The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a Virginia law that bans mining at the largest known uranium deposit in the country, at one time estimated at $7 billion.
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Virginia’s ban was established in 1982.
Mark Satath: “Uranium mining presents a host of risks to human health and the environment.”
Mark Sabath is a Senior Attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has fought attempts to overturn the ban for years.
Sabath: “The digging and blasting, the potential for groundwater contamination, the huge amounts of radioactive waste it leaves behind.”
Still, Virginia Uranium fought for years to overturn the ban in the General Assembly, finally took the case to court. But with the Supreme Court decision today:
Sabath: “It certainly closes the chapter on this long-standing federal litigation and from what we have seen, there is no evidence the General Assembly has any interest in revisiting the decision it made early in the 1980’s to keep this industry out of Virginia.”
Virginia Uranium is not yet commenting on the decision.
The Southern Environmental Law Center is among WCVE’s Corporate Sponsors.