While the state has decided to halt a proposed study of the risks and benefits of mining uranium, those on both sides of the issue agree the fight is not over.
The Senate-backed bill asking for a study to determine the safety of mining uranium at Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County was tabled Monday in a 11-4 vote by the House Rules Committee - essentially killing the legislation for any further consideration by this year’s General Assembly.
Delegate Danny Marshall, R-Danville, said he thought tabling the bill might have been “the best thing to have happened.”
Changes to the original bill, which called only for a study, included language that implied the 25-year moratorium against uranium mining would be lifted when the study was completed, Marshall said.
He said the Senate’s version of the state budget also instructs the Division of Mines, Minerals and Energy to begin working on uranium mining regulations, even though the study had not yet been approved by the House.
Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, could not be reached for comment Monday after the House vote, but is on record as having voted against the Senate budget, in part due to the request for mining regulations before a study is completed.
“We’ll be looking to strip that out of the Senate budget and I’m sure it will be,” Marshall said.
He said the organization that wants to mine property in Pittsylvania County can still go ahead and have a study done and present it to the General Assembly for consideration next year.
Even Walter Coles, chairman of Virginia Uranium Inc. and owner of most of the property at the proposed mining site near Chatham, expressed surprise that regulations might have been written before the study was complete, though he did say he was disappointed the study had been tabled.
“It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate. We believe if it went before the House for a vote, it would have been overwhelming as well,” Coles said. “We’ll continue to pursue a study.”
He said he appreciated Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, appearing before the committee to speak in favor of the bill.
Merricks said, “I represent the people of the 16th District, and the people who’ve contacted me are 3-1 in favor of a study, including the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors and the Chatham Town Council.”
He said having a study done is the only way to decide intelligently whether uranium mining could be done safely.
“At this point, I’m neither for or against uranium mining,” Merricks said. “If I had to vote right now (to allow mining without a study), I’d say no. The decision should not be based on rumor, but on sound scientific fact. After the study would be when tough decisions would have to be made.”
He said he believes the General Assembly has not heard the end of the uranium mining battle.
“It’s not going away - sooner or later someone has to address the issue,” Merricks said.
Eloise Nenon, a Chatham resident and member of Southside Concerned Citizens - vocal opponents of the project since it was first announced - spoke against the project Monday before the House Rules Committee.
She said the group is very pleased about the overwhelming vote to table the study.
“We hadn’t really hoped for that strong a vote; it’s a larger majority than we hoped for,” Nenon said. “Now we have a year to get better prepared to fight it in the next General Assembly.”
1 comment:
The statement from Mr. Merricks is "interesting" because it is TRUE. Most people in our area have enough common sense to make an informed, educated decision based on a scientific study. Thank goodness that he recognizes those of us that still want answers instead of outdated facts and emotion-driven inflammatory outbursts.
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