With VA Governor Opposition, Uranium Movement Shifts

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Exploration, Mining, Marketing, & Acquisitions

Date posted: 05/15/15

Trevor Metcalfe reports that with political opposition from current governor, Terry McAuliffe, it is a time of wait and see priorities for the Coles Hill uranium mining project in Pittsylvania County, according to project manager Patrick Wales. It has been pretty clear that at least at the current time, the governor is not interested in entertaining any current legislation, Wales said, to the detriment of the local citizens and businesses. The proposed project would build and operate mining and ore processing facilities near Chatham to extract a world-class 119-million-pound uranium deposit. But, a moratorium on uranium mining in 1985 by the state has stalled any progress for the project. At the beginning of the McAuliffe administration, the governor stated he would veto any legislation attempting to lift the ban and create regulations. Thus, Virginia Uranium did not sponsor any legislation in either the 2014 or 2015 General Assembly sessions. The project and its sponsors have long emphasized the economic benefits of the project. A two-year state study found the project could create up to 1,000 local jobs and a total of 5 billion dollars in economic benefits over its lifetime. Adversaries to the project, including the Keep the Ban organization, point to unfounded health and safety concerns over past and current uranium mining projects. Opponents include the Dan River Basin Association and the Virginia Sierra Club. Worries center around potential damage to water, farmland, human health and wildlife, all of which have been exaggerated and misrepresented. Such concerns are typically managed by new mining regulations that address potential environmental damage. Adversaries such as these oppose such projects generally because they have no stake in the project and hence see no benefit. They do see benefit in blocking benefits to others even if their reasons have no basis in fact or have been misguided by national groups whose motives are financial perpetuation.