Susan Benn from the Julian Assange Defense Fund addressed the awaiting crowd and press outside the Ecuador embassy in London in a press release statement from Julian Assange on Friday June 29 at 16:00 BST. Wiki leaks founder Julian Assange has been under house arrest for 570 days now.

According to Miss Benn, Metropolitan Police served Mr Assange with a notice on Thursday, June 28, that he should surrender himself to the Belgravia Police Station by 11:30 on the morning of June 29. Assange has refused to abide by the serving notice of Metropolitan police.

Benn said that this is not a sign of disrespect to police, “under both international and domestic UK law asylum assessments take priority over extradition claims.” In the US and UK, asylum law states that a fugitive seeking political asylum cannot be extradited from the country he is seeking protection in while his application for asylum is being processed by official authorities. He can remain in the country indefinitely while he waits to hear about the status of his asylum claim and can only be removed once his claim and appeal have been rejected by authorities.

Assange applied for political asylum in UK in 2010, but on June 12, Britain’s Supreme Court made a decision to extradite him back to Sweden to face sex and rape charges. His appeal to reopen his extradition case was rejected by the court on June 14. After the court decision, Assange surprised many on June 19 by breaching his bail conditions and entering diplomatic territory of Ecuadorian embassy at Knights Bridge in London to seek political asylum under the UN Human Rights declaration.

There is a mounting pressure on Assange to face charges in Sweden. Earlier in the week, avid supporter and British socialite Jemima Khan urged him to face Swedish court. Australian Jemima Khan is among few names that contributed towards his hefty bail money of £240,000.

Estranged Australian Assange faces issues that are of serious nature and compromise his liberty and the safety of those involved in his wiki leaks stint operation. Assange is wanted by Swedish court over rape, sexual molestation, and coercion charges. Like in the UK and Assange’s homeland Australia, Sweden is also a signatory to US international extradition treaty. Under the treaty, Assange could face extradition from all these countries to face espionage charges in America.

According to Miss Benn, “the US department of justice admitted yesterday that its investigation into WikiLeaks proceeds. It is only a matter of time before US authorities begin extradition proceedings against Julian and other leading members of WikiLeaks on various charges including conspiracy to commit espionage.”

Assange fears that if sent to Sweden to face rape charges, he will be extradited to the U.S., where a grand jury investigation has been opened up against him. Once in the U.S., Assange could possibly face the death penalty over publishing leaked wiki cables in 2010.

Benn said “United States has subjected Julian Assange’s alleged source in this matter, the young soldier Bradley Manning, to conditions amounting to torture.”

Bradley Manning was arrested by the U.S. army in Iraq in May 2010. He is currently awaiting a trial that will begin in September 2012. After his arrest, Manning was placed in solitary confinement in military prison in Quantico, Virginia. Manning’s plight, inhuman treatment and torture have already been highlighted by several Human Rights organizations across the world. According to Amnesty International, “His conditions at Quantico have been a breach of international standards for humane treatment of an untried prisoner.” According to Wikileaks Stratfor emails that the U.S. has issued, a secret closed indictment compels British and Swedish governments to ship Assange to America.

Miss Benn elaborated, “So it is clear that there is a legal process in place which will result in taking Julian to the US, which if allowed to succeed would violate his basic rights.”

Benn said, “Julian will remain in the Embassy under the protection of the Ecuadorian government while evidence for this application is being assembled and processed.”

There is ongoing protest outside Ecuadorian embassy by Assange’s supporters.

Image Courtesy of  dutourdumonde / Shutterstock.com

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Fairfax County, U.S.A. – Sun Design Remodeling Specialists of Fairfax County, Va. has won two national remodeling industry awards for the creativity, professionalism and overall excellence of its projects and exceptional customer satisfaction.

Sun Design has won a national Chrysalis Award for a residential basement project in Fairfax County. Chrysalis Awards honor the finest remodeling projects in the country. Some 81 remodeling companies from across the United States were named winners. Winning projects were selected from 420 entries judged on overall design, creative use of space and materials and the degree to which the project enhanced the original structure.

Sun Design has also won The 2012 Guildmaster Award (with Distinction) which is given based on a lengthy track record of exceptional customer satisfaction. The awarding organization surveys recent actual customers of homebuilders, remodelers, real estate developers, and home services contractors across the country and makes awards based on specific testimonials provided by those customers.

This has been one of most spectacular periods in Sun Design’s 24-year history. Earlier this month, the company announced it had its best sales month ever in March 2012. Sales were more than $1.8 million, beating its last record of $1.6 million in June 2007. The company won a national CotY Award as a “Contractor of the Year” from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI), in April of this year, for a dramatic remodeling project in Fairfax, VA.

Sun Design President Bob Gallagher, said, “This is really an exciting time for all of us at Sun Design. We’re beating records, winning the hearts of our clients and growing the organization to exceed the expectations of each and every client.”

