Energy Saving Tips

 

 

To start using energy more efficiently and lower your costs, try making some of these easy changes in your home:

Reset your programmable thermostat to the highest comfortable temperature to save on cooling costs.

Wear cool clothing inside instead of turning up the air conditioning.

Replace or clean air conditioning filters once a month. Dirty filters restrict airflow and increase energy use.

Lower your water heater’s maximum temperature — 120 degrees should be sufficient. The energy savings are seven-eleven percent of water heating costs.

Change the direction of airflow on your ceiling fan. In the warm months, your ceiling fan should push warm air upward to keep the room cooler.

Insulate your water heater pipes. Using pipe insulation available from your local hardware store, insulate the first five feet of pipe coming out of the top of your water heater. If the whole length of exposed pipe between the water heater and the wall is less than five feet, insulate the full length.

Other things you can do in the WARMER months to save energy:

•Clean the track of your sliding glass door — dirt and dust can ruin the door’s seal, allowing cool air to escape.
•During the spring, Virginia has many warm days with cooler nights. Keep your windows and shades closed during the day to keep hot air out, and open windows at night to let the cool air in.
•Take advantage of the nice weather and consider drying clothes outside in the sunshine instead of your dryer.
•Prepare for trips away from home by turning your water heater to “vacation mode,” unplugging electronic appliances, and turning off most lights. For security, you can use a low cost timer rather than leaving on visible or exterior lights.
•Give your air conditioner a “check-up” to make sure it’s in good condition. Older air conditioning units can be inefficient. If it necessary to replace your existing unit, purchase an Energy Star model.
•Move lamps, televisions and other electronic devices away from your air conditioning unit. The heat they generate will cause the air conditioner to waste energy by running longer unnecessarily.

Read more:
http://virginiaenergysense.org/cue/home/tips.html

National park problems among topics at Nelson meeting

By: BOB STUART | Media General News Service
Published: September 17, 2011

WINTERGREEN — Visitors to Saturday’s annual Virginia Environmental Assembly heard a laundry list of concerns such as the watershed pollution of the Chesapeake Bay, the potential pitfalls of uranium mining in Southside and Northern Virginia and the vigilance needed for clean water.

The participants in the meeting at the Wintergreen Resort learned that America’s national parks, including Shenandoah National Park, have an annual maintenance backlog in the hundreds of millions.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built Shenandoah in the 1930s.

Shenandoah and other national parks are stressed by decades of use and increased visitors and recreational users, said Pamela Goddard, the Chesapeake and Virginia program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Goddard said the increased use is coupled with an $800 million annual maintenance backlog.

“The parks are used more and more. They are rundown and we are asking the parks to do more,” she said.

While the talk in Washington is about cutting budgets and deficits, Goddard said Congress has to find a way to sustain the national parks, which she also described as economic drivers for the areas they serve.

John Eckman, executive director of the Valley Conservation Council, said there is much to be said for a region such as the Shenandoah Valley preserving its natural resources that include national parks.

Eckman is pleased to see the efforts in the Valley toward agritourism that include showing off Valley farms and visiting area wineries. “There is good money in the conservation of the region’s resources,” he said.

Concerns about the potential ill effects of uranium mining in Virginia were a brief policy topic Saturday.

The Virginia Conservation Network’s executive director, Nathan Lott, brought up a proposed mine in Pittsylvania County and uranium deposits in both Orange and Fauquier counties.

Lott said a natural disaster such as a hurricane could take the waste from a mine and contaminate a local water system.

Read more:
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2011/sep/17/national-park-problems-among-topics-nelson-meeting-ar-1317627/

Lightly On The Ground : Discussing Uranium Mining : Listen Now

9/28/11 at 11:00 am Lightly On The Ground

Sunny Gardner | Every other Wednesday at Noon

contribute ideas, email Sunny@WRIR.ORG.

Part of a series on the ban on uranium mining in Virginia.
Lightly on the Ground Radio for 9-28-2011 (high noon on WRIR lp 97.3 FM and WRIR.ORG)
Listen to stories of how uranium mining would change the land, economy, and the well being of those who live near the potential site of Virginia’s first mine. Three natives, all businessmen who grew up in the area tell the stories of the towns, farms and businesses surrounding Chatham, Virginia.

This program is part of a series on the possibility of lifting the 30 year ban imposed by the General Assembly in 1982. One landowner has plans to open his acreage to uranium mining in partnership with a company in Canada. Here is a picture of a typical open pit mine in France. Become informed by exploring here: http://www.wise-uranium.org/index.html http://keeptheban.org/ and http://www.virginiauranium.com/ "Find the previous podcast on the Lightly on The Ground Facebook page."

Lightly on the Ground Radio airs on WRIR lp 97.3 FM and worldwide at WRIR.ORG, noon on Wednesday and on the web at 11 on Thursday.

http://www.wise-uranium.org/img/lod.jpg

Study: Pittsylvania County uranium site prone to flooding

The Roanoke Times
September 27, 2011
By Laurence Hammack
Study: Pittsylvania County uranium site prone to flooding


A piece of Pittsylvania County land that may one day be a uranium mine is the site of "frequent and pervasive flooding," according to a study by an environmental group.

Floodwaters may carry the risk of radioactive contamination from uranium mining waste, called tailings, that would be stored underground at the mine site, said a report released Monday by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.

Since Virginia Uranium Inc. proposed tapping a huge uranium deposit beneath the Coles Hill farm in Pittsylvania County, cities and counties as far downstream as Virginia Beach have raised concerns that runoff could pollute their drinking water. Mining on a flood-prone site -- the report lists four floods of historic proportions since 1996 - could heighten the risk, opponents say.

"The evidence of pervasive flooding throughout the Coles Hill site suggests there would be chronic and catastrophic failure of mill tailings containments, no matter where the containments may be sited," the Environmental Defense League's report said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has designated three flood hazard zones on the 3,500-acre property.


The FEMA flood zones are aligned with three waterways - Mill Creek, Whitethorn Creek and the Bannister River - that flow through the site and eventually into the Roanoke River, the source of drinking water for 1.2 million people in Virginia and North Carolina.

All three flood zones are on the southern end of the property, where Coles said there has been no exploratory drilling and where his company has no plans to mine.

Meanwhile, Virginia Uranium has sent some state lawmakers - including Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke - on expense-paid trips to France and Canada to view examples of how uranium can be mined responsibly.

"These company-paid junkets must not be substituted for hard science as the basis on which the Virginia General Assembly decides whether to keep the ban on uranium mining," said Ann Rogers, the author of the Environmental Defense League report.

The Coles Hill site, home to a 119 million-pound uranium deposit thought to be the country's largest, is different from other mines often cited by the company because it receives more rainfall, critics said.

