Committee considers uranium Bill – 12 out of 15 members took money from uranium company
Uranium firm pumps money into assembly BY MARY BETH JACKSON, The Register & Bee, 21 Jan 13, The Senate bill proposing to lift the moratorium on uranium mining will be considered by a committee in which 80 percent of its members have taken money from Virginia Uranium.
Sen. John Watkins has said the legislation, filed Friday with the Senate Clerk, will be vetted through the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee; 12 of 15 committee members have accepted campaign money and trips from Virginia Uranium since 2008.
Virginia Uranium wants to mine a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit in Pittsylvania County, approximately six miles from Chatham. The company has been lobbying the legislature to write regulations for uranium mining and milling, which would effectively lift a 1982 moratorium on the industry.
Watkins, the committee’s chairman, has received the most from Virginia Uranium, according to records from the Virginia Public Access Project. He has received $2,000 in campaign contributions, and has taken two trips paid for by Virginia Uranium. Watkins traveled in 2011 to Canada, for which the company paid $2,658, and traveled to France in 2010, for $12,985. Both trips were to see uranium mining sites.
Some of VUI’s biggest supporters in the legislature are also the biggest recipients of VUI money. Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield, received $10,000 in campaign contributions from Virginia Uranium in 2011……
Virginia Uranium has put its money into direct lobbying, by campaign contributions and paid lobbyists. The company has 20 registered lobbyists angling for face time with 140 legislators in Richmond….. http://www.newsadvance.com/news/state/general_assembly/article_a454d7da-63b2-11e2-848d-0019bb30f31a.html
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