Keep the Ban: Will McDonnell Draw Up Uranium Mining Rules Behind Closed Doors?

by: TheGreenMiles

Fri Feb 03, 2012 at 16:30:00 PM EST

Thanks to you and your hard work, the uranium industry did not have the votes in the General Assembly to introduce a bill to lift the ban. On January 19th, Gov. McDonnell was forced to concede that a report from the National Academy of Sciences identified "important questions related to the health and safety of workers, the public, and the environment." As a result, the ban will stay in place for 2012.  

At the same time, however, Gov. McDonnell directed Virginia's health, mining and environmental agencies to draft "conceptual regulations"  for the General Assembly to consider in 2013. Governor McDonnell's directive to create a draft statute and regulations, behind closed doors, is the first step toward lifting the ban.

The uranium industry has yet to show the citizens of Virginia that uranium mining can be done safely, and our legislators have not answered the fundamental public policy question: does Virginia want to take on the long-term economic and public health burden of mining uranium and storing millions of tons of toxic waste in our state?