A November 2009 flood left significant portions of the land covered by either standing or running water, the report said.

Adding to the Environmental Defense League's concerns is the presence of a spring and several acres of wetlands in the southern area of the site. That "suggests the presence of a very high quantity of underground water" that could also be susceptible to contamination, the report states.

Once the ore is hauled away, the tailings from its extraction will remain in underground storage areas. Those tailings can remain radioactive for thousands of years.

With so many floods to come in the centuries ahead, Rogers said her research shows the need for additional study to fully assess the dangers.

"This report is really a way to put that message out," she said. "It's a little bit too risky to make a decision without a full-scale hydrological study."

Read more:
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/09/study-pittsylvania-county-uranium-site-prone-flooding

Smart Appliance Use

To ensure you get the most out of your appliances, here are tips for making them run efficiently and reduce energy waste:

Refrigerators & Freezers

•Make sure the door seals are tight. If you can slip a piece of paper between the door frame and the gasket, you’ve got a leak.
•Set your fridge to between 35°F and 38°F and your freezer to 3°F.
•Don’t stand with the refrigerator door open looking for food! Get in and out quickly to keep the cold air inside.

Clothes Dryers

•Put your dryer in a warm space — avoid cold garages. The dryer has to work that much harder to warm up and dry your clothes.
•Clean the lint filter after every load. The improved air circulation will help the machine run more efficiently.
•Dry in full loads, but don’t overload.
•Use the auto-dry setting.
•Reduce or eliminate drying time by line drying some or all items.

Washing Machines

•Only wash full loads.
•Don’t use too much detergent.
•Wash in cold only. Use hot water for very dirty loads. A lot of the energy used by washing machines is from heating water.

Dishwashers

•Run full loads only.
•Choose the air dry vs. heat-dry setting.

Ovens

•Keep pre-heating to a minimum, or avoid all together.
•Avoid checking your food by opening the door.
•Allow your oven to multi-task—bake several items at once and stagger the items to make sure air can flow through the oven.
•Use glass and ceramic pans- they allow you to reduce the heat by 25 degrees while cooking just as well.

Read more:
http://virginiaenergysense.org/cue/home/smart-appliances.html

Callander: Counting blessings after quake, hurricane

By: ALANE CALLANDER | For the Stafford County Sun
Published: September 14, 2011

While hearing the sad stories and seeing the grim pictures of those who have faced nature’s wrath because of the recent earthquake and hurricane-related storms, I’m counting my blessings.

It’s much better to anticipate the worst, to go overboard buying emergency supplies, to make warning phone calls to loved ones, and then be left explaining, “We lucked out!”

The surprise earthquake actually prepared me for the hurricane and severe rainstorms.

I was in a session with a physical therapist at the time of the quake. When she started shaking like a disco dancer, I immediately thought only an earthquake could explain that!

When I got home I started looking around to see if there was damage. Some decorative items had fallen off shelves onto the floor, or in one case, into a toilet! A few pictures were askew on walls. Nothing serious, thankfully, and at that point objects weren’t important.

Despite all my worry and preparation around our Falmouth home, we didn’t lose power either, but I do believe it’s better to be over-prepared than caught off-guard!

The weather happenings of the past few weeks should remind us to take our environment seriously, too.

I’ll shift my concerns from preparation for disaster to protesting any consideration of reopening the Lake Anna Nuclear Plant near the epicenter of the earthquake, and  I’ll join the campaign to continue Virginia’s ban on uranium mining.

Uranium mining in a wet, unstable environment like we have here in Virginia would be insanity and a true threat to “homeland security.”

Alane Callander is a south Stafford resident active in many local causes. Reach her at info@staffordcountysun.com

read more:
http://www2.staffordcountysun.com/news/2011/sep/14/callander-counting-blessings-after-quake-hurricane-ar-1309415/

Chesapeake takes a beating from storm

By Darryl Fears,
Published: September 13

Late Tuesday morning, John Page Williams set out on a tour of some sights that no one in his boat really wanted to see: the blue-green waters of the Chesapeake Bay turned brown by storm water runoff and sewer overflows caused by downpours from Tropical Storm Lee.

“It was just chocolate,” said Williams, a senior naturalist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. During his three-hour tour, he encountered huge tree limbs, plastic foam, a yoga mat and what looked like “somebody’s firewood from a wood pile.” A sediment-laden brown streak covers nearly half of the the 200-mile-long bay. “It’s a mess,” Williams said.

Williams encountered scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Maryland and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as he sailed 400 yards from a section of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in his 17-foot Boston Whaler. The agencies were measuring the flows, sediment and pollution.

Drenching rains from remnants of Lee produced the second-largest water flows from the Susquehanna River into the bay since Hurricane Agnes in June 1972. Flows from Agnes were measured at more than 1 million cubic feet per second. A major snow melt in 1996 caused a flow of more than 900,000 cubic feet per second. The peak flow from Lee was more than 750,000 cubic feet per second.

The flows constituted an expressway for pollution. They were so heavy, said Mark Trice, a research statistician for the Natural Resources Department’s Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Division, that every gate of the Conowingo Dam in northeastern Maryland was flung open. Sediment and junk that had collected behind the dam for years was released into the Susquehanna.

On top of that, more than 500 million gallons of diluted sewage washed into bay waters in Maryland alone during recent storms. An estimated 200 million gallons poured in from the District.

In addition, runoff from farms washed in livestock manure and fertilizer containing nitrogen and phosphorous, and the flow from city and suburban streets, lawns and rooftops contributed more nitrogen and phosphorous, as well as garbage.

This is the kind of pollution cocktail that created this summer’s Chesapeake Bay “dead zone,” one of the largest on record. Dead zones — caused by pollution-fed algae blooms — come every summer and generally end in the early weeks of fall. This year, Hurricane Irene blew the dead zone to smithereens before its time.

But now, marine biologists are worried that sediment and other pollution that Lee washed into the water will give rise to a secondary dead zone. In a dead zone, the lack of oxygen in the water kills marine species that cannot move out of the way, including oysters and mollusks that use oyster shells as a habitat.

Read more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/chesapeake-takes-a-beating-from-storm/2011/09/13/gIQAKNVaQK_story.html

Unions add clout to Va. offshore wind drive

Associated Press
Associated Press, 09.13.11, 04:05 PM EDT

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Labor leaders representing steelworkers, the construction trades and shipbuilders added their collective clout Tuesday to the drive to develop offshore wind power in waters off Virginia.

The union leaders said Virginia has the skilled workforce to help build an industry that one estimate said could generate more than 10,000 jobs.

