On October 10, 2012, the Board of Supervisors of Pittsylvania County—on a 3-3 vote with one abstention—did not approve a resolution opposing the lifting of Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining. This follows an October 1 vote against the resolution but calling for a committee to work on an alternative, and tabling of a resolution on September 4. Pittsylvania County is the site of a mining and milling proposal by Virginia Uranium, Inc. The Virginia General Assembly is expected in its 2013 session to consider whether or not to lift the state’s 20-year-old uranium-mining moratorium. The cities of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach, and the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission have passed resolutions in favor of maintaining the moratorium. In neighboring North Carolina, the Martin County Board of Commissioners has expressed support for Virginia to keep the moratorium.
Meanwhile, the Virginia Uranium Working Group meets October 17, 6 p.m., at the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex on U.S. 29 north of Chatham in Pittsylvania County; and November 27, 6 p.m., at the Virginia Science Museum, 2500 West Broad Street in Richmond. The Working group was appointed by Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell in January 2012 to develop a “draft statutory and regulatory framework” for uranium mining and milling in Virginia, should the moratorium were lifted (according to the Working Group’s Web site, http://www.uwg.vi.virginia.gov/).
Sources: Pittsylvania County still split on uranium mining, Danville Register & Bee, 10/10/12; Hampton Roads panel backs uranium mining ban, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 9/25/12; Suffolk council OKs resolution against uranium mining, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 9/6/12; Uranium resolution tabled, Lynchburg News & Advance, 9/4/12; Uranium Working Group returns to Chatham Oct. 17, Chatham Star-Tribune, 10/10/12; N.C. mayor wants uranium ban, Danville Register & Bee, 10/14/12
