Commonwealth of Virginia
Office of Governor Bob McDonnell

Governor McDonnell Announces Environmental Excellence Award Winners

RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell today announced the winners of the 2012 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards, which will be presented at the Environment Virginia Symposium in Lexington.

The awards recognize the significant contributions of environmental and conservation leaders in three categories: environmental projects, environmental programs and land conservation. They are given to businesses and industrial facilities, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies.

Speaking about the awards, Governor McDonnell remarked, “The accomplishments of these award winners are truly impressive. They demonstrate a clear commitment to improve our environment and make the lives of all Virginians better.”

The awards will be presented by Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech, Department of Environmental Quality Director David Paylor, and Department of Conservation and Recreation Director David Johnson. Four Bronze level, four Silver level, and five Gold level awards will be presented.

The Gold Medal winners are:

· Clarke County Conservation Easement Authority for its successful efforts to protect and preserve land with significant agricultural, natural, scenic and historic resources. The authority has filled an important niche by enabling smaller landowners who might not meet the criteria of other programs to place land in easement.

· NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility for its highly successful Energy Savings Performance Project, a broad-perspective analysis of alternative measures. The project was a multi-year collaborative effort between the Wallops Environmental Office and the Wallops Facilities Management Branch to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint.

· NASA Langley Research Center for implementation of the “revitalization through sustainability” concept for the campus. This initiative included building high-performance green buildings, upgrading current infrastructure to be more energy efficient and conserve water, and making the core campus a walkable community.

Office of the Governor
Contact: Jeff Caldwell
Phone: (804) 225-4260
Email: Jeff.Caldwell@Governor.Virginia.Gov

Department of Environmental Quality
Contact: Ann Regn
Phone: (804) 698-4482
Email: Ann.Regn@deq.virginia.gov

This latest video from The Downstream Project provides a look at PECs work, from the perspective of the citizens that they work with — farmers, teachers, parents, and conservationists. We hope you’ll get involved! Find out more about PEC at www.pecva.org.

A volunteer tree-planting on Darrell and Crystal Landes’ farm in Rockingham County, Virginia, demonstrates how the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) partners with farmers, volunteers, and state and federal cost-share programs to ensure clean water and healthy farms. The work on the Landes’ farm is part of a larger outreach and technical assistance effort by CBF in the Lower Dry River, Cooks Creek, and Muddy Creek watersheds. It’s intended to accelerate the number of farms using conservation practices that conserve soil, water, and fertilizer, to reduce runoff that can pollute nearby streams.

CBF Final from The Downstream Project on Vimeo.

WASHINGTON  —  The National Academy of Sciencesdelivered a long-awaited report on uranium mining to the Virginia legislature on Monday, warning that the state faced “steep hurdles” if it is to safely mine and process the nuclear reactor fuel.

Full article

RICHMOND, VA – The long-awaited report issued by the National Academy of Sciences today echoes numerous pitfalls with potential uranium mining, milling and waste disposal in the Commonwealth that many concerned Virginians have expressed in past months.

The 300-page report was commissioned by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission and is part of an ongoing contract between the commission and NAS that includes a public outreach and public meeting period over the next five months. The report does not make any recommendations about whether Virginia should or should not allow uranium mining, but raises significant environmental and public health concerns.

State law has maintained a nearly 30-year ban on uranium mining. Virginia Uranium, Inc., which wants to establish a uranium mine, mill, and waste disposal site in Pittsylvania County, is pushing the General Assembly to lift the ban in 2012, beginning with the drafting of regulations.

“This is a huge validation for many of the core concerns that we have been raising,” said Cale Jaffe, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.  “As the report highlights, a uranium mine or processing facility could be subject to an uncontrolled release as a result of flood, hurricane, or earthquake.  In Virginia, we’ve experienced all of those extreme events just this year.”

“The report highlights the difficulty of storing radioactive waste for thousands of years, given Virginia’s climate, geology and population density. ” said Dan Holmes, Director of State Policy for the Piedmont Environmental Council. “We are now more convinced that this would be a dangerous experiment in Virginia.”

Among the cautionary points found by the NAS study committee:

A HUGE RISK – ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: “Furthermore, Virginia is subject to relatively frequent storms that produce intense rainfall.   It is questionable whether currently-engineered tailings repositories could be expected to prevent erosion and surface and groundwater contamination for as long as 1,000 years.  Natural events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, intense rainfall, or drought could lead to the release of contaminants if facilities are not designed and constructed to withstand such events, or if they fail to perform as designed.”

SEVERE CONTAMINATION RISKS EXIST:  “Moreover, in a hydrologically active environment such as Virginia, with relatively frequent tropical and convective storms producing intense rainfall, it is questionable whether currently-engineered tailings repositories could be expected to prevent erosion and surface and groundwater contamination for 1,000 years.   There are many reports in the literature of releases from improperly disposed tailings and their environmental effects.”

A HIGH STAKES GAMBLE: “A mine or processing facility could also be subject to uncontrolled releases of radioactive materials as a result of human error or an extreme event such as a flood, fire, or earthquake.”