Bill Harriday of the United Steelworkers said the 8,000 members who work at Newport News' Huntington Ingalls shipyard are up to the challenge of constructing and assembling wind turbines that rise hundreds of feet from the ocean floor.

"We build aircraft carriers," Harriday said in an interview. "I think we can build wind turbines."

The shipyard is the only one in the U.S. that builds aircraft carriers.

"We see this as a growth industry," Harriday said of the nascent wind turbine industry in the U.S., which lags behind Europe. "We have the skills and the ability and we have the people who are willing to work hard

Read more:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/09/13/business-us-offshore-winds-virginia_8676446.html

Orange County Board of Supervisors: maintaining a moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia

Comment:  Thank you Mr. Speiden. For those of you who may not remember, Mr. Speiden took it upon himself to research the issue of uranium mining during the "Marline era". He stood to make a small fortune had he agreed to lease his farm. As a responsible man, neighbor, Virginian and American, he paid for his own trip...visited places and people that were not on a pre-planned uranium industry's agenda and decided THE RISKS OUTWEIGHED THE BENEFITS. Hats off to you and your integrity Mr. Speiden. Thank you.

From Mr. Speiden:

This letter to the editor in the Orange County Review I wrote after the BOS passed another resolution supporting maintaining the moratorium on Uranium mining in Virginia. It was published in the 9/7/2011 issue of the paper.

Bill Speiden




Editor:

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is to be commended for reestablishing their position on maintaining a moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia recently. This is a position opposing lifting the current moratorium in order to protect our water sources and agricultural products. Recent fluctuations in the price of uranium has rekindled an interest for one company to mine and mill uranium in Virginia. 12,000 acres were leased in Northern Virginia in the 1980’s, from Orange County north through Fauquier. If this is allowed in Pittsylvania, it would become legal in the whole state where uranium is found.

We were approached by the uranium interests in 1979 to lease our farm on the banks of the Rapidan River in Somerset, upstream from Orange, LOW and Fredericksburg. We were offered a five figure sign up bonus and royalties from a “lucrative” mining operation. Knowing nothing about the industry my wife and I toured several mines and mills in Utah and Colorado interviewing miners, mine superintendents, and local ranchers. The technology used then and now includes storing highly radioactive waste (retaining over 95% of the original radioactivity) in above ground piles and ponds, leaching and overflowing into surface and underground water supplies. After further research we decided could not participate on this potential environmental disaster on our community.

Too often, the western mining and milling sites have become Superfund sites costing the US taxpayers 100’s of millions of dollars to cleanup and monitor in perpetuity. Witness Uravan, CO; Monticello, Utah; and Durango, CO.

The industry is busy lobbying the state legislature to lift the moratorium next session, 2012, and at the same time telling many political entities who opposed them in the 1980’s to wait for a National Academy of Science study due out in December funded by the industry before reexamining their previous positions.

Here are some important facts to consider before removing our moratorium on uranium mining:

We are dealing with radioactive exposure to our miners, air, water supplies and neighbors. Underground uranium miners are under constant exposure to radioactivity while they work. In the American Southwest, uranium miners have historically had a much higher incidence of lung cancer than the normal population. As recently as November 2007, the job deficient Navajo Reservation in Arizona resisted renewed uranium mining interests because of previous experience of cancer rates, livestock deaths and water contamination.

Never in this country has uranium been mined in a community with such a dense population. This is not to say uranium can never be mined safely anywhere. In fact, I did visit a mine in Utah that was doing it right in the 1980s. The rainfall there was less than 18 inches a year, the outflow from tailings ponds was processed to the point that trout lived in the streams below, and the nearest house was +/-25 miles away. Contrast that to the situation in Northern Virginia and Pittsylvania County, where homes and towns are downstream and downwind from the potential mine sites.

Never in this country has uranium been mined in an area with a climate as wet as Virginia’s. In the semi-arid West (10 to 15 inches of rain a year) radioactivity and associated toxic metals have shown up miles away from many mining sites. Our rainfall averages four times what is seen out West. As a result, tailings ponds and piles could leach into the water table much faster and with more dire consequences than in the West. Once leaching starts, the consequences can go on for generations. Tailings ponds overflowing is almost a certainty in Virginia as we have more rain fall than evaporation rate. Uranium ore waste is retained in the tailings and its radioactive half-life is 500,000 years or forever, whichever comes first.

Safety is the issue. Legislation and regulations will change neither our population density nor our rainfall levels. Before it is mined, uranium is like a coffee bean – a relatively harmless mass. But when crushed, and mixed with water, that bean becomes a cup of coffee.

For those wishing to do minimum research on their own, I would suggest they Google “Navajo Uranium”.

Please contact your legislator and urge him/her to oppose the lifting of the moratorium in Virginia.

Bill Speiden,
Orange County Farm Bureau, Legislative Director
Virginia

Best and Worst ‘People’ Food for Dogs and Cats

posted by Nicolas, selected from petMD
Sep 13, 2011 6:03 pm


Good Foods

Apples – without seeds or core (apple seeds contain chemical compounds that are poisonous to animals)
Blueberries
Strawberries
Watermelon – without seeds
Frozen bananas

Green beans
Carrots – raw or cooked
Sweet potato – cooked, cubed or mashed without butter or seasoning; regular potatoes are also good, but in limited amounts since they are high in sugar and can increase weight
Squash, zucchini

Lettuce
Spinach

Popcorn – unsalted and unbuttered

Catnip or cat grass


Bad Foods

Grapes and raisins – contain chemical compounds that are toxic to dogs

Garlic and onions – both have chemical properties that can be toxic and even life threatening to dogs and cats

Tomatoes

Avocado

Mushrooms – particularly wild mushrooms

Fruits with pits, such as peaches, cherries, and plums – in some cases the pit can be toxic or can simply present a choking hazard

Nuts – particularly macadamia nuts, which are toxic to pets


What is the Best Way To Feed These Types of Treats?

The foods should be baked or steamed, cut up into smallish pieces, and only given in small amounts at a time. This will prevent both choking and an overload of carbohydrate- and calorie-rich foods. You can give the vegetables and fruits by themselves, or you might mash or puree them and mix them up with the prepared food and given at meal times.

Replacing your pet’s dense, high fat packaged treats with healthy treats like fruits and vegetables will be one of the most beneficial things you do for your pet. Over the long term, your pet’s health and immune system will be stronger, aging will not be as severe, its weight will stay steadier, and if weight is already an issue, you may even see your pet’s weight become more manageable — if you stick to it and include moderate exercise.

With any change in diet, it is important to observe your pet for issues that can arise in response to the change. If your pet begins to show digestive or behavioral changes, stop feeding the new foodstuff and consult with a veterinarian if the problem does not go away in the absence of the added food.


Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/best-and-worst-people-food-for-dogs-and-cats.html#ixzz1Xt0avkMR

General Assembly to “wait and see” before deciding on uranium mining moratorium

Daniel Carawan
Richmond Progressive Examiner
September 20, 2011

The Roanoke Times recently published an article claiming that a number of representatives in the VA General Assembly are waiting until the release of a National Academy of Science (NAS) study before taking a stance on the issue of uranium mining in southern Virginia. The report itself is due at the end of the year.

The NAS study was conducted as a result of one interest groups efforts to lift VA’s 30 year old moratorium on uranium mining. Before the start of the 2012 VA General Assembly, a proposal to lift the 3 decades long moratorium is expected.

Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI), a partly Canadian owned mining company based in VA, has spent close to $100,000 over the past 36 months to lobby members of the General Assembly to lift the moratorium on uranium mining.

Virginians shouldn’t be fooled by VUI’s rhetoric about the safety of uranium mining in Virginia or its lofty claims of job creation or communal responsibility.

We live in a capitalist society, one that gives companies like VUI little incentive to “clean up the mess” once one has been created.

Given the nature of uranium mining and the radioactive tailings that are left behind on the surface as a byproduct, there will almost certainly be a mess, one that could lead to very adverse human and environmental health problems.

VA should aim for energy independence in a safe and sustainable manner. Uranium mining in VA will only create more problems than it helps solve.

Read more:
http://www.examiner.com/progressive-in-richmond/general-assembly-to-wait-and-see-before-deciding-on-uranium-mining-moratorium

 

 

By Josh Brown
The Virginian-Pilot
September 9, 2011

Dominion Virginia Power and the Richmond office of a French energy conglomerate have won $4.64 million in grants from the U.S. Energy Department to help stoke the industry for offshore wind energy.

Alstom Power Inc., the French company, will receive $4.14 million to work on a project to develop technology to maximize the energy output of offshore wind farms. Dominion will receive $500,000 to study how much it would cost to produce energy from a 600-megawatt offshore project.

The projects are among 41 that will receive a combined $43 million to advance the nation's offshore wind sector, the Energy Department announced Thursday.

"The U.S. has an abundant offshore wind resource," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a news release. "Through these awards, the Department of Energy is developing the critical technology and knowledge base necessary to responsibly develop this resource, enhance our energy security, and create new, clean energy jobs

Read more:
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/09/grants-help-bolster-wind-energy-efforts

Sticks and stones from the 'elites'

To the editor:

In the letter, "Reasoning with irrational" (Aug. 21, page A10), the author has obviously mistaken me for someone who thinks of himself as an "elitist."

The dictionary tells us that "elitist" means "a person of the highest class." I am confused as to how that would be something undesirable, or how coupling that word with "environmentalist" somehow vilifies me.

I would venture to say that the label "elitist" would more fittingly apply to the likes of Walter Coles Sr. and his secret uranium investors, the wealthy few who aspire to become even more high class by gambling with the health, safety and livelihoods of every person who lives within 50 miles (and further) of Coles Hill, the site of the uranium deposit they desire to mine in the near future.

Coles was able to appear before the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors in 2008 and request that they give him their blessing for his mining venture, and they caved in without a single question or word of dissent. Only the highest class of citizens is accorded that degree of accommodation from the Board of Supervisors.

None of the "environmental elitists" who have appeared before that board have been treated in any way but with disdain and derision. "Elitist" would apply much more logically to the attitude Coles and his cronies put forth, the assumption that higher classes know what is best for the majority of we, the "common" citizens of Virginia.

"Elitist" is VUI unleashing its multi-million dollar lobbying campaign on the legislators for the past couple of years. "Elitist" is VUI paying for them to fly to France for a whirlwind tour of Paris and an afternoon picnic at a "uranium mine" that has been closed up since the 1990s.

"Elitist" is not me, but those privileged few who seek to become even more privileged as they wager on an idea that has no plan and no regard for anything but potential profit.

The letter’s author also labeled me an "environmentalist." In this case, she is correct. Once again the dictionary clarifies the meaning of this word, and shows us that an environmentalist is someone who works to protect the quality of the air we all breathe, the water we all drink and the land upon which we all dwell on this Earth.

Why is that wrong? Do not most people desire to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live their lives free from having to worry that the radioactive dust and other toxic wastes from a uranium mine are covering their homes, tainting their air and insinuating themselves into their water supplies?

Does that make them "elitists"? No, it does not. But it does make the "environmentalists."

If the letter’s author does not consider herself an environmentalist, I can only say that she would be wise to go back and take another look at uranium mining and milling, both past and present.
If she chooses to see only the uranium industry’s perspective, then she would be more aptly labeled "elitist" than those of us all over the commonwealth who are working to maintain our basic quality of life in light of the threat of uranium mining and milling.

Calling us names will not stop us from working to prevent the lifting of the moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia. We take this threat very seriously, as should every citizen of our great state.

JESSE PRYANT ANDREWS
Halifax, VA

Read more:

http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/sep/10/sticks-and-stones-elites-ar-1298348/

Geoscientists Get to Work as Quake Memories Fade

By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: September 12, 2011

Remember the earthquake?

The magnitude 5.8 quake that struck central Virginia on Aug. 23 may seem like a distant memory to most Northeasterners, a brief physical and emotional rattling that was promptly overwhelmed by Hurricane Irene.

But the quake, which caused no deaths but damaged buildings in and around the epicenter, about 40 miles northwest of Richmond, as well as in Washington and Philadelphia, is still very much on the minds of seismologists and geophysicists.

For one thing, these scientists say, the earthquake offers a chance to learn more about the seismology of the East Coast.

For another, it could have been worse.

“This earthquake didn’t actually do very much damage because it happened between some very heavily populated areas,” said Meredith Nettles, a geophysicist at Columbia University who felt the quake in her office at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. “If it had happened directly underneath or very close to Richmond, Washington or New York, we would have been looking at a completely different story.”

Scientists say quakes of a similar magnitude could happen in such cities, because the East is riddled with old faults, the legacy of the pushing and pulling that created the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean several hundred million years ago. While those faults sit in the middle of the North American tectonic plate — far from any boundaries whose interaction can produce the strong quakes experienced in more active seismic areas like California — they are accumulating stresses as the plate is gradually pushed west.

“It’s a really good reminder that it’s not just a California problem,” Dr. Nettles said. “Earthquakes likes like this can and do happen on the East Coast.”

The quake’s size — it was one of the strongest to occur east of the Rockies in the past century — is about the only thing that surprised seismologists. The area where it occurred, known as the Central Virginia Seismic Zone, has seen numerous earthquakes dating back to the 18th century, including one of similar magnitude in 1897 and one of magnitude 4.5 in 2003.

