| Attorney General Mark R. Herring has again successfully defended Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining in court.
Judge Chadwick Dotson in the Circuit Court of Wise County and the City of Norton recently ruled in favor of Herring and Virginia’s thirty-eight year moratorium on uranium mining in the Commonwealth. The judge concluded his opinion by saying, “Clearly, the greater harm would be against the people. The common law supports it. Common sense supports it. To find otherwise would be untenable.”
“For almost forty years, Virginia has maintained a moratorium on uranium mining in the Commonwealth to protect the safety and wellbeing of Virginians, our lands and our waterways,” said Herring. The recent “ruling once again affirms that Virginia is well within its right to regulate mining activities in the Commonwealth, and I’m pleased we were able to yet again successfully defend Virginia’s environment and uranium mining moratorium in court.
In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Herring that Virginia has the right to enact a moratorium on uranium mining within its borders and upheld the Commonwealth’s ban on uranium mining. Additionally, Herring has successfully defended the ban in both federal district court and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. |
