Here is the quick story: Virginia Uranium, Inc, a Canadian owned company, is trying to repeal a nearly 30-year statewide ban on the mining of uranium, the milling of yellowcake, and the disposal of radioactive waste in Virginia. A proposed mine and mill in Pittsylvania County would generate over 28 million tons of mill tailings waste. This type of waste has been linked to increases in leukemia, kidney disease, and other severe health problems. Sounds gross, right? And this stuff has the potential to leak into the drinking water source for Southside communities and also Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk and many communities in North Carolina.
The National Academy of Sciences is holding a town hall in Richmond and will hear testimony from the public about lifting this ban. At the last event, paid uranium lobbyists came out in force and we know they will again so a group of 40 citizens from Southside Virginia are taking the day off of work and driving 4 hours to get their voice heard. Will you help amplify the voice of these concerned citizens whose community is at risk?
Here are the details of the event:
National Academy of Science Town Hall
Date: Monday, February 7, 2011
Time: 5:00 – 9:00pm
Location: Richmond Marriot (500 East Broad Street, Richmond)
Don’t let Virginia Uranium, Inc jeopardize our heritage, our health and our future. Join me on Monday February 7th to keep the ban on uranium mining and milling in Virginia.
Staff from the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance will be here next week to talk about legislation that is moving through the General Assembly that will improve access to protective orders for victims of dating violence, stalking and sexual assault. 42 states have passed laws allowing access to protective orders for victims of dating violence. The General Assembly is considering several bills this year that would ensure that victims of dating violence in Virginia would be eligible to petition for a protective order.
The first subcommittee hearing of these bills in the House of Delegates will take place this Wednesday afternoon. If you would like to call your legislator to indicate your support, visit http://legis.state.va.us/ to find contact information.
If you are listening today and you or someone you know needs help, please call the Virginia Family Violence and Sexual Assault hotline at 1.800.838.8238. The hotline staff is available 24 hours a day.
ACTION ALERT UPDATE
Dear Members,
At this morning’s meeting of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, Senator Obenshain's bill (SB 1200 – redefining what is commonly referred to as the “triggerman rule”) to extend the death penalty to accomplices in cases of murder in the commission of rape was carried over to the next meeting of the Committee, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. this Wednesday, February 2, in Senate Conference Room A.
The decision to carry over the bill was made on motion of Senator Saslaw to permit time to amend the bill to narrow the potential accomplices to whom the expansion would apply. Such an amendment would be an improvement on the broad expansion sought by the original bill. I believe a factor in the decision to attempt to narrow the bill was our opposition to the bill as drafted and the opposition of so many of you who contacted the Senators on the Committee and urged them to vote against it. Your opposition was concretely demonstrated at today’s meeting, when more than 30 of you came out to show your opposition to the bill. Thanks to all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to attend the meeting.
VADP will oppose the bill in its amended form. Particularly at this time of significant budgetary shortfalls, Virginia can ill afford the substantial additional costs that will be incurred by any expansion of the death penalty. Please contact the key Senators on the Committee and urge them to vote against the amended bill. See our Action Alert of last week for the names of these key senators and go to our website for their contact information: www.vadp.org.
With your help, each year we’ve been able to keep this legislation from becoming law. Let’s keep up the pressure and say NO to death penalty expansion in Virginia!
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at (804) 301-4920 or steve@vadp.org.
Sincerely,
Steve Northup, Executive Director
And remember! Tuesday, Feb 1st @4pm eastern time, repeated for night owls, at 1am!!!
http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Oprah-and-378-Staffers-Go-Vegan-The-One-Week-Challenge
OPRAH AND 378 STAFFERS GO VEGAN: THE ONE-WEEK CHALLENGE
The challenge is on! No meat, no milk, no animal anything. Oprah and 378 Harpo
staffers go vegan for one week. Could you do it?
For more information, please contact
Mary Rafferty
Grassroots Organizing Manager
Sierra Club - Virginia Chapter
Email: Mary.rafferty@sierraclub.org
Office: (804) 225-9113 ext 105
Cell: (401) 862-8749
or
Trieste Lockwood
Director, Interfaith Power & Light
Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
804-643-2474 ext. 123
Trieste@virginiainterfaithcenter.org
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