Do the Irish know what Port Hope is learning?

There’s a wise man in Ireland saying no to uranium.  And it’s not just uranium he’s saying no to.  He’s saying no to even prospecting for uranium.  That man is the Natural Resources and Energy Minister, Eamon Ryan. From the  Irish Examiner

[He] announced that he had declined to grant prospecting licences to two companies seeking to explore for uranium in Donegal.

He later told the Irish Examiner that while prospecting does not involve significant activity, if that process were allowed it would have to follow logically that mining licences would then have to be issued. 

…

“A prospecting licence is the first step in the mining process. Granting a licence carries an implicit policy agreement permitting its extraction should a viable prospect be discovered. This is where my concern lies,” he said.

Pointing out that the likely end use of uranium mined in Ireland would be in a nuclear power plan, he said it would be “hypocritical” of him to permit the mining of uranium while campaigning against the use of the same ore.

He said that there are also significant environmental and public health concerns surrounding uranium mining.

Perhaps it’s that he’s caught wind of what the residents of Port Hope, ON have learned:

An Ontario town is hopping mad that the federal government hasn’t done enough to ensure that the whole place isn’t contaminated from long-term exposure to uranium.

The folks in Port Hope held a press conference Monday to air their grievances, you can read the full story here, but the key part is this:

A recent study by the Uranium Medical Research Centre, a non-profit, voluntary organization that her group hired to conduct local testing, showed evidence of serious problems. For instance, one child from the community had uranium levels in its body that were three times the concentration that would normally be expected. An earlier study showed the town had higher than normal rates of some cancers.

The citizen’s group has a website, here, which gives you a better picture of their position on all this.

The source of uranium is Cameco Corp.

Cameco?  That responsible, corporate citizen of the globe, harming children?

Yes, that’s the one, headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, sharing smitterings of profit here and there to endear itself to the community.

What was that line from the 80’s?  Oh, ya.  Like, gag me with a spoon!

Premiers McGuinty and Wall and Prime Minister Harper ought to take a trip to Ireland and have a little talk with Mr. Eamon Ryan.  Perhaps they could learn a thing or two!