Dec 232012
 

I am highly motivated, this hits close

  • to my home (explained in a later posting), and
  • to the international efforts in the wake of Fukushima.

QUESTION:  What eventually happened to the moratorium on uranium development in Virginia?  (We participated in June 2011, item #4 below).

RESPONSE:

  • Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling took up the cause (#2 below)
  • Which may spell the end of his political career  (#3 below).

 

Can a scattered but empowered people (our networks!) make a difference?

If we can, it will help push back the corruption by the industry, not just for Virginia, but for Saskatchewan, Japan and elsewhere.

 

CONTENTS

  1. COMEDY:  MOVIE, THE CAMPAIGN
  2. REAL-LIFEVirginia Lieutenant Governor Bolling speaks out against uranium mining (Maybe he watched The Campaign?!)
  3. CONSEQUENCES:  Washington Post:  Bill Bolling may have be out of the 2013 Virginia governor’s race . . .
    Bolling shocked Capitol Square last week by announcing his opposition to uranium mining in Virginia, a venture that represents billions of dollars in profits for some of the state’s most well-connected investors
  4. BACKGROUND: JUNE 2011, OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE URANIUM MORATORIUM IN VIRGINIA
  5. GENERAL BACKGROUND, BRIEF, ON THE MORATORIUM IN VIRGINIA, THANKS TO GORDON EDWARDS
  6. PARALLEL: VIRGINIA AND SASKATCHEWAN  (in a later posting).

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  1. COMEDY:  MOVIE, THE CAMPAIGN

First, the movie offends some sensibilities.

Second, it is currently free for Sasktel customers with “Max” service. The movie is 85 minutes.

Story – the rivalry between two contenders for a seat in the US Congress.

Trailer at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7yC0iiK7a4

Number of views of the trailer: 2,968,185 as at Dec 23, 2012, 4:41 pm Sask time.  Tells me that Americans care about the corruption of democracy.

Comedy, a contribution to the rising tide against what is happening to governance in North America.

The Koch brothers are lampooned (Glenn Motch is played by John Lithgow).

In one scene a vote-counting machine is upended to show the manufacturer’s name, alias Motch Industries (Koch Industries).  Election fraud lampooned.

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2. REAL-LIFE: Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bolling speaks out against uranium mining (Maybe he watched The Campaign?!)

2012-12-14   Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bolling speaks out against uranium mining. Uranium development is also opposed by County Chamber of Commerce.

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3. CONSEQUENCES: Washington Post: Bill Bolling may have be out of the 2013 Virginia governor’s race .
. .  Bolling shocked Capitol Square last week by announcing his opposition to uranium mining in Virginia, a venture that represents billions of dollars in profits for some of the state’s most well-connected investors

2012-12-23  Though out of race, spurned Lt. Gov. Bolling to share marquee in the 2013 governor’s race.  Washington Post

(Hard to imagine that this represents sound journalism.  “Though out of the race . . “,  “spurned”,  and as you’ll see at the link, Bolling is described as “lame-duck”, with nothing to back the statement.)

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4. BACKGROUND: JUNE 2011, OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE URANIUM MORATORIUM IN VIRGINIA

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5. GENERAL BACKGROUND, BRIEF, ON THE MORATORIUM IN VIRGINIA, THANKS TO GORDON EDWARDS

(Written prior to today’s Washington Post article on the now precarious nature of Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia Bill Bolling’s political career.)

The Commonwealth of Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining since 1982.  For the last few years, there has been enormous industry pressure to LIFT the moratorium and allow the mining of a very large uranium deposit near Coles Hill, Pittsylvania County, in Southern Virginia.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences was asked by the Virginia State Government to carry out a study on the  environmental impacts of uranium mining in Virginia.  That report noted that Virginia did not presently have the regulatory  muscle needed to oversee such an undertaking safely.

Yesterday’s announcement by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia that he is opposed to lifting the moratorium comes as great news to all the dedicated citizens who have fought so hard to keep the Virginia uranium moratorium in force.

Gordon Edwards

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