The committee decided to kill the bill on mining the metal in Pittsylvania County, a controversial issue.
By Mason Adams(804) 697-1584
RICHMOND -- The question of uranium mining in Southside Virginia proved to be too radioactive for state legislators Monday, as a House panel voted to table a proposed study for the year.
The procedural move by the House Rules Committee effectively kills the bill, which many of its opponents saw as the first step to lift Virginia's 25-year-old moratorium on uranium mining.
Senate Bill 525 was spurred largely by Virginia Uranium Inc., which wants to mine what is believed to be one of the largest concentrations of uranium in the country, now several miles underground in Pittsylvania County. The company has suggested the deposit could be worth $10 billion.
Proponents of the study argue that uranium could bring jobs and revenue to a Southside economy hit hard by job losses in the manufacturing sector. Opponents, however, worry about the environmental risks and want to see a proposal from Virginia Uranium before any study takes place.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, said he wants to see Virginia move forward and embrace alternative energy sources such as nuclear power. But he left the committee meeting frustrated after members of the committee first tried to amend his bill to essentially make it a study of a study, then decided to just kill it altogether.
"This is the most pathetic thing I've ever seen," Wagner said. "If you don't want to study it, vote no."
The vote was spurred largely by Dels. Watkins Abbitt, I-Appomattox County, and Clarke Hogan, R-Halifax County. Hogan represents an area downstream of the proposed mine, while Abbitt played a role in the 1983 discussion of uranium mining that led to the moratorium.
Abbitt said his biggest concern was largely with "tailings" -- the radioactive leftovers after uranium is removed from a deposit. Abbitt said he understood the tailings must be stored in a moisture-free area for 1,000 years.
"We can probably mine it safely," Abbitt said. "But we cannot handle the tailings safely. That's the problem, that was the problem then," in 1983.
Tim Hayes, a lawyer representing Virginia Uranium, said the study would focus on advances in technology during the 25 years since then.
Freshman Del. Don Merricks, R-Danville, represents the district within which Virginia Uranium wants to set up shop. He's not on the Rules Committee but appeared to testify on the legislation, saying that judging by the response he'd received, his constituents were in favor of the study by a 3-to-1 margin.
"If I am to represent the wishes of the majority of the people in my district, I must side with those favoring a study of the issue," Merricks said.
Likewise, House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, said he favored the study, citing a saying at the Capitol: "If you don't stand for study, you stand for ignorance."
But House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, urged legislators to slow down. He said he thought the state ought to study uranium mining, but should recognize that the practice could affect the environment and residents' quality of life for anywhere between "200 and 2,000 years."
"It doesn't hurt us to take a little bit of time to make sure we have this thing lined up in the proper order," Griffith said. "We can get things done; we have time to think about it and go forward."
Wagner disagreed.
"This is exactly the kind of things that slow down, lag down and have got us in the problems we're in in this country right now," Wagner said.
"We can sit there and study and study for two years and come up with parameters, and I don't think you'll get more conclusive than what you have in front of you right here," he said.
Still in question is language within the Senate's budget proposal that directs the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to provide a report "assessing the feasibility of establishing, implementing and overseeing a state program for the regulation of uranium mining."
The vote to table was intended to remove that budget language from consideration, but it's unclear whether the vote accomplished that. The state budget is currently in a conference committee where Hogan is one of the conferees.
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