URGENT!
READ THE ARTICLE BELOW AND SEE HOW IMPORTANT YOUR ATTENDANCE IS IN RICHMOND TOMORROW!!!
Then, call Deborah Lovelace 434-656-2046 or Elizabeth Jones 434-432-3231 to secure a place on the bus. It will be leaving parking lot next to Carter Bank, Main St. in Chatham, VA the same on Thursday, January 31 at 7:30 am.
Try to be there early, bring snacks, lunch and something to drink. We will leave as soon as the uranium vote is over and hopefully return by around 5 or 6.
No charge to ride the bus but donations would be appreciated.
Posted: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 7:59 pm
Do or die day for uranium in General Assembly?BY MARY BETH JACKSONmjackson@registerbee.
Delegate James Edmunds, R-Halifax, says he is not buying rumors that the Senate uranium bill won’t even see committee Thursday.
Edmunds says emails and rumors have been circulating that Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, is withdrawing the bill that would lift the state’s 1982 moratorium on uranium mining and milling. He says he has not been able to source the buzz.
“I’m not sure that’s not a rumor circulated by Virginia Uranium,” Edmunds said.
Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit six miles from Chatham. The company has been lobbying the General Assembly to direct the state to write regulations for uranium mining and milling, which would lift the ban.
Two identical bills are in the General Assembly to do just that: S.B. 1353 in the Senate and H.B. 2330 in the House.
They are known as “The Virginia Uranium Development Corporation Act.”
The Senate bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, which meets Thursday. Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Clarksville, said last week he expects the bill to die on arrival, believing there are enough votes to stop it in committee and the full Senate.
Edmunds says he is nervous that people will take that for granted.
“Until a vote is taken, I’m not betting on anything,” Edmunds said. “There’s too much money and there’s too much at stake for it to die quietly.
“You can bet it’s not over,” he added.
He’s hoping supporters of the moratorium won’t stay home on the assumption that the bill is dead.
“If Virginia Uranium brings a busload of people that wants the mine and we have 20 people from home because nobody thinks it has a chance, that could sway a committee,” he said. “It’s too big an issue to take that chance.”
Forty people have signed up to ride a bus to Richmond with the Keep the Ban Coalition Thursday, said Gretna farmer Phillip Lovelace. The group made three trips to Richmond last week.
“We feel like it’s very important to go down and represent this county,” Lovelace said. “We’re going to stick with it to the bitter end.”
Where it ends is a matter of speculation.
The House uranium bill has been referred to the Commerce and Labor Committee, where it could be a ship in friendly waters. Nearly 70 percent of the members of that committee have accepted campaign contributions and travel from Virginia Uranium.
The committee has agreed not to hear the house bill until the Senate Agriculture committee hears its bill Thursday.
“If it dies in the Senate, I don’t think it will be heard in the House at all,” said Edmunds.
It’s a matter of timing, he said.
“I don’t think the legislators in the full House want to vote on it if they can help it,” he said. “It’s an election year, and a lot of them don’t want to vote.”
Edmunds says emails and rumors have been circulating that Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, is withdrawing the bill that would lift the state’s 1982 moratorium on uranium mining and milling. He says he has not been able to source the buzz.
“I’m not sure that’s not a rumor circulated by Virginia Uranium,” Edmunds said.
Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit six miles from Chatham. The company has been lobbying the General Assembly to direct the state to write regulations for uranium mining and milling, which would lift the ban.
Two identical bills are in the General Assembly to do just that: S.B. 1353 in the Senate and H.B. 2330 in the House.
They are known as “The Virginia Uranium Development Corporation Act.”
The Senate bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, which meets Thursday. Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Clarksville, said last week he expects the bill to die on arrival, believing there are enough votes to stop it in committee and the full Senate.
Edmunds says he is nervous that people will take that for granted.
“Until a vote is taken, I’m not betting on anything,” Edmunds said. “There’s too much money and there’s too much at stake for it to die quietly.
“You can bet it’s not over,” he added.
He’s hoping supporters of the moratorium won’t stay home on the assumption that the bill is dead.
“If Virginia Uranium brings a busload of people that wants the mine and we have 20 people from home because nobody thinks it has a chance, that could sway a committee,” he said. “It’s too big an issue to take that chance.”
Forty people have signed up to ride a bus to Richmond with the Keep the Ban Coalition Thursday, said Gretna farmer Phillip Lovelace. The group made three trips to Richmond last week.
“We feel like it’s very important to go down and represent this county,” Lovelace said. “We’re going to stick with it to the bitter end.”
Where it ends is a matter of speculation.
The House uranium bill has been referred to the Commerce and Labor Committee, where it could be a ship in friendly waters. Nearly 70 percent of the members of that committee have accepted campaign contributions and travel from Virginia Uranium.
The committee has agreed not to hear the house bill until the Senate Agriculture committee hears its bill Thursday.
“If it dies in the Senate, I don’t think it will be heard in the House at all,” said Edmunds.
It’s a matter of timing, he said.
“I don’t think the legislators in the full House want to vote on it if they can help it,” he said. “It’s an election year, and a lot of them don’t want to vote.”
Jackson reports for the Danville Register & Bee.
What sick game is Watkins playing?
Posted: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 3:29 pmTwo senators expect Watkins to scrap uranium bill Thursday
BY REX SPRINGSTON Richmond Times-DispatchRichmond Times-Dispatch
BY REX SPRINGSTON Richmond Times-DispatchRichmond Times-Dispatch
Two state senators say they expect Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, to move to strike his pro-uranium-mining bill Thursday in the Senate’s agriculture committee.
“That means it's dead for the year, and he knows he doesn't have the votes” in the committee, said Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico.
Watkins declined this morning to specify his plans.
Watkins' bill would require the state to craft regulations to oversee uranium mining. Both sides say approval in effect would lift the state's 31-year ban on uranium mining.
The committee appears to line up 12-3 or 11-4 against the Watkins bill, McEachin said.
Sen. Frank M. Ruff Jr., R- Mecklenburg, said 9 to 11 committee members oppose Watkins' bill.
“My understanding is that at the conclusion of the public hearing Senator Watkins will move to strike the bill,” Ruff said in an email.
“That means it's dead for the year, and he knows he doesn't have the votes” in the committee, said Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico.
The committee appears to line up 12-3 or 11-4 against the Watkins bill, McEachin said.
Sen. Frank M. Ruff Jr., R- Mecklenburg, said 9 to 11 committee members oppose Watkins' bill.
“My understanding is that at the conclusion of the public hearing Senator Watkins will move to strike the bill,” Ruff said in an email.
