Southside Virginia has the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the United States – and the seventh largest in the world – but thanks to a state moratorium, the valuable ore cannot be extracted, not even to fuel the commonwealth’s own nuclear reactors. As with oil, the United States continues to buy the bulk of its uranium from foreign countries – including a third of the total from Russia – because we’re not allowed access to our own natural resources.

Do the math: America’s 104 nuclear reactors, which produce a fifth of our electricity, consume 60 million pounds of uranium annually, while U.S. mines produce less than 5 million pounds. As the global demand for uranium increases, our dependence will grow – while Virginians sit on an estimated 110 million pounds they’re not allowed to touch in Pittsylvania County. That is because the House of Delegates’ Rules Committee voted in March to kill a study to determine whether the ore can be safety extracted.