“After it sunk in that a significant shock occurred, I wasn’t surprised about the location,” Martin C. Chapman, a geophysicist at Virginia Tech who has long studied the seismic zone, said about last month’s quake. “Central Virginia is one of the more active areas.”

They were interested in recording aftershocks, which occur along the same fault as the main shock as the fractured and displaced rock moves toward equilibrium and any remaining stress is relieved.

There have been about 80 aftershocks so far, most so slight as to have gone unnoticed by the public.

“The idea is to improve the estimate of where the main shock actually occurred,” Dr. Chapman said. “You don’t just have a point. It’s ruptured over a plane six to seven kilometers wide.” The rupture also occurred more than three miles underground, leaving no visible signs of the fault on the surface.

Daniel McNamara, a research seismologist with the geological survey, said that about 40 portable seismometers, which measure ground motion, were installed, some in a ring about five miles of the epicenter and others up to 40 miles away.

Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/science/13quake.html?pagewanted=all

Watch a "major league" wind turbine installation

Pierre Bull’s Blog
Posted August 24, 2009

Our friends over at the Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) posted this 90-second video taken last week on a "major league"-sized wind tubine installation in Colorado.

This wind turgine, which represents a new breed of large-scale wind power, will be able to power over 150 homes (1.5 megawatts) at full capacity!

You can read more on the project here:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/pbull/a_major_league_wind_turbine_in.html

The East Coast Recovers from a Line of Natural Disasters

Earthquakes:
The east coast recovery from the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Virginia and sent shockwaves up and down the eastern seaboard has been slowed by the presence of hurricane Irene.

For a region that is not used to such natural disasters, the eastern seaboard has been hit by an earthquake and a hurricane within just a matter of days from each other.

For the most part, the region recovered rather quickly from the minor quake. The most damage that could be found was to the many historic buildings that inhabit the region.

The Smithsonian Museum closed for inspections, as did the National Monument.

Cracks were found at the top of the monument, which has closed it indefinitely, until the National Park Service can complete repairs and restoration.

Earlier Last week, it was decided that the North Anna Power Plant was safe to resume operations. In all, 12 nuclear power plants were inspected with no damage being discovered.

Hurricane Irene Makes Her Mark

All things looked good for the eastern seaboard, until Hurricane Irene barreled up the coast. The Category 3 hurricane made land fall on August 27 in North Carolina.

The storm dumped feet of rain and created wind gusts up to 65 mph. As the storm traveled up the east coast, it left a considerably more damage than the earthquake only days before.

Read more:
http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2011/09/the-east-coast-recovers-from-a-line-of-natural-disasters/

Will our board back moratorium?

By: The Editorial Board
Published: September 06, 2011

To the editor:

It is my understanding that Orange County hosts a very significant deposit of uranium— perhaps the second largest in the state behind Pittsylvania County. I was made aware recently that the Orange County Board of Supervisors resolved during its Aug. 23 meeting to continue to support the moratorium on the mining and milling of uranium in Virginia.

To date, in the face of several other Virginia localities taking the same strong stance opposing lifting this ban, our own Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors remains (seemingly) oblivious to the threat to our environment and local economy posed by this industry.

Apparently, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night (nor earthquakes nor hurricanes) stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed greed.

LINDA WORSLEY
Chatham

Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/sep/06/will-our-board-back-moratorium-ar-1288444/

What are some potential impacts of mining and milling uranium in Virginia

• Pollution of groundwater and surface waters from waste rock and ore, including acid drainage, tailings impoundments and other substances in drilling wastes, brines, solvents, etc., used in the extraction or processing of ore.
• Virginia would be the first state east of the Mississippi to allow mining. Virginia has significantly higher precipitation rates, more extreme weather events, including hurricanes, higher groundwater levels, larger watersheds of interconnected streams and rivers, and greater populations living in relative proximity than sites in western U.S. or Canada where uranium has been mined.
• The impact of significant storm events on uranium mining is one of the concerns yet to be adequately addressed.

-- In August 2004, Tropical Storm Gaston dropped 14 inches of rain across Central Virginia over a few hours, causing major flooding in low-lying areas. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, areas near the James River in Richmond had as much as 6 to 8 feet of standing water.

-- During 1996 Hurricane Fran flooded areas near Coles Hill, Pittsylvania County, the site of the current proposal to mine uranium in Virginia. Local citizens recorded the event with video, including flooding downstream from Coles Hill that reached to top of fence posts, washed out bridges and inundation of Frith's Field, a possible mill and tailings disposal area.

• Polluted substances in the air and dust caused by extraction.
• Radon from underground mines, drill holes, surface extraction and processing operations.
• Migration of radionuclides and soil disturbances due to loss of vegetative cover.
• If Coles Hill produces 25 to 109 million pounds of uranium, according to industry measures, it will generate 15 to 65 million cubic yards of waste material. This would translate into a volume equivalent to 75 to 325 SuperWal-Marts (each having a volume of 200,000 cubic yards).
• If the moratorium on uranium mining were lifted, the impacts would not be confined to Coles Hill. Without a moratorium, uranium mining and milling could occur statewide. In the 1980s, exploratory leases were obtained for many sites in the Northern and Central Piedmont of Virginia.

Read more:
http://www.southernenvironment.org/cases/uranium_mining_in_virginia/uranium_legal_backgrounder/

15 Best Foods to Improve Your Immunity

by Tina McCarthy on June 4, 2009

Not in the mood to choke down yet another gritty serving of Emergen-C? Boost your body from the inside out with powerful foods that help your immune system function optimally. Just incorporate these healthy foods into your diet to strengthen your immune system in a way your taste buds can appreciate.

Oysters

Packed with selenium, this tasty shellfish helps boost your body’s production of cytokines, a protein that’s known to ward off illnesses.

Yogurt

Yogurt that contains live cultures is rich in lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium lactis (read: good bacteria), which fight bacteria that cause diseases and raise your white blood cell count.

Green Tea

Green tea is a great source of L-theanine, an amino acid that triggers the release of germ-fighting compounds from your T-cells. (Green tea also helps to boost your metabolism.)

Oranges

One of the best sources of immunity-boosting vitamin C, oranges cause your body to produce higher levels of antibodies and white blood cells.

Crab

Like oysters, crab meat is rich in selenium, a nutrient that strengthens your immune system.

Garlic

Garlic is loaded with ajoene, allicin and thiosulfinates, compounds high in sulfur that ward off diseases and help battle infections.

Carrots

Carrots are crammed with beta carotene, a phytonutrient that increases your body’s production of T-cells and natural killer cells.

