Gov. Bob McDonnell recently told The Associated Press that he wasn’t thinking about uranium mining, and he wouldn’t until after the April veto session.
The governor could easily kick this issue to the curb.
While uranium mining bills were introduced in this year’s General Assembly, they didn’t even come up for a vote in committee. Since 2007, when Virginia Uranium announced its intention to mine a 119 million pound ore deposit in Pittsylvania County, no uranium mining legislation has passed the General Assembly.
Not only has uranium mining failed at the legislature, but the Dan River Region’s delegates and senators are opposed to it, along with the local chamber of commerce and city, county and town governments from Chatham to Virginia Beach.
Still, McDonnell could find some weasel room on this issue by ordering state agencies to draft regulations for uranium mining. But he would have to do that without any support from the legislature, and he would have to do that knowing that he’s spending taxpayer money to do something (write uranium mining regulations) for an industry that may never have permission to operate in Virginia.
The two men who want to succeed McDonnell as Virginia’s governor — Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe — will inherit this issue.
Both campaigns responded to an AP call for comments:
» Cuccinelli: "Mr. Cuccinelli feels the factors that should be weighed ... include the safety of miners and the surrounding community, jobs created, tax revenues generated, the environmental impact, the cultural impact on the region, and energy independence for Virginia and America."
» McAuliffe: "Any economic proposal in these tough times merits a hard look. However, I would need to be certain that mining uranium can be done safely and cleaned up completely before a moratorium is lifted. … So far I have not seen that."
Cuccinelli goes further than McAuliffe, arguing that uranium mining regulations should be in place before the General Assembly takes up the issue. But that’s not only wasting the taxpayers’ money, it actually gives Virginia Uranium exactly what it wants at this stage of the debate — state regulations written for their project.
The studies that have been done on this issue — including "The Study" by the National Academy of Sciences — are more than enough to convince Cuccinelli, McAuliffe and every Virginian that uranium mining isn’t good for economy or the environment.
http://www.newsadvance.com/go_dan_river/opinion/editorials/article_055d3bce-934e-11e2-85c0-001a4bcf6878.html
