Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 30, 2007 8:50:52 GMT -5
SD - Uranium exploration permit OK'd
Uranium exploration permit OK'd
By Bill Harlan, Journal staff
PIERRE - A state board Wednesday approved the first uranium exploration
permit issued in more than a quarter century in South Dakota - despite the
tearful objections of an American Indian activist from Rapid City.
Charmaine White Face of Defenders of the Black Hills urged the Board of
Minerals and Environment to protect "Mother Earth" by denying the permit. "She is
alive, and when you drill these holes in her, you are hurting her," White
Face said at a hearing in Pierre.
"Your testimony was very moving," board chairman Richard Sweetman of Sioux
Falls told White Face. "I think I understand what you were saying."
But Sweetman said Powertech Uranium Corp. met all of the state's criteria
for the exploration permit.
The board voted unanimously to allow Powertech to drill 155 exploration
holes in Custer and Fall River counties.
Powertech president Richard Clement said his company hopes to recover 7.6
million pounds of uranium from the Dewey and Burdock areas, about 13 miles
north of Edgemont in the southwestern corner of the Black Hills.
Clement said the operation could employ between 100 and 150 people.
Powertech also has interests in Weston County, Wyo., just across the state
line, and near Aladdin, Wyo. Clement predicted that eastern Wyoming and
western South Dakota would play a significant role in the uranium-mining boom
throughout