Spinach

The high amount of antioxidants found in spinach help boost your immune system.

Sweet Potatoes

Like carrots, sweet potatoes are loaded with beta carotene, which boosts your body’s T-cell and NK-cell count.

Read more:
http://ecosalon.com/immune-system-foods/

Uranium Mining

Comment:  Keep the Ban!

FELICIA FONSECA, Associated Press
Updated 12:54 p.m., Monday, September 5, 2011

MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah (AP) — The stretch of high desert on the Arizona-Utah border gives way to towering rock formations that resemble huge mittens, chimney spires and castles. But to the west of Monument Valley lies a reminder of what has been blamed for much heartache and tragedy in Elsie Mae Begay's family: A mesa stained with a gray streak where uranium was mined decades ago.

Begay, 71, has spent more than 30 years living among residue piles that her children slid down when they were younger, and other contaminated waste carried down the nearby arroyo or kicked up by high winds. She's taken her story of the dangers of uranium to college campuses and Congress, along with a documentary outlining her family's plight.

Now it's being cleaned up, and Begay is partly to thank.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is wrapping up a $7.5 million project that uses a cable system to transport some 20,000 cubic yards of material up Oljato Mesa, where it came from. A lined repository atop the mesa will hold the waste that Navajo Nation officials eventually want taken off tribal land.

The cleanup at the Skyline Mine represents not only a reduced risk of exposure for Begay and her family, but marks the first significant remediation of a mine on the country's largest American Indian reservation where such sites number in the hundreds.

Tests have found gamma radiation activity greater than two times the background level at 80 locations on the site.

In the traditional Navajo home where Begay once lived with two of her sons, the radiation levels were up to 100 times the acceptable level. The two sons have died — one of lung cancer and the other from a tumor. The EPA tore down the home in 2001.

"What we've been asking for is not fallacy," said Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the tribe's EPA. "It's not stuff we're making up. There are real problems out there that need to be addressed."

The family's troubles with uranium are highlighted in a documentary about Begay's brother, who was adopted by white missionaries and later reunited with his family, and in the book, "Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed." Begay has traveled across the reservation and the country with the film, "The Return of Navajo Boy."

There's little doubt that the film and Begay helped push the Skyline Mine higher up the priority list for cleanup. But the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency notes that its efforts to map the extent of abandoned uranium mines and the impacts of contamination on the vast reservation began well before the film was released in 2000. An epilogue was added in 2008, and videos posted online document the cleanup.

Read more:
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Navajo-woman-helps-prompt-uranium-mine-cleanup-2155858.php

Group hopes to link food chain in Dan River Region

By: Tara Bozick
Published: August 31, 2011

Danville and Pittsylvania County consumers, farmers and food-related businesses are invited to join forces with their neighbors in a local food system coalition.

Martinsville and Henry and Patrick counties formed “Field to Friends” in June after a study showed how improving the local food system could help the area in its economic recovery while promoting health.

A food system isn’t just farmer’s markets. It’s production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste disposal. Leaders would like the region to improve access to local foods to capitalize on unprecedented demand and keep money local.

“In most cases we all eat three times a day,” said Eric Bendfeldt, community viability extension specialist in Harrisonburg. “We can all participate in making a few small choices and having a really big impact.”

If Pittsylvania County households spent $10 a week on locally grown food, the local economic impact would be $15.3 million annually, he said. For Danville, the impact would be $12.1 million.

Consumers in the eight counties surrounding the Dan River Region spend about $900 million buying food from outside the region each year, according to an economic study by Ken Meter and the Crossroads Resource Center. That was while regional farmers and ranchers lost an average $35 million a year in food commodities from 1999 to 2008 due to loss of income and increased expenses.


“Developing a local food system is not simple,” Walker said. “It’s a complex operation.”

One goal of the coalition is to connect local food with local institutions like schools or hospitals, restaurants and wholesalers. Another is developing the infrastructure and resources to sustain a community-based food system while engaging the community and increasing local consumer demand.

A supportive system could also help small business development or expansion, like farmers developing value-added products, Bendfeldt said.

“I think for economic recovery, it’s a very good foundation to build on,” Bendfeldt said.

Rieck would like to see a cooperative market where farmers all chip in to pay for the labor of running a store so consumers can find the products at a central location.

“We do need the local support,” Rieck said.

For more information, visit www.fieldtofriends.org
 or email fieldtofriends@gmail.com.

If You Go

» WHAT: “2011 Local Food Systems: Building the Market” conference to explore marketing ideas and resources for developing a robust local food system
» WHEN: From 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Spencer Penn Centre at 475 Spencer Penn Road in Spencer
» COST: $15, includes lunch
» REGISTER: Register by Oct. 7 by calling (276) 694-7181 Ext. 22 or emailing martinlm@vt.edu

Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/aug/31/group-hopes-link-food-chain-dan-river-region-ar-1275020/

Remember 9/11

I'm gonna live my life

Like every day's the last

Without a simple good-bye

It all goes by so fast

And now that you're gone

I can't cry hard enough

No I can't cry hard enough

For you to hear me now

I'm gonna open my eyes

And see for the first time

I've let go of you like

A child letting go of his kite

There it goes up in the sky

There it goes beyond the clouds

For no reason why

Williams Brothers Can't Cry Hard Enough lyrics found on http://www.lyricsty.com/williams-brothers-cant-cry-hard-enough-lyrics.html

I can't cry hard enough

No I can't cry hard enough

For you to hear me now

I'm gonna look back in vain

And see you standing there

When all that remains

Is just an empty chair

And now that you're gone

I can't cry hard enough

No I can't cry hard enough

For you to hear me now

There it goes, up in the sky

There it goes, beyond the clouds

For no reason why

I can't cry hard enough

No I can't cry hard enough

For you to hear me now

It's VUI that's 'irrational,' not foes (Uranium Mining)

By: The Editorial Board
Published: August 27, 2011

To the editor:

The letter to the editor, "Reasoning with irrational" (Aug. 21, page A10), was aptly named. Its author truly did pen some irrational thoughts.

Does the author really believe that Virginia Uranium Inc.’s attempts to indoctrinate the state’s citizens is a philanthropic venture? Particularly irrational was the author’s attempt to equate campaign spending of political candidates with VUI’s public relations campaign. However, her confusion may be due to VUI’s actions which liken it more to a political machine than a legitimate corporate entity.

Does the author also believe that VUI can present all known facts applicable to mining and milling here and around the world, past and present, in one presentation? Can the author honestly believe acclaimed scientists worldwide are in agreement in all facts VUI puts forth?

The author further asserts that those who disagree with her views and those of VUI are "elitists," "crazies" and "irrational." It appears that these descriptions best fit the author of the letter to the editor.


