the uranium in the ground where it belongs.
Why is this important?
Uranium mining presents a radioactive contamination threat to Lake Gaston, a water supply to my home in Norfolk, as well as to residents of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Government officials, like Sen. Saslaw and other members of the General Assembly, have a sworn duty to protect the health and welfare of the general public and the environment as opposed to corporate profits.