Virginia Company Sues over State Uranium Mining Ban

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

Date posted: 08/06/15

Steve Szkotak reports that a mining company that wants to tap one of the largest uranium deposits in the world sued Virginia on Wednesday to end a decades-long state moratorium on mining the radioactive ore. Virginia Uranium Inc., which puts a market value of $6 billion on the deposit, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court to have the 1982 ban lifted so it can begin mining the 119 million-pound deposit near the North Carolina line. The Chatham company argues that the state meddled in a matter that should be decided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Virginia officials, the lawsuit contends, came to the wrong conclusion when it said uranium posed unacceptable health and safety risks. But more importantly, it had no business asking that question to begin with, the lawsuit said. For the radiological safety concerns that are at the heart of the Virginia ban are squarely within the field of exclusive federal regulatory concern. The company quest to mine the Coles Hill deposit in Pittsylvania County was the most heated environmental issue in the state for years until December 2013, when incoming Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe made it clear he wanted the ban kept in place. The company decision to abandon its efforts to lift the moratorium also followed an unsuccessful legislative bid to achieve that end. A spokeswoman for McAuliffe said he would have no comment. The lawsuit also names state mining and environmental officials. Virginia Uranium invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions, lobbying and to fly delegations of Virginia lawmakers to France and Canada to observe successful uranium mining and processing facilities. But it could not overcome opponents who are under the misconception that mining and the storage of radioactive waste tailings would threaten nearby rivers and streams that feed public water supplies. President and CEO Walter Coles Sr. said the company decision to sue was not an easy one, but needs to be done.