KAREN B. MAUTE
Mount Cross

Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/aug/27/its-vui-s-irrational-not-foes-ar-1266905/

5.8-magnitude quake shakes central Virginia, East Coast

Comment:  Don't forget the earthquake!  Remember Coles Hill has the Chatham Fault, Keep the Ban!

A nuclear power plant located in Louisa County, the epicenter of the earthquake in Virginia, has shut down.

The North Anna Power Station, operated by Dominion Power, has two reactors. The plant declared an "unusual event" in the wake of the 5.9 magnitude quake, which is the lowest stage on the plant's emergency scale.

As a result, the plant has been shut down.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Nuclear-Plant-Near-Epicenter-Shuts-Down-1282618 08.html

5.8-magnitude quake shakes central Virginia, East Coast

August 23, 2011
Breaking News

UPDATE: 5.8 earthquake rocks Virginia, other parts of East Coast
A 5.8 earthquake in Virginia felt in Washington, New York City, North Carolina.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/breaking-news/2011/aug/23/51/58-earthquake-rocks-virginia-other-parts-east-coas-ar-1256961/

Group: Risks Outweigh Benefits of Uranium Mining

 

August 19, 2011

RICHMOND, Va. - The fickle market is up at the moment for yellow-cake uranium, and one Virginia company would like to take advantage by tapping into a massive uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County. However, the proposition to suspend the state's 1982 moratorium on uranium mining comes with a lot of opposition from those who fear the economic and health impacts would be too great a price.

Trieste Lockwood, director of the Interfaith Power and Light environmental program at Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, says her group favors keeping the moratorium.

"Opening our Commonwealth's fields, valleys and water supplies to this kind of experimental mining in Virginia would benefit a few individuals, while risking the health, safety and prosperity of millions of Virginians. So, we're talking about our water supply, our health and our local economies."

Virginia Uranium says it can mine for uranium safely, but Lockwood says the potential health consequences of exposure to uranium are well documented, involving lung cancer, leukemia and birth defects. Two new studies about the effects of uranium mining are in the works, and the issue of lifting the moratorium could be debated in the 2012 General Assembly.

The Interfaith Power and Light Program will work closely with the Keep the Ban Coalition to ensure uranium mining stays out of the Commonwealth.

Monique Coppola, Public News Service - VA

Read more:
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/21783-1

Local, state lawmakers flying to Canada as part of lobbying push for uranium mining

Washington Post
Local, state lawmakers flying to Canada as part of lobbying push for uranium mining
By Anita Kumar, Washington Post

About 15 local and state lawmakers are flying to Canada this month on all-expenses paid trips as part of an on-going lobbying effort by a company pushing lawmakers to lift a moratorium on uranium mining in the state.

Virginia Uranium invited state legislators and local elected officials from Southside Virginia to visit an active mine in Canada as it looks to mine what is thought to be the largest deposit of uranium in the United States, in south central Virginia.

Larry Campbell, a member of the Danville City Council, said he had planned to go on the two-day trip, but that he changed his mind when some of his constituents told him they thought he was being “bought off.”

The trips are permissible under Virginia law and must be reported to the state as gifts next year.

Two uranium deposits were found three decades ago in Coles Hill, near Chatham.

Virginia Uranium hopes to persuade the General Assembly to repeal the nearly three-decade ban on mining at its regular session in January by convincing lawmakers that mining can be done safely. The trip to Canada is designed to help show that mining was done safely and the region remains free of radiation.

Check back later and in Wednesday’s newspaper for more information.
http://virginianewmajority.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/breaking-news-local-state-lawmakers-flying-to-canada-as-part-of-lobbying-push-for-uranium-mining-washington-post/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/virginia-politics/post/2011/09/06/gIQAr37P7J_blog.html?wprss=virginia-politics

WHAT A WASTE

 



by Kathleen Laufenberg

Because it contains minute traces of radioactive byproducts of uranium, found naturally in phosphate-bearing ore, the phosphogypsum is largely considered useless in this country.

For years, Florida's 13 phosphate-mining companies have simply stacked the stuff up in piles, usually right beside their processing plants.

The result is a landscape dotted with about 20 man-made mountains, an oddity for Florida to be sure.

One stack can cover as many as 500 acres, roughly the size of the footprint of the sinkhole stack at IMC-Agrico, one of the largest of all.

That monster pile caved in when the earth beneath it buckled for unknown reasons.

Quips Burnett: "What can you see that's man- made from outer space? The Great Wall of China, the Pyramids and the Florida gyp-stacks."
Read more:
http://www.rinr.fsu.edu/summer96/features/gyp.html

Color Your Hair With Your Favorite Drink

by Mary Mazzoni
Published on August 12th, 2011

Women love to change up their hair color from time to time. But a new style often means dousing your tresses with harsh chemicals that can be damaging your hair and the environment.

Green gals will be happy to know that you can ditch the foils and still get the color you crave. Just try out one of these all natural hair fixes you can do at home.

Keep in mind before you get started that natural dyes aren’t exactly a quick fix. Most of these rinses take several treatments to begin taking effect – sometimes as many as 15 to 20. But if you’re willing to wait, your hair will thank you later.

It’s advisable to start with a few diluted treatments first, as every person’s hair responds differently to natural hair dyes. Gradually increase to the full-strength recipe once you see how the treatment affects your hair. You may need to adjust the recipe to get the color you’re looking for.

Once you’ve reached your desired color, continue using the rinses once a week to maintain your shade.

Be careful with using these treatments if your hair has been chemically colored or treated recently. Natural dyes may react differently to hair that has already been treated with commercial dyes. For best results, let your hair grow out before giving these treatments a try.

Get your colors click here:
http://earth911.com/news/2011/08/12/color-your-hair-at-home-naturally/

EPA Region 3 Press Release: Lynchburg Water System Operator Wins EPA Award for Excellence

Contact: David Sternberg (215) 814-5548 sternberg.david@epa.gov

Lynchburg Water System Operator Wins EPA Award for Excellence

(PHILADELPHIA - August 25, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today presented Leslie Gryder of Lynchburg, Va. with the EPA mid-Atlantic award for excellence in operating a large public drinking water system.

“Public drinking water plant operators are on the front lines for preventing waterborne diseases, and protecting public health,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “Leslie Gryder exemplifies excellence among the many highly qualified, trained professionals who are dedicated to improving the quality of our drinking water.”

Gryder has made exceptional contributions to the City of Lynchburg’s water treatment plant by implementing new processes and procedures to keep the City’s drinking water safe and clean, including:

• Modifying the disinfection process which reduced potentially harmful disinfection byproducts by approximately 50 percent;
• Improving taste and odor by minimizing the formation of algae; and,
• Assisting neighboring systems with preventing and removing microbial contamination – achieving considerable cost savings in the process.

