PRESS RELEASE
Decision to Support Virginia’s Uranium Ban
For Immediate Release: August 27, 2012
Contact: Andrew Lester, 434-250-1185
River Group Applauds VA-NC Roanoke River Basin Bi-State Commission’s Decision to Support Virginia’s Uranium Ban
Boydton, VA - The Roanoke River Basin Association (RRBA) applauds the resolution passed at today’s meeting of the Roanoke River Basin Bi-State Commission urging Virginia’s legislature to keep Virginia’s 30-year ban on uranium mining in place indefinitely.
A Canadian-owned company, Virginia Uranium, Inc., is seeking to lift the uranium ban to develop one of the potential uranium deposits on a site bordering the Banister River, a tributary to the Roanoke River.
The North Carolina-Virginia Roanoke River Basin Bi-State Commission is composed of members of the legislature from both states. The Commission’s function is to “make recommendations to local, state, and federal legislative and administrative bodies, and to others… regarding the use, stewardship, and enhancement of the Basin's water and other natural resources.”
Last year on May 23, 2011, the Bi-State Commission already passed a resolution urging Virginia’s General Assembly not to act on a proposal to lift the uranium ban until all then ongoning uranium studies were completed and reviewed.
Since then seven studies at a total cost of $2.8 million have been completed; all of them warning Virginia’s decisionmakers that uranium mining would be a highly risky endeavor given Virginia’s unpredictable climate and the lack of state and federal experience in regulating uranium operations on the East Coast.
The resolution passed by the Bi-State Commission today was prompted by these studies’ findings. The Bi-State Commission urged Virginia’s legislature to keep the uranium mining ban indefinitely to protect the Roanoke’s natural resources.
“We are very pleased with the Bi-State Commission’s decision to support the ban on uranium mining. Our basin’s natural resources are the engine of the regional economy. Agriculture and the tourism and outdoor recreation sectors bring in hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the states’ coffers. The stigma and the risk of irreversible water contamination that uranium mining would create are incompatible with the future of our basin,” said Andrew Lester, RRBA’s executive director.
