Industrial mega park mining ban denied

CHATHAM — An attempt to ban uranium mining at the Berry Hill Road industrial mega park failed Tuesday night, leaving supporters of the proposed resolution disappointed.

During its meeting Tuesday night, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors rejected by a 4-3 vote the resolution that would have banned uranium mining and milling within a 20-mile radius of the 3,700-acre park in southwestern Pittsylvania County.

“I felt that we needed to do something to protect our investment for the citizens of Pittsylvania County,” Staunton River Supervisor Marshall Ecker, who voted for the resolution, said Wednesday.

“If they’re not going to mine in the mega park, what’s the problem with passing a resolution saying that?” Ecker added.

Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining since 1982.

Karen Maute, an opponent of uranium mining and milling, asked the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors in November to pass a resolution prohibiting uranium mining within a 25-mile radius of the proposed Berry Hill Road industrial mega park site. She also wanted the Board of Supervisors, Danville City Council and the city-county Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority board to sign the resolution. The Board of Supervisors voted to table the idea during its meeting in December.

Pittsylvania County and Danville hope to attract a major manufacturer to the site. Pittsylvania County Administrator Dan Sleeper has said that installation of roads, utilities, erosion control, grading and making the site into an industry-ready park will cost $222 million. Ecker said a business will be less likely to locate to the park if it knows uranium may be mined in the area and the park is not protected from mining.

Maute proposed the resolution because the 3,700-acre mega park site includes historic Marline mineral leases. Marline Corp. had plans to mine and mill uranium in Pittsylvania County in the early 1980s. Maute’s resolution points to at least one former Marline parcel covering 504 acres. RIFA owns the leases.

Coy Harville, Westover Supervisor and chairman of the RIFA board who voted against Maute’s resolution Tuesday night, said Jan. 11 that the board has no plans to pass a resolution banning uranium mining at the Berry Hill Road industrial mega park because no one has brought it before RIFA. Harville has said that RIFA has no plans to mine uranium at the park.

Maute said Wednesday she attempted to comply with Harville by wording the resolution to ask that the county request Danville City Council and the RIFA board to adopt the resolution.

“I was optimistic that the board would endorse the resolution because it has been brought back to the board in the manner which was asked to be brought back,” Maute said Wednesday.

Harville said if someone wants to propose a resolution to RIFA, they should take the matter directly to the clerk of the RIFA board or to the city manager’s office, to get it put on the agenda. Taking it to the county and asking supervisors to take it to RIFA is not the way to do it, he said.

“We’re leaving this alone and letting the study be done.” Harville said.