Keep the Ban
Since 1982, Virginia communities have been protected from the dangers of uranium mining and milling. At that time, a state panel recommended and the General Assembly approved a moratorium that banned uranium mining and milling activities in the Commonwealth. Starting in 2008, the uranium industry initiated attempts to lift this critically important ban. The Education Fund and its partners at the Keep the Ban coalition are committed to maintaining the ban for the protection of our heritage, our health and our future.
Multiple studies have been conducted to determine howKeep the Banwould impact Virginia. A few significant determinations include:
- “…the risks and the rewards are not balanced…the adverse economic impact under the worst-case scenario is nearly twice as great as the corresponding positive impact in our best-case scenario.” Chmura Economics & Analytics found $11 billion in costs and only $6 billion in benefits.
- If contamination occurs above federal pollution standards at Coles Hill (the first site the uranium industry would like to mine) it is estimated that both agriculture and tourism would experience a 20% economic loss—that’s $80.1 million and $110.9 million respectively. Chmura Economics & Analytics
- A study prepared for the uranium industry determined that the Coles Hill site alone would generate at least 28 million tons of uranium waste. A significant portion of this waste would remain radioactive for thousands of years and need to be contained on-site indefinitely.
- The National Academy of Sciences acknowledged the danger associated with siting a radioactive mine facility in Virginia: extreme precipitation and topography puts much of Virginia at extremely high risk for flooding.
