Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Business Law
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • Coronavirus 2020
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Vote Now for Women in Leadership
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read the issue
    • Order a copy
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Nominate execs for 2021

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Home News Industries Economic Development Uranium company sues the commonwealth over mining ban

Uranium company sues the commonwealth over mining ban

Published August 5, 2015 by Robert Powell, III

A company that wants to mine a massive uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County has sued the state, seeking to overturn a 33-year-old mining ban.

Chatham-based Virginia Uranium Inc. filed a lawsuit in federal court in Danville on Wednesday asking that a 1982 law imposing uranium mining moratorium be nullified.

The company wants to mine a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit in the Coles Hill area near Chatham in Pittsylvania County. The deposit is the largest known in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.

Virginia Uranium, which owns about 3,500 acres atop the deposit, said that the uranium ore would have a market value of about $6 billion if it could be mined and sold to U.S. nuclear plants.

Virginia Uranium’s efforts to overturn the ban created a firestorm of controversy in Southern and Southeastern Virginia three years ago. The issue pitted concerns about environmental damage and contamination of drinking water against the promise of hundreds of new jobs in a chronically economically depressed area.

“We do not come to this point lightly,” Walter Coles Sr., Virginia Uranium’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “For almost eight years, and at great expense, we have worked in good faith with our community, our local government and the General Assembly, as well as myriad state agencies. Our goal has been one simple thing: the enactment of legislation repealing the 1982 law banning uranium mining and the development of uranium mining regulations by the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

The last  pro-uranium bill, presented in the General Assembly in 2013, would have outlined regulations to govern mining. The legislation, however, was withdrawn by its sponsor while it was still in committee.

Before he was inaugurated, then-Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe pledged to veto any bill removing the ban.

“In the face of this ultimatum, and in light of our years of dedicated efforts, we have no course but to seek a legal resolution,” Coles said in his statement.

Cooper & Kirk, a Washington, D.C., law firm, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Danville. The plaintiffs include Virginia Uranium Inc., Coles Hill LLC, Bowen Minerals LLC and Virginia Energy Resources Inc. Coles Hill and Bowen Minerals own the land containing the uranium deposit. Virginia Energy is the Vancouver, British Columbia-based parent company of Virginia Uranium.

The 11 defendants in the suit are state officials, including McAuliffe; Maurice Jones, Virginia secretary of commerce and trade; and Molly Ward, secretary of natural resources.

The suit says that the commonwealth’s uranium ban is based on concerns about the processing of uranium ore, particularly the storage of uranium tailings, the rock left behind after uranium is removed from the raw ore. The plaintiffs contend that issue falls under federal regulatory oversight, and therefore the state law should be declared invalid.

Related Stories

Virginia Business logo

JTI Leaf Services to invest $7.5 million in Danville plant

Virginia Business logo

Applied Felts plans to expand in Henry County

Virginia Business logo

Two projects expected to create 50 jobs in Danville-Pittsylvania County

Trending

Finance/Insurance: STEPHAN Q. CASSADAY

Finance/Insurance: PAUL B. MANNING

Federal Contractors/Technology: JASON PROVIDAKES

Education: ANNE M. KRESS

Artemis I to launch with help from Va. contractors

Sponsored Stories

Why is my Less Than Truckload (LTL) freight pricing going up and my service level going down?  

Beyond Juneteenth – How Capital One is Commemorating and Implementing Change

How We Help Your Business Operate Better

Before the Breach: Get Serious About Cyber Resilience

Professionals are Discovering What it Means to Live Uniquely in the Alleghany Highlands of Virginia

Riverside Logistics Celebrates 25th Anniversary!

Girls for a Change Empowers Black Youth for the Future Workforce

The Jackson Ward Collective is equipping Black-owned small businesses with the tools for success

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

Finance/Insurance: STEPHAN Q. CASSADAY

Finance/Insurance: PAUL B. MANNING

Federal Contractors/Technology: JASON PROVIDAKES

Education: ANNE M. KRESS

Artemis I to launch with help from Va. contractors

Sponsored Stories

Why is my Less Than Truckload (LTL) freight pricing going up and my service level going down?  

Beyond Juneteenth – How Capital One is Commemorating and Implementing Change

How We Help Your Business Operate Better

Before the Breach: Get Serious About Cyber Resilience

Professionals are Discovering What it Means to Live Uniquely in the Alleghany Highlands of Virginia

Riverside Logistics Celebrates 25th Anniversary!

Girls for a Change Empowers Black Youth for the Future Workforce

The Jackson Ward Collective is equipping Black-owned small businesses with the tools for success

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk