"Virginia's longtime ban on uranium mining will remain in place after the Supreme Court issued a splintered decision upholding the policy.

The federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954 does not trump the state's ability to restrict mining, the court ruled, giving Virginia a green light to continue enforcing the uranium development ban that state lawmakers have had in place since 1982.

Virginia Uranium Inc. has for decades sought to develop Coles Hill, an area in Pittsylvania County, Va., that the company calls the biggest uranium deposit in the country. In 2015, it filed a lawsuit to challenge the state's mining ban and was rebuffed by both a federal district court and appellate court."

Ellen M. Gilmer and Dylan Brown report for Greenwire June 17, 2019. [2]