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To the Editor:

I moved to Buckingham County about 2 1/2 years ago.  I am a retired architect and urban planner, having worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for 22 years.  I also supported my local community in Maryland, which faced challenges to quality of life, as we do now.

Industrial metallic mining in our county should not be on the table as a revenue source. Its true costs to us will far outweigh any benefits. Communities have been devastated by the toxic wastes left behind.

The expression — NIMBY that stands for Not in My Back Yard — might be used to describe this issue. Well, it’s in all our backyards. No one downstream in the James River watershed would be safe. This would affect not just Buckingham, but Richmond and the entire state. Who will bear the costs of perpetual maintenance of these potential superfund sites?

The county is changing — some say it has been “discovered” — the woodlands, fields and waterways are our treasure. What is best for our future? Hotels? Vineyards? Who knows? Let’s look towards businesses that are clean and economically viable, that would enrich the county and increase our tax income. That is the reason I support going forward with a strong rights-based ordinance.

I ask that the Buckingham Board of Supervisors safeguard our quality of life by supporting this ordinance that county residents have proposed.

Alan Binstock

Buckingham