When Clarke Hogan, D-Halifax, threw a party at his family’s retreat in Brunswick, ME, recently, the guest list included legislative pals, Del. Wat Abbitt, I-Appomattox, and House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford. The guest list also included John-Garrett Kemper, a top lobbyist for uranium mining in nearby Pittsylvania County, reported Jeff Schapiro in the Sunday Times-Dispatch.
While Republicans have pushed hard for off-short oil drilling, notes Schapiro, Hogan and Abbitt helped kill a bill in the last session that would have launched a state study on the economic and environmental issues surrounding uranium mining in Pittsylvania, home to what is reputed to be the largest untapped uranium deposit in North America. While Republicans normally favor energy development, Hogan and the GOP-leaning Abbitt are both “downstream” — literally — from Pittsylvania, and have vocal constituencies worried about the impact of uranium mining on their water supplies.
Schapiro contacted Hogan about the Maine shindig but was rebuffed. Said Hogan: “Where I go on vacation with my friends is, frankly, none of your business. . . . Write up your conspiracy theories, but don’t waste my time.”
Hogan stands between the proverbial uranium ore and a hard place. Schapiro suggests that he might be looking for a way out. If the General Assembly refuses to back a special study commission, the report notes, it may be possible to do an end run by assigning the job to the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission.
The politics of the uranium mining controversy are fascinating. Virginia environmentalists are mobilizing to oppose any move to end — or even think about ending — the moratorium on uranium mining. But Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Dems in the state Senate have backed the study.
As the United States braces for the construction of dozens of new nuclear power plants over the next couple of decades, uranium prices are rising and the Pittsylvania deposit is said to be potentially worth a billion dollars. The landowners, Virginia Uranium Inc., are lining up lobbyists and P.R. pros to knock down the moratorium. Meanwhile, the mining and processing of uranium could lead to the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in Southside Virginia and dovetail with the nuclear services industry cluster in Lynchburg.
Addendum: While Schapiro describes Kemper as “a top lobbyist for the prospective mine,” there is no record of his affiliation in the Virginia Public Access Project. It’s possible that he was hired since the last filing deadline.