EPA’s mid-Atlantic region created the Professional Operator Excellence Award in 2006, highlighting outstanding performance by public water system plant operators. Awards are given to operators in two categories: large (more than 3,300 customers) and small (fewer than 3,300 customers).

Gryder was nominated for EPA’s award by the Virginia Department of Health.

For more information on this award: http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/drinking/awards.htm.

Virginia Uranium's shaky defense

By Donald Luzzatto
The Virginian-Pilot
August 26, 2011

When I was growing up, State Farm Insurance put a roof over my head. It paid for me to attend the College of William and Mary and gave me a summer job. Even now, it employs a large part of my extended family.

You could say I grew up in the business. I have State Farm car and home and life insurance. I pay my premiums - even when I think they're too high - because I know what happens when you don't.

In exchange for my money, State Farm promises to pay up in the event of something bad. It has committed to rebuilding my house if there's a disaster. The amount I pay in premiums is based on what State Farm has decided is the risk of that happening, plus a profit for the company itself.

If nothing happens, and there's a good chance of that, the company pockets the premium or uses it to pay for somebody else's disaster. If something catastrophic happens to me, the company will lose money in our bargain, but I will be protected.

This week, we had the folks from Virginia Uranium in for an editorial board meeting right before their appearance before the Virginia Beach City Council.

They were there to debunk the city-sponsored study showing that uranium mining in Pittsylvania County could imperil the water supply for a million people in Hampton Roads.

A Virginia Uranium-sponsored counterstudy concluded instead that the risk was "essentially zero."

Which made me wonder: If there's no risk, it should be easy to buy insurance to guarantee us clean water.

That is, after all, how insurance works. If there's no risk, there's almost no cost to insure against it. When a star insures her physical assets, for example, the cost of that publicity stunt is low because the risk is, too.

Virginia Uranium's representatives spent almost an hour explaining to us how the Virginia Beach study got it all wrong.

How there's no way that their mine could lead to contamination in the city's water. That not even a hurricane could wash mine tailings into the reservoir.

That's when I became an insurance salesman: So, would you like to buy a policy?

It was an absurdist question with a real point: Put your money where your risk analysis is.

But Walter Coles Jr. and the scientist who reached the zero risk conclusion, Alan Kuhn, looked mighty uncomfortable.

That's not how these things work, they responded. That's a regulatory issue. Companies don't insure populations from risk.

Why not?

We could get rid of all that pesky regulation if corporations like Virginia Uranium would shift the risk from taxpayers to themselves. If companies would pay the real cost of the dangers they present. If they would insure bystanders against the catastrophes they might cause.

That's about when the earthquake shook from a fault a few miles from the North Anna Nuclear Power Station. I'm sure there was no connection.

Donald Luzzatto is The Virginian-Pilot's editorial page editor. Email: donald.luzzatto@pilotonline.com


Read more:
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/virginia-uraniums-shaky-defense

Subject: Excess Uranium

DOE, NNSA Make Reserve LEU Stockpile Available from HEU Downblending
The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced on August 18, the availability of a reserve stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for use as commercial nuclear fuel.

The stockpile, known as the American Assured Fuel Supply (AFS), was derived from downblending surplus highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the US stockpile. The AFS sets aside the LEU as a backup fuel supply for foreign or US reactors in the event of a supply disruption.

In 2005, DOE set aside 17.4 tonnes of surplus HEU to be blended down to LEU and held in reserve to deal with disruptions in the nuclear fuel supply. The downblending of this surplus HEU, which is scheduled for completion in 2012, will result in approximately 290 tonnes of LEU, of which approximately 230 tonnes will form the reserve. The remainder of the LEU is being used to pay for the downblending and processing costs. This will leave the AFS with approximately six reloads for an average
1,000 MWe reactor. [top]

http://www.uranium.info/index.cfm?go=c.page&id=60#6

Appalachian Power Gives $25,000 to Ferrum College

8/25/2011

Appalachian Power Gives $25,000 to Ferrum College

Gift to aid water quality programs

Ferrum, Va. (August 25, 2011) – Ferrum College has received a gift of $25,000 from Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP). The college will use the money to enhance the Water Quality Program in the Environmental ScienceProgram.

“We are grateful for the support of our on-going research into the area’s water quality,” said Environmental Science Professor Carolyn Thomas, who has been testing the area’s water for more than two decades.

“ We believe this helps recognize the importance of the work being done by Ferrum researchers, said Frank Simms, manager of hydroelectric operations for Appalachian and AEP. “Ferrum has taken a leadership role in measuring the quality of water in the region as well as in the reservoirs our company operates and we want to support those efforts.”

Appalachian Power built and operates the Smith Mountain and Claytor hydroelectric generating projects in Southwestern Virginia. Thomas and other Ferrum researchers and students have regularly tested Smith Mountain and Claytor reservoir water quality since 1987 seeking to determine the impact of increased lakeside populations, businesses and boaters. Simms, Joe Jones, Director of External Affairs and Larry Jackson, Manager of External Affairs for Appalachian Power presented a check to Ferrum College President Dr. Jennifer L. Braaten during a luncheon at the president’s home on campus.

“Ferrum College is pleased to have the support of Appalachian Power. We appreciate its interest in our research and the recognition of the quality of our faculty and students. This money will enable us to make the program even stronger,” said Braaten.

Thomas said the money would be used enhance Ferrum’s analytical ability in the water quality lab by upgrading its analytical testing equipment.


http://www.ferrum.edu/Articles/appalachian_power_gives_25000_to_ferrum_college.aspx

USDA, DOE fund further energy crop research

 

By Kris Bevill | August 12, 2011


Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced Aug. 11 that his agency and the U.S. DOE will provide $12.2 million to fund 10 research projects focused on improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of various energy crops for biofuel production. The projects will utilize the most advanced genomics techniques to develop breeding strategies that will improve the potential for energy crops to be grown on marginal lands while still increasing their yield and quality.

Research projects will be conducted in nine states. Switchgrass will be the feedstock of focus in Oklahoma and Colorado.

In Virginia and California, researchers will explore ways to improve poplar hybrids.

Sorghum research will be conducted in Missouri, South Carolina and Kansas. Researchers in Illinois will further develop miscanthus while Florida researchers will focus on energy cane. One project in Missouri will focus more broadly on energy grasses in general, using genomics and genetics in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon to identify genes that control light perception and signaling that could be modified to increase yield and improve the composition of energy grasses.

Read more:
http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/8051/usda-doe-fund-further-energy-crop-research