ADVERSE IMPACTS FOR SOUTHSIDE AGRICULTURE:  “Exposure could also occur from the release of contaminated water, or by leaching of radioactive materials into surface or groundwater from uranium tailings or other waste materials, where they could eventually end up in drinking water supplies or could accumulate in the food chain, eventually ending up in the meat, fish, or milk produced in the area.”

A HIGH STAKES GAMBLE:  “Uranium tailings present a significant potential source of radioactive contamination for thousands of years … because monitoring of tailings management sites has only been carried out for a short period, monitoring data are insufficient to assess the long-term effectiveness of tailings management facilities designed and constructed according to modern best practices.”

CURENT U.S. REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT:  “The decay products of uranium (e.g., 230-Th, 226-Ra) provide a constant source of radiation in uranium tailings for thousands of years, substantially outlasting the current U.S. regulations for oversight of processing facility tailings.”

CURRENT U.S REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: “The United States federal government has only limited recent experience regulating conventional uranium processing and reclamation of uranium mining and processing facilities.  Because almost all uranium mining and processing to date has taken place in parts of the United States that have a negative water balance (dry climates with low rainfall), federal agencies have limited experience applying laws and regulations in positive water balance (wet climates with medium to high rainfall) situations.”

CURRENT U.S. REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: “The United States’ federal government has only limited experience regulating conventional uranium mining, processing, and reclamation over the past two decades, with little new open pit and under-ground uranium mining activity in the United States since the late 1980s.”

LONG-TERM RISK:  “Tailings disposal sites represent potential sources of contamination for thousands of years, and the long-term risks remain poorly defined.”

UNKNOWN RISK: “Additionally, until comprehensive site-specific risk assessments are conducted, including accident and failure analyses, the short-term risk associated with natural disasters, accidents, and spills remain poorly defined.”

UNIQUE RISKS FOR VIRGINIA:  “In the recent past, most uranium mining and processing has taken place in parts of the United States that have a negative water balance (dry climates with low rainfall), and consequently federal agencies have little experience developing and applying laws and regulations in locations with abundant rainfall and groundwater, and a positive water balance (wet climates with medium to high rainfall), such as Virginia.”

PUBLIC PROCESS:  “However, under the current regulatory structure, opportunities for meaningful public involvement are fragmented and limited.”

WATER QUALITY IMPACTS:  “Disturbances of the land surface associated with uranium mining in Virginia would be expected to have significant effects on both on-site and downstream surface water conditions.  These disturbances affect both surface water quantity and quality.”

SkyTruth, a West Virginia organization that garnered attention last year calculating the size of the BP oil spill is branching out.

As Cecelia Mason of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports, SkyTruth is launching a program that will help landowners, local governments and environmental organizations monitor Marcellus Shale drilling.

The Downstream Project will be assisting Skytruth by providing aerial and on-the-ground videography of monitoring efforts to be shared online and compiled into a possible documentary format.

Virginia Farmers Are Talking About Continuous No-Till
and Improved Grazing Management…

And now you can hear what they are saying by watching our new “Gaining Ground” movies!

In our two movies, each just 15 minutes long, a dozen Virginia farmers explain how continuous no-till and managed grazing have improved their farms and their lives. Also featured are amazing soil and water demonstrations that show how these farming methods help rebuild soil with dramatic implications for agricultural productivity and environmental quality.

The Gaining Ground movies are available for immediate on-line viewing. You can also watch the movies by obtaining a DVD.

To view the movies, obtain a DVD, or find out how you can gain more ground with no-till farming or managed grazing, visit GainingGroundVirginia.org or, for Virginia residents, your local NRCS, Virginia Cooperative Extension, or Soil & Water Conservation District Office.

The Downstream Project produced the Gaining Ground movies in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia No-Tillage Alliance, Virginia Forage and Grassland Council, and the Shenandoah and New River-Highlands Resource Conservation and Development Councils. These movies are also gaining endorsement by a growing number of other agricultural and environmental partners across Virginia.

Please forward this e-mail, share the GainingGroundVirginia.org link, or share the DVD with all yourcontacts interested in agriculture and the environment.

And don’t forget to tell us what you think through the GainingGroundVirginia.org feedback page!

“Our Association strongly supports the message delivered in Successful No-Till Farmers Tell Their Stories.” — Dee Dee Darden, Farmer and President, Virginia Grain Producers Association

“Every farmer managing livestock on grasslands should watch Successful Graziers Tell Their Stories.” — Alan Spivey, Farmer and President, Virginia Cattlemen’s Association

“These movies demonstrate how management decisions that are good for clean water can also be good for the farm’s bottom line.” — Ann Jennings, Virginia Executive Director, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

The news that Blackstone Group LP (BX), the world’s largest private equity firm, is set to invest $1 billion in unconventional oil and gas projects in North America through a joint venture with Alta Resources has cemented a spotlight on fracking.

A U.S. Senate committee is currently conducting a hearing on the safety of hydraulic fracturing, as it is formally known. The province of Quebec, the state of New York, and the entirety of France have recently banned the technique. And two new studies claim that fracking-derived shale gas is actually worse for the environment than mining and burning coal. With so many claims flying around about this unconventional practice, let’s get a closer look at the facts.

Read More—>FRACKING – The Next Battle