Word: uranium
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Relying on imported oil opens the U.S. to economic and political blackmail. Coal can replace uranium as a power-plant fuel, but only at the price of severe environmental damage: a steady, though undramatic, toll of respiratory ailments among the people who breathe the air near a coal-fired plant, and the long-range possibility of a ''greenhouse effect'' in the atmosphere that could cause an irreversible change in the earth's climate...
Beginning in the late 60's, the government and the energy industry began discussing ways to meet America's projected energy needs for industrial growth in generations to come. The plan, forwarded under the name Project Independence," called for large, centralized power plants which could use coal and uranium to produce electricity. This electricity could be fed into a grid system which would divide the nation into regions of varying size, depending on population and availability of space for the plant sites...
Studies indicate that although this coal uraniferous lignite, as it is called, is low in sulphur, it is high in other toxic materials. The environmental impact statement for a large coal-fired plant (like the one at Sherburne, Minnesota) indicates that one plant would emit one ton of uranium per year directly into the air from the smokestacks. It is the residents of Underwood, North Dakota, and other similar coal towns, that bear the brunt of these emissions...
...article in the November 78 issue of Engineering and Mining journal, titled "Minnesota: Action Heats up in the North," reported that at that time 35,000 acres had been leased for uranium exploration to five companies. Seven months later, in June 79, exploration had drastically increased. As one local commentator explains the situation, "At least seven companies are exploring for uranium in northern Minnesota, including such late arrivals as Exxon and Annaconda. The most heavily involved is Rocky Mountain Energy, a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad. Rocky Mountain has about 75 percent of the 125,00 acres that the companies...
...area group called Folks Organized for Responsible Energy has joined the Northen Sun Alliance in opposing the uranium development," he continues. "They have tried to influence county officials but have had little success. A battle in the legislature has resulted only in a standoff. The state regulatory agencies are lumbering into action but can barely keep up with the proposed copper and nickel mining. The state executive board will soon decide whether to allow exploration on state lands. Much education still needs to be done around the uranium mining issue...