(Washington, D.C.) – In a win for environmentalists and mining opponents, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to intervene in an effort to overturn the state’s 30-year ban on uranium mining.

The high court declined to overturn Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining, recommending against the motion.

The court noted that it is the responsibility of states to regulate uranium mining, “including by banning it altogether.” The ruling states that the federal government “does not, has never, and indeed cannot regulate such mining.”

The ruling notes that the mining ban has been in effect for Virginia since the second term of the Reagan administration and went unchallenged until “the end of the second Obama administration.”

Virginia Uranium tried unsuccessfully to mine a rich deposit of the ore in Pittsylvania County, saying the operation would be safe and would provide hundreds of jobs. Opponents feared pollution from run-off could taint drinking-water supplies.

 

 

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