DANVILLE, Va. (AP) _ A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Virginia’s 33-year ban on uranium mining. The lawsuit was filed by Virginia Uranium Inc., which wants to tap one of the world’s richest deposits of the radioactive ore. U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser dismissed the lawsuit Wednesday. He ruled that the Atomic Energy Act does not bar the state from regulating or banning uranium mining. Virginia Uranium last week filed a second lawsuit in state court, arguing that the ban violates the Virginia Constitution. The Chatham company abandoned its campaign to end Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining in December 2013 after incoming Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe made it clear he would not support lifting the ban. Virginia Uranium is seeking to mine a 119-million-pound deposit of uranium in Pittsylvania County.
