• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Archives

Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Eminent domain and Virginia’s ban on uranium mining

October 20, 2016 By Rod Adams 5 Comments

Coles Hill Entry
Coles Hill Since 1800

Despite the currently abysmal state of the market, Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI), owner of the 119-million pound deposit at Coles Hill, continues legal efforts to overturn the ostensibly temporary moratorium on uranium mining in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The most recent step in the process for overturning the moratorium, first established in 1982 pending the creation of a regulatory regime, was a pre-trial hearing during the first week of October on a lawsuit in which VUI is charging that the rule violates the state’s constitution.

Specically, VUI’s legal team argued that the prohibition on extracting uranium amounts to a regulatory taking of private property without proper compensation.

But state Assistant Attorney General Duncan Pitchford asserted that eminent domain is allowed when needed to protect the public’s health and safety and that Virginia lawmakers ful lled their responsibilities by imposing the ban.

VUI asked Judge Chadwick Dotson to require that the government clarify its assertion that the legislature has determined that moratorium is needed to protect public health.

It’s worth noting that the legislature’s only recent action regarding the moratorium was to fail to vote on a bill that would have lifted it. The measure was proposed and actively discussed in a variety of public forums, but the bills were never brought to the floor.

After his 2013 election, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) vowed to veto any legislation that lifted the ban. His four-year term ends in January 2018, just 15 months from now.

According to John Ohlendorf, one of the attorneys on the VUI team, VUI would like Judge Dotson to force the government to be specific about the supposed health risks associated with uranium processing and tails storage.

Ohlendorf agreed that an argument can be made that the Atomic Energy Act preempts state responsibility in judging whether those portions of uranium mining activity are being done safely.

Property Rights Protection

VUI attorneys may have a point. Via a 2012 ballot initiative, 75% of Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment that tightly limits the criteria by which governments can exercise their eminent domain.

The amendment also made it more clear that government restrictions that limit full property value qualify as takings that deserve compensation.

Ohlendorf told me that the Attorney General’s office apparently believes it preserved the status quo, a position that could be bolstered by the lack of related case law or precedent as the amendment is only four years old.

He and other members of the plaintiff team are looking forward to the opportunity to help the state better understand what the voters wanted when they passed the initiative on eminent domain.

The new statute allows its exercise only “where the property taken or damaged is for public use and, except for utilities or the elimination of a public nuisance, not where the primary use is for private gain, private benefit, private enterprise, increasing jobs, increasing tax revenue, or economic development; (ii) to define what is included in just compensation for such taking or damaging of property; and (iii) to prohibit the taking or damaging of more private property than is necessary for the public use.”

Uranium Politics Making News Again

Meanwhile, two challengers vying to represent the fifth district in the Virginia House of Delegates believe that uranium mining remains a issue for which continued support of the ban equals more votes.

Democrat Jane Dittmar is running a television and YouTube ad called “Doing,” with background text saying that Republican Tom Garrett supports uranium mining.

Her campaign staff said the support is a result of two $1,000 contributions, one in 2011 and one in 2012, made by VUI while Garrett occupied a seat in the commonwealth’s senate.

According to the Democrat, Garrett’s vote on HB179, the bill that established the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium and the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority, proved he supports uranium mining.

Garrett’s campaign issued a strong denial, saying he never voted to lift the uranium mining ban. According to communications director Andrew Griffin, HB179 said nothing about removing the moratorium.

Bearing Drift, a conservative Virginia blog, noted and condemned Garrett’s decision to claim he opposes uranium mining. According to Shaun Kenny, the author of the piece, uranium “rocks.”

Virginia Company Sells to Uranium Miners

An editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted that a press release from Gov. McAuliffe took credit for a recent $300,000 sale by Ceramic Technology. That 32 year-old company sells ceramic coated fabrications initially developed for the coal mining industry.

The editor criticized the governor for claiming that Ceramic Technology’s sale was a direct result of the company’s participation in the Go Global with Coal & Energy Technology (GGCET) program. GGCET supported a sales trip to Canada, providing an opportunity for Ceramic Technology to pitch its valuable products to the gold and uranium mining industry.

Yet McAuliffe continues to oppose the development of the multi- billion dollar uranium deposit located less than 200 miles from Ceramic Technology’s Cedar Bluff fabrication facility.

Developing that deposit will require millions of dollars in equipment that could be supplied by Virginia’s experienced mining industry. Digging rocks out of the ground is a Virginia core competency.

As Ohlendorf said, uranium has been patiently waiting in the ground at Coles Hill for a long time. Until it has been mined, there will be continuing efforts to unlock its value.


Note: A version of the above was first published by Fuel Cycle Week. It is reposted here with permission.

Related Posts

  • Creating new markets for uranium

Filed Under: Nuclear Energy Insider SMR, Uranium mining, VA Nuclear

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Benjamin Haas says

    October 21, 2016 at 9:14 AM

    How much of the moratorium’s endurance is due to local NIMBY vs wider national anti-nuclear politics?

    Reply
    • Rod Adams says

      October 21, 2016 at 9:33 AM

      I’d put most of the blame on local NIMBYs, but much of the resistance has been stoked by well supported activists that spread misinformation.

      Interestingly enough, one of the major funders of the opposition is a regional propane dealer. He has told me that I’m wrong in my assumption that he’s encouraging nuclear fear for competitive reasons. He says he generally supports nuclear energy, but I have a feeling that there is a strategy of stoking fears about hazards of radiation in preparation for resisting the addition of a third unit at North Anna in the near future.

      Reply
  2. publius says

    October 27, 2016 at 1:42 PM

    “Digging rocks out of the ground is a Virginia core competency.” I like it!

    Honestly, though, is this really a big deal? The global price of uranium is very low right now. I don’t see how there’s any actual money to be made at the moment, which leaves me in doubt as to whether this is just another resource-industry financial strategem.

    Reply
    • Rod Adams says

      October 27, 2016 at 4:35 PM

      @publius

      All successful players in the mining and natural resources business understand that it is cyclic in nature and that there are long time constants in the cycles. If you’re planning to be in the money the next time the cycle shifts, you need to prepare the ground now.

      Reply
  3. Eric says

    June 18, 2019 at 12:39 PM

    Well boo!

    http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Supreme-Court-upholds-Virginia-uranium-mining-ban

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You have to agree to the comment policy.



Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Join Rod’s pronuclear network

Join Rod's pronuclear network by completing this form. Let us know what your specific interests are.

Recent Comments

  • Jon Grams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Eino on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • James R. Baerg on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • David on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Rod Adams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Follow Atomic Insights

The Atomic Show

Atomic Insights

Recent Posts

Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Nuclear energy growth prospects and secure uranium supplies

Nucleation Capital’s Earth Day in Atherton

Atomic Show #296 – Julia Pyke, Director of Finance Sizewell C

Solar’s dirty secrets: How solar power hurts people and the planet

  • Home
  • About Atomic Insights
  • Atomic Show
  • Contact
  • Links

Search Atomic Insights

Archives

Copyright © 2022 · Atomic Insights

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy