Weekly Column: Decision Helps Keep Drinking Water Safe

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, Springfield Connection, The Prince William Times, The Fort Hunt Herald, and Potomac Local in the week of June 23, 2019.

Decision Helps Keep Drinking Water Safe

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision that has major significance for Virginia and especially for Northern Virginia, in addition to their decision on redistricting. 

Few realize that Virginia has a series of uranium lodes that run along the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The largest lode is in Pittsylvania County on the North Carolina border, but a major series of lodes are in Madison, Culpeper and Fauquier Counties at the headwaters of the Occoquan River.  The Occoquan is a major source of drinking water for Fairfax and Prince William Counties.  

After Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island near disaster in 1979, a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor, the Virginia General Assembly in 1982 enacted a moratorium on uranium mining.  While some federal permits are required for uranium mining, most thought that the states were allowed to adopt more stringent environmental protections as they are for any other mining or environmental requirements.  

Weekly Column: 2013 General Assembly's Mixed Record

The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, The Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of March 13, 2013.

2013 General Assembly’s Mixed Record

Now that the 2013 session of the General Assembly’s work has been completed, except for the April 3 veto session, I will continue my report on several measures.  I have already covered the transportation legislation and Medicaid . 

I cast 2,000 votes in this session for our district. 

Six bills that I authored or  was chief co-patron for await the Governor’s signature, along with three budget amendments.   Three of my bills were referred to study commissions. 

Last year, we passed legislation that required voters to present some form of identification.  This included a social security card, voter registration card, utility bill, bank statement or paycheck.   The General Assembly this year approved a bill that deleted all of these  and requires a voter to present photo ID.  I opposed this bill.

Cows, Corn and Uranium Don't Mix

One of the things you learn when you show up in Richmond is the way that laws can affect people you never even think about. 

For example, when I put in my legislation to raise Virginia's lowest-in-the-United-States misdemeanor-felony threshold from $200 to $500 I thought I was home free when the VA Association of Prosecutors supported me along with the Attorney General.  Then I found out that the large retailers didn't like the idea and I got one vote on subcommittee. 

Similarly, some people came to be about being allows to hunt on a Sunday.  Hunting during the week outside of NOVA is no big deal because you just drive 10 minutes and you're in the woods, but for Northern Virginians who need to escape traffic, it usually takes the better part of a day and weekends are more convenient.  Turns out the major antagonist is The Farm Bureau - farmers like to have one day per week they can go out on their farm and not worry about dodging bullets from stray hunters.

During that debate, I discovered how influential The Farm Bureau is in Virginia.  While the majority of Virginia's delegates now hail from the suburbs, they still have a ton of pull.  They also speak for a significant sector of the Virginia economy. 

NAS Study Highlights Risks of Mining Uranium

Six months ago, I wrote about the coming fight this session over the lifting Virginia's thirty-year moratorium on mining uranium.  You can read my article here:

The Dixie Pig: Uranium Mining - The Coming Battle (July 5, 2011)

This week, the National Academy of Sciences released its long-awaited report regarding this issue.  The New York Times has a good summary here. 

The full report has a fascinating section on Virginia's geology, weather, and ecology.  For example, it points out that debris flows are some of the most destructive events in the Virginia's mountainous areas, account for more than 50% of erosion in Virginia mountainous area river basins, and recur on a 2,000-4,000 year cycle.  (P. 30-31)  Virginia is at a relatively high risk for flooding because we have a high precipitation rate and topography - much higher than areas where uranium has ever been mined before in the United States (P. 34). 

Uranium Mining: The Coming Battle

Things are starting to heat up in Virginia over uranium mining. The General Assembly is likely to consider a bill early next year to allow uranium mining. I have started to get emails on the issue so I thought I'd let everyone know where I stand.

To most people, this issue seems to have come out of the blue, but it has actually been around a while. In the 1970's, large deposits of uranium were found in Virginia along the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Companies purchased mining or exploration leases in several places, including several in Fauquier County and Prince William County at the head of the Occoquan River.

The largest deposit in the United States is believed to be located in Pittsylvania County in the southern part of our state and currently the mining companies are focused on that area.
View Larger Map

In 1982, the General Assembly of Virginia enacted a statewide ban on uranium mining, in part because of the 1979 nuclear plant accident in Pennsylvania, known as Three Mile Island turned public opinion against anything uranium.

With energy prices rising and pressure to transition away from coal and oil, some people are starting to look at expanding nuclear power again. In 2008, the General Assembly rejected a bill to authorize a study to examine the safety of uranium mining in Virginia. There are currently four separate studies underway, including one by the National Academy of Sciences.We expect them to be completed by the end of this year.

One reason the issue has become more visible recently is that Virginia Uranium, the company proposing to mine uranium in Pittsylvania County, offered to fly most state legislators to France to tour uranium mines. They maintain that visiting would be helpful because France it has similar climate to Virginia. It is my understanding that uranium has mostly been mined in dry climates like the arid Southwest U.S. and opponents of uranium mining say that Virginia’s wet climate and storm potential pose unacceptable risks for uranium mining. About 15-20 people (out of 140) have taken the trip. I did not go for a variety of reasons (that is an entirely different discussion).

Many of the communities near the proposed Pittsylvania mining site are very focused on this issue. So is Virginia Beach because they get their drinking water from Lake Gaston. Many others are starting to pay attention.

At this time, we do not know what the four studies will conclude. In theory, I assume almost anything can be done safely within certain assumptions and with enough money. The problem is that the assumptions are frequently wrong. Humans have frequently proven to be very capable of under-estimating risk until after the facts. Just consider the impact of the recent Pacific tsunami on Japan’s nuclear plants, 9-11, or flooding along the Mississippi or Hunting Creek nearby.

One key issue is the safety of storing the mining waste, waste that can get into drinking water and containing elements that have been linked to serious diseases. A critical question for me is what kind of storage is planned, whether than storage is feasible and whether it is safe. Some say the waste must be contained for one thousand years. Uranium itself is radioactive and highly toxic to human and environmental health.

Here’s a good example of an unanticipated natural disaster in Virginia. In 1969, Hurricane Camile came up the East Coast and then “parked” on top of Virginia for two days. It dumped 27 inches of rain on ruralNelson County in central Virginia in three hours. 153 people were killed and 133 bridges were washed out. It wreaked horrendous devastation throughout Nelson County, destroying homes, farms, buildings and lives. Nelson County is also right along the U.S. 29 corridor right at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A weather event like that on top of or near a uranium mine,would be truly frightening. Can any waste storage system or mining operation withstand that kind of powerful storm?


I've posted a map of old Northern Virginia uranium lease sites (places where companies received leases to mine, leases that have now expired) to the right (click on it to enlarge). You will see that several sites are near the Occoquan River which feeds the Occoquan Resevoir, the major drinking water source for most of Fairfax County. Mining a material that could permanently destroy the Occoquan River and impair the drinking water for millions is a non-starter for me. It is unacceptable to me to subject anyone else to that kind of risk.

Where do I stand right now? In fairness, I would like to see the various studies to be completed this year, but based on what I know so far, I am skeptical of lifting the ban. I've told that to the Virginia Uranium people. If I had to vote today, I would vote no.

However, I do owe the proponents and the opponents an opportunity to make their case. I have little to no experience with mining. I'm learning as much as I can right now to make an educated decision. I hope you will share your views with me by posting up comments here or emailing me at scottsurovell@gmail.com.