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Likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney has opened a six-point lead (46%-40%) over President Barack Obama in Virginia, according to The Roanoke College Poll.

The two were statistically tied in the College’s February poll. Republican George Allen maintains an eight-point lead (44%-36%) on Democrat Tim Kaine in the likely November matchup for the U.S. Senate seat from Virginia. The margin is unchanged from last month.

The Roanoke College Poll interviewed 603 Virginia residents between March 24 and April 5 and has a margin of error of +/-4%. Screening for registered voters (N=537) reduces Allen’s lead to seven points (46%-39%) and Romney’s lead to five points (46%-41%).

“While Mitt Romney fares well in the top-line numbers of this poll, looking beneath the surface suggests that his position is somewhat precarious,” said Harry Wilson, director of the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research.

“The commitment of his supporters lags significantly behind the commitment of President Obama’s supporters in several areas. While his lead over Obama has widened in a month, his favorable/unfavorable numbers and the fact that Virginians think Obama better understands their needs do not bode well for the likely Republican nominee.”

“The Allen/Kaine race has not changed since the last Roanoke College Poll. It is also interesting that Kaine is actually winning among Virginians with the highest income.”

“The results of this poll indicate a very high level of dissatisfaction on the part of Virginians. Approval of Obama and McDonnell and Congress are all down slightly, and perceptions of the state and the country have declined as well.

Both Presidential candidates have higher unfavorable than favorable ratings. Virginians are a disgruntled group right now.”

Image Courtesy of    Gage Skidmore

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The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), the largest environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the Southeast, has announced its fourth annual list of the top 10 places in the South that face immediate, potentially irreparable threats in 2012.

Many of the areas on SELC’s Top 10 list are endangered by pressure to undercut environmental protections and to lower the hurdles for potentially destructive projects, whether it’s fracking in the North Carolina Piedmont, uranium mining in Virginia, or deepwater drilling in the Gulf.

“The South’s special places and natural riches are threatened by a wave of calculated attacks on the bedrock laws that protect our environment and health,” said Marie Hawthorne, SELC’s Director of Development. “Under the guise of promoting economic growth, anti-environmental forces are working in Congress, in state legislatures, and in government agencies to gut our most essential safeguards.

“The truth is, environmental protection had nothing to do with the financial crisis or today’s weak economy,” Hawthorne added. “Doing away with effective laws and enforcement will accomplish nothing except sacrifice the natural treasures like those on our Top 10 list and other resources that make the South such a great place live, work, and raise our families. We owe it to ourselves — and to future generations — to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Top 10 Endangered Places in the Southeast for 2012

The following endangered areas were chosen from among hundreds of special places that the SELC is defending through its law and policy work in the six states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

Alabama’s coast: Following the tragic BP spill, the government has returned to business as usual and is authorizing risky deepwater drilling projects under the same assumptions that failed in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. This approach is irresponsible, illegal, and poses an ongoing threat to Alabama’s beaches, marshes, wildlife, and coastal communities.

Dawson Forest, Georgia : A costly, unnecessary proposed reservoir would siphon 100 million gallons per day from the Etowah River to fuel metro Atlanta’s unchecked sprawl, threatening prime habitat for endangered aquatic life, water supplies of downstream communities, and a popular recreation area.

Catawba-Wateree Basin, North Carolina & South Carolina: The health of the Catawba-Wateree River, which provides drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents of central North Carolina and South Carolina, faces an array of threats, including pollution from toxin-laden coal ash ponds, hydroelectric dams that will continue to disrupt stream flows and fish migration, water withdrawals that rob water from downstream farms and communities, and unnecessary reservoir projects that promote inefficient development and water use.

North Carolina Piedmont: The gas drilling industry and its allies in the North Carolina General Assembly are pushing hard to pass legislation that would expedite hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. ‘fracking’) to extract natural gas, despite mounting evidence that the drilling technique, in the absence of appropriate regulatory controls, can lead to the contamination of groundwater and surface water. Potential fracking sites in North Carolina’s Piedmont are underneath or upstream from water supplies for 2.4 million people.

Savannah River, South Carolina & Georgia : The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to deepen 38 miles of the Savannah River shipping channel would increase saltwater intrusion in the river and jeopardize freshwater marshlands in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, drinking water supplies for Savannah and other communities, and habitat for endangered aquatic species.

Chilhowie Mountain, Tennessee: The outdated plan for completing Corridor K between Chattanooga and Asheville includes a proposal to cut a new four-lane highway through the Cherokee National Forest near the Ocoee Gorge, even though improvements to the existing two-lane highway on its current footprint would be less damaging, less costly, and no less effective.

Chesapeake Bay, Virginia: For decades the Bay has suffered from pollution from all sides — air, land, and water. Unfortunately, industry interests and their political allies are doing all they can to impede a comprehensive rescue plan.

Mountains of Tennessee & Virginia: Mountaintop removal and other destructive coal mining practices have already destroyed at least 500 mountains and damaged 1,700 miles of streams in Virginia, Tennessee and other central Southern Appalachian states, and pressure continues to mount.

Charlottesville, Virginia & Surrounding Countryside: Local and state decision-makers are attempting to revive a wasteful, destructive, and ineffective proposed bypass that would leave a permanent scar on one of the South’s most special communities.

Southside Virginia: An intense push to mine uranium in southern Virginia risks polluting drinking water supplies with radioactive and toxic-laden wastewater. Lifting the state’s ban on uranium mining could open up Virginia’s Piedmont countryside to more large-scale mining projects.

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The National Academy of Sciences released recently the findings of its 18-month study of the potential public health and environmental impacts of uranium mining in Virginia.

“Virginia Uranium believes this study provides a clear road map for operating the world’s safest uranium mine in Virginia,” said Virginia Uranium, Inc. project manager, Patrick Wales.

“The study shows that major technological and regulatory advances over the past 30 years have dramatically improved the environmental and public health performance of the uranium mining and milling industry,” Wales continued. “Virginia Uranium is committed to continuing that process by adopting the best practices and regulatory requirements identified by the NAS as essential to protecting the environment and public health.”

“The concluding chapter of the report, in particular, provides a road map for how Virginia can design a regulatory structure to govern the safest uranium mining program in the world,” said Wales. This chapter identifies a list of best practices that should be required in a regulatory program should Virginia decide to allow uranium mining in the state.

These recommendations rely heavily on the track record of modern uranium mining operations in Canada and Colorado, which have been proven successful at managing many of the environmental and health risks associated with the industry in the 1950′s.

“The NAS study states time and again that best practices now widely adopted by the industry have been effective at protecting water and air quality and overall public health,” said Wales. “In particular, the report singles out the impact of heavily-lined, below-grade tailings disposal and the adoption of underground ventilation as having a significant impact on preserving water quality and worker safety,” Wales added. “We fully intend to use these state-of-the-industry practices at Coles Hill.”

The NAS says that “tailings impoundment sites will be safe for at least 200 years…” “We are fortunate,” Wales added, “that the underlying geology at the Coles Hill site is a very hard granite rock that has largely remained unchanged for the last 400 million years. This kind of setting will help ensure the safety and maintenance of our tailings facilities beyond the 200-1,000 requirement specified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

The NAS report acknowledges that even if the moratorium were to be lifted in 2012, it will take an additional 5 to 8 years before the Coles Hill project could receive all the necessary permits to begin operating. “Our company is confident that this lengthy timeframe will allow the General Assembly, state and federal agencies and community residents to thoroughly examine every aspect of this issue and make sure that the regulations are in place and best practices are fully adopted to protect the health and well-being of our community,” said Wales.

The study states, “There exists internationally accepted best practices, founded on principles of openness, transparency, and public involvement in oversight and decision-making, that could provide a starting point for the Commonwealth of Virginia were it to decide that the moratorium should be lifted.” They describe the practices in Chapter 8 of the report and emphasize the following:

With respect to all aspects of mining and processing, the NAS study recommends that Virginia’s regulatory program embrace the stringent ALARA standard (as low as reasonably achievable) for impacts on public health and the environment. The report suggests that adopting such a standard would allow the state’s regulations to be continuously updated and improved to reflect the most advanced practices In addition to this broad recommendation, there are 6 specific suggestions made by the study committee:

1. Ensure that the life-cycle costs as well as long term stewardship needs are reflected in the type of, and amount of, the financial surety.
2. Ensure that inspection and enforcement tools are transparent, practical, sufficient, available, independent and sustainable.
3. While the development of this new regulatory structure could be based on existing laws, the optimum approach would be for an entirely new mining, processing and reclamation law or laws be enacted.
4. Effective interagency integration and coordination.
5. Active engagement in the regulatory processes of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure good federal/state coordination. Additionally, considerable international expertise and knowledge in regulatory best practices should be sought.
6. Include the modern best practice of requiring an environmental impact assessment prior to the commencement of any mining activities.

The study findings were presented to the Uranium Mining Subcommittee of the Virginia Coal & Energy Commission by the study committee’s chair, Dr. Paul Locke, Director of the Public Health Program and Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“As a company, we are pleased with the road map this study lays out. It embraces many of the concepts we have advocated as a company.

We have employed many of the same principles in our exploration work, such as ALARA, already.  In fact, one of our guiding principles has been to welcome scrutiny from local, state, and federal regulatory bodies and strive to meet or exceed their standards. We also invite the review and participation of responsible environmental groups, as well as that of citizens. The study emphasizes the importance of public engagement, and as a company we embrace it.”

J Duggan / Shutterstock.com

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