A Republican leader in the House of Delegates announced yesterday that the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission will meet Nov. 6 to adopt a study of uranium mining in Virginia, including the Coles Hill mine project in Pittsylvania County.
Delegate Terry Kilgore announced the meeting of the commission, to be held Nov. 6 at 10 a.m. in the General Assembly Building in Richmond. The proposed study will include an examination of all important aspects of uranium development in Virginia.
"The need for independent American sources of energy is a matter of national security and economic prosperity. We know that Virginia has a significant, high-quality uranium deposit and as Virginians and Americans, we have a responsibility to study the feasibility of mining it safely," said Delegate Kilgore, chairman of the Coal and Energy Commission.
"The Coal and Energy Commission conducted a similar study in the eighties and deals regularly with mining issues; it is the Commonwealth's repository of mining expertise and the right entity to conduct this study. The Commission will work the affected locality and surrounding areas to develop parameters to the study," Kilgore said.
How the Coal and Energy Commission study would fit together with a separate study sought by Del. Clarke Hogan is unknown. Hogan, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, has asked the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce to draft questions that can be considered as part of a legislative study.
Southside Concerned Citizens chairman Jack Dunavant said yesterday that he has not given a lot of thought to Kilgore's announcement, but noted that the last study by the Coal and Energy Commission was not favorable to those who opposed the mining of uranium.
"If we could get a favorable ruling from the Commission that would be great," Dunavant said. "That is, if they present the facts as they should."
But Shireen Parsons, Virginia community organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, called the chances for any favorable ruling from the Coal and Energy Commission absolutely "zero. This thing has been a done deal for more than a decade," Parsons said, noting that while the state’s moratorium on mining was enacted back in the 1980s, supporters of uranium mining considered it simply a pause, not a ban, and they have their political and financial plans well laid out.
"The people of Virginia do not want this mining, and it would be absolutely immoral and unconstitutional for Virginia Uranium to be allowed to do this mining," she said.
The Coal and Energy Commission was established in the legislative branch of state government and consists of 20 members appointed from both the House of Delegates and the Senate. It also includes seven citizen members representing industry, government and groups or organizations identified with production and conservation of coal, natural gas and energy.
In a written statement, Virginia Uranium said it welcomed the study by the Coal and Energy Commission and pledged to provide any pertinent data to ensure a study of the highest quality.
Currently Virginia Uranium is seeking to mine and mill what is believed to be a major uranium deposit located at Coles Hill, some six miles northeast of Chatham and near the Banister River.
Opposition to the mine has been widely expressed by Halifax County residents as well as others in Pittsylvania County, who fear the effects of the radiation in the air and in the water from the tailings left in the mining process.
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