Uranium opponents lash out at county

CHATHAM — The leader of a local group opposing uranium mining blasted the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors on Monday night after the board voted not to discuss a uranium-mining study commission listed on its agenda.

‘We don’t trust you,” Gregg Vickrey, president of the Chatham/Pittsylvania chapter of Southside Concerned Citizens, said to supervisors during their regular meeting Monday night.

Vickrey warned the board not to “give the impression you’re sweeping things under the carpet.”

“We will take appropriate action when it comes time to vote,” he said.

Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis had put the item on the agenda, but Dan River Supervisor James Snead requested it be removed because there was no explanation of the topic in the board’s agenda packet.

“I don’t know what it’s about,” Snead said. “I don’t know how we can consider anything when there’s no information.”

Vickrey, along with two other mining opponents, voiced their displeasure to the board when it came time for residents to address supervisors about topics not on the agenda.

Vickrey drew parallels between the county’s delayed public notification of a leachate leak at the county landfill in Dry Fork and the implications it could have for a possible similar incident at the proposed uranium mining and milling operation at Coles Hill. Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine and mill a uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill about six miles northeast of Chatham.

“What if it took almost a year for the public to find out about a spill at Coles Hill?” he said.

After the meeting, Davis said he will bring the topic back to the board at a later date. Davis would not reveal why he entered the agenda item.

Walt Coles Jr., executive vice president of VUI, said opponents’ attacks on the company’s plans are unfair.

“All we’ve ever proposed is a state-sanctioned study,” Coles said after the meeting. “We need a fair chance to do something safely.”

Contact John R. Crane at or (434) 791-7987.