Press Release | September 4, 2018

Groups Join Virginia to Defend Ban on Uranium Mining

U.S. Supreme Court to take up case of decades-old ban

Press Release from the Southern Environmental Law Center
For Immediate Release: Tuesday September 4, 2018

Contact: Will Cleveland, [email protected], 434-977-4090
Claudine McElwain, [email protected], 434-218-1960

Charlottesville, VA— Today the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of Roanoke River Basin Association, Dan River Basin Association and the Piedmont Environmental Council filed an amicus curiae brief, or “friend of the court” brief with the United States Supreme Court, supporting the Commonwealth of Virginia’s case to uphold its ban on uranium mining.

“Virginia has the right to determine what kind of industrial activity is best for its communities,” said Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Will Cleveland. “A uranium industry in southern Virginia would stifle new business and threaten existing businesses, all the while degrading the environment and increasing health risks for people living nearby.”

Virginia’s ban on uranium mining was established in 1982. In 2007 Virginia Uranium, Inc. launched several attempts to exploit a major uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County, in southern Virginia.

The company has consistently failed to circumvent the ban through legislation or legal action and has met opposition from local government, business, health and environmental groups.

This last-resort appeal to the Supreme Court comes after a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to uphold the uranium ban in Virginia.

Argument in the Supreme Court is scheduled for November 5, 2018.

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The Southern Environmental Law Center is one of the nation’s most powerful defenders of the environment, rooted in the South. With a long track record, SELC takes on the toughest environmental challenges in court, in government, and in our communities to protect our region’s air, water, climate, wildlife, lands, and people. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the organization has a staff of 200, including more than 100 attorneys, and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., with offices in Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Nashville, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. southernenvironment.org