The South Dakota Peace and Justice Center notes with due joy that the Virginia Legislature has rebuffed the uranium industry's desire to imperil Virginia's health and welfare on the promise of "economic development." SDPJC says that proponents of legislation to ease environmental regulations to boost uranium diggers' profits lost to a broad coalition of environmentalists, tourism promoters, the ag lobby, church groups, doctors, and even the NAACP.
This tussle sounds awfully similar to what's happening in South Dakota, where Canadian company Powertech has already received favors from our Legislature wants to raid the Black Hills for uranium, putting at risk our water supply, Black Hills ag and tourism, and the health of local residents. SDPJC touts the strong and broad opposition to Powertech's uranium scheme:
And it’s precisely a strong coalition like this that allows a movement for change to succeed. For as renowned political scientist and civil resistance theorist Erica Chenoweth points out, the single most important factor to a movement’s success is participation, folding as many people from as many different walks of life into the struggle. That’s one thing South Dakota’s own struggle against Powertech Uranium has going for it – quite apart from usual suspects like the SDPJC and Defenders of the Black Hills, it has broad-based support among the residents of Fall River and Custer Counties, where the proposed Dewey-Burdock Project would operate, many of them far from career activists themselves ["Virginia Nixes Uranium Mine—Now for SD!" South Dakota Peace and Justice Center].
Participation is the last thing Powertech wants, as evidenced by the "informational meeting" the Southern Hills Economic Development Corporation is hosting on Powertech's behalf this coming Thursday, February 7, at the Mueller Center in Hot Springs. SHEDC exec Cindy Turner emphasizes that Thursday's event is for one-way corporate promotion only, no questions allowed.
Also coming up Thursday: three good bills to protect South Dakota from the things that can go wrong in the in situ leach mining process that Powertech wants to use to poison our water. Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources is supposed to hear SB 148, SB 149, and SB 150 Thursday, probably at 10:00 a.m. CST. Rally that broad coalition, folks, and tell them that even if we let Powertech do their dirty work, we want strong protections for all of our other industries from the harm uranium mining will do.