Uranium mining advocates seek study

Opponents say the state shouldn’t partner with a
private company.

CHATHAM, Va. (AP) — You couldn’t say Walter Coles Sr. is sitting on a pot of gold.

Close, though.

The hundreds of acres of Virginia farmland in his family for five generations contain the largest unmined uranium deposit in the nation, worth an estimated $10 billion.

The existence of the deposit has been known since the 1980s, but a spike in the price of uranium has renewed interest in mining it. That is cause for hope by advocates in a region with an economy crippled by the loss of the textile and tobacco industries and angst among residents who fear radiation contamination.

Coles and his partners have formed Virginia Uranium Inc., but can’t pull ore out of the ground now. Virginia has a moratorium on uranium mining that was imposed in 1983, when a now-defunct company called Marline Uranium considered extracting the ore in this corner of Pittsylvania County.

If Coles’ company is permitted to mine the ore, it would be the first such enterprise on the East Coast.

The most that can happen anytime soon is that the Virginia General Assembly will approve a study of whether uranium mining can be done safely, and what controls are needed to protect the environment and residents.

That is what Coles wants, and he has offered to pay the bill, which could be $1 million.

“This project will never happen if it doesn’t have the support of the broader population of Virginia,” said Walter Coles Jr., who gave up an investment career in New York to help set up his father’s business.

The elder Coles suggested the National Academy of Sciences as the best choice for a scientific analysis of the risks, and the bill sponsored by Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, has been amended to specify that agency to conduct the study.

Virginia Uranium’s foes don’t mind a study, but they don’t think the state should conduct one in partnership with a private company. They also think it should be done by health care professionals, not theoretical scientists.

“Snake handlers are not afraid of snakes,” said Jack Dunavant, chairman of Southside Concerned Citizens, which is leading the opposition.

The Coleses acknowledge uranium mining’s links to cancer from operations in Western states in the 1950s and 1960s that operated with few controls. But they say regulations are more stringent — and technology has improved in recent years — to minimize the risk to miners and to the community from the radioactive dust that is left after uranium ore is milled and turned into yellowcake.

Opponents, 200 of whom turned out for a recent forum, aren’t convinced. They’re concerned that the fine dust, called tailings, will get into their air and water.

Dunavant is worried that radiation will contaminate the Banister River, which runs within five miles of the uranium site. Downstream, it flows behind his house and on into a lake that is a source of drinking water for Virginia Beach, the state’s largest city with 435,000 residents.

One plan of attack is to persuade area governments to enact ordinances making companies responsible for environmental hazards they cause.

Marline withdrew in the 1980s not because the opposition drove it out but because the price of uranium fell. From a low of $7 a pound in 2003, the price has risen to $90 to $100, renewing interest in the 110 million pounds of ore on the Coles family property.