A legislative panel voted this afternoon to go forward with a study of the safety of uranium mining in Virginia.
The study arises from a proposal by Virginia Uranium Inc. to mine uranium in Pittsylvania County in south-central Virginia.
The panel, a subcommittee of the Virginia Commission on Coal and Energy, met in the General Assembly Building to fine tune the issues to be studied.
Several mining opponents, worried about possible air and water pollution, asked the panel to vote against the study, hoping that would kill the mining proposal.
But state Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, a member of the subcommittee, said approval of the study did not mean approval of mining in Pittsylvania.
Legislators simply need the study to get information that would help them make a decision, Watkins said.
Virginia has banned uranium mining since 1982.
The study will be conducted by the National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences, a respected institute that provides scientific advice to government agencies.
The study could cost $1.5 million and last 18 months to two years.
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