Week 4 Newsletter

Despite the cold temperatures and snow falling on capitol square, the show goes on in the Virginia General Assembly. The first time I ever came to the Virginia Capitol was as a citizen advocate for environmental issues over 20 years ago and fighting for conservation and the Chesapeake Bay are still priorities of mine.

The biggest environmental battle I remember from those days was resisting efforts to begin uranium mining operations in the Commonwealth. Back then it was Senator John Miller who cast a key vote helping us place a moratorium on uranium mining because of the dangers of radioactive tailings leftover from the mining process.

This year, I am carrying a bill addressing efforts to mine other minerals; copper, lead and zinc. Virginia is endowed with many beautiful rivers and mountains but it is our fate to also be endowed with a rich mineral belt running from Fairfax County to the North Carolina border. That is why the multinational companies from Canada keep prospecting and mining issues keep coming up. But industrial metal mining is a notorious polluter of rivers and streams, threatening drinking water for millions of Virginia residents. My legislation, HB250 requires a regulatory review and permitting pause on mining these metals until a complete analysis can be done. You can find out more on these efforts by visiting the Press Pause Coalition website. We will be presenting the bill in the Rules Committee this Monday morning and citizens can leave public comments on the IHOD Speaks website.

I have also been working on bi-partisan legislation to strengthen our animal welfare laws by preventing the purchase of animals with public funds unless the source facility complies with federal animal welfare laws. Envigo, a beagle breeding facility in Cumberland County, has been operating in our state without much oversight or regulation since 1961. Until very recently, most of us had no idea that this place existed, even though it keeps about 5000 dogs and puppies and produces 500 puppies per month to sell for experiments all over the world.

Recently, we learned that this facility is in violation of federal law, for cruel conditions that—in any other scenario—would lead to cruelty charges. In just three months, the USDA cited Envigo for 39 violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including depriving nursing mother dogs of food for days, failing to provide veterinary care to actively suffering dogs, a sky-high puppy mortality rate, with 300 puppies dead of “unknown causes.” If you’re interested in this issue you can follow the progress of the legislation in its current form HB1350.

In addition to working on legislation, we continue to welcome visitors to the Capitol and attend events. This week I was delighted to attend the Virginia Aviation Business Association Legislative Reception with representatives from the Denbigh Aviation Academy. I also had the pleasure of welcoming many visitors to our office in the General Assembly building this week, including representatives from the Newport News Williamsburg Airport, representatives from Hampton Roads Transit, union members from Steelworkers 8888 and students from Christopher Newport University.

We welcome visitors and our office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 10am and 2 to 5pm. You can schedule an in person meeting or a zoom meeting by emailing contact@simondsfordelegate.com or calling 804-698-1094.

Photos from the Week