VUI should follow its own advice

Local governments across Southside Virginia are apparently being asked by Virginia Uranium Inc. to not "… prejudge the results of the ongoing National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study …."

A copy of a letter written to Pittsylvania County Administrator Dan Sleeper from VUI Chairman and founder Walter Coles Sr. said: "We hope that local leaders like yourself will take the long view, keep an open mind and evaluate all the factors that should be disclosed by the studies before deciding whether to take a position on this very important subject."

VUI is concerned that anti-mining environmental groups will line up city and town councils and county boards of supervisors to oppose its proposal to mine and mill 119 million pounds of uranium ore at Coles Hill in central Pittsylvania County.

The kind of resolution Coles is hoping to discourage doesn’t have any legal weight. In Virginia, local governments are politically subservient to the state government, and it is the state government that has had a moratorium on uranium mining since 1982.

But as more and more local governments become concerned about the possibility of uranium mining at Coles Hill — and the real possibility that lifting the state moratorium will help mining companies find the next Coles Hill — the coalition against lifting the moratorium grows stronger.

Coles Hill probably isn’t the only large, high-quality commercially viable uranium deposit in Virginia. But with the state moratorium in place, it makes no sense for mining companies to spend money looking for uranium ore they won’t be able to mine.

Uranium mining may have started out as a Dan River Region issue, but it is quickly becoming a statewide issue. Coles is right to be concerned.

But Virginia Uranium hasn’t, in our view, followed its own patient advice. If lining up local governments against uranium mining is one tactic used by the mining opponents, what is VUI’s efforts to fly Virginia legislators to France to see former uranium mining sites? What about the company’s robust and expensive lobbying efforts?

Anyone who has watched Virginia Uranium over the past few years knows that this isn’t a company that’s waiting for any study to come in; it’s doing everything it can right now to convince state legislators to lift the moratorium.

Only then, with the moratorium lifted, can the state government begin the process of developing the rules and regulations that will shape uranium mining in practice. Only then can VUI really push forward with its plans.

If enough cities, counties and towns come out against uranium mining — or simply lifting the moratorium — it’s sure to catch the attention of the pro-business General Assembly. That, in turn, could make some of VUI’s frequent fliers a lot more nervous when this issue comes up for a vote.

We understand why Virginia Uranium is concerned about local governments around Virginia lining up against their project.

But if VUI isn’t willing to wait for the study results to come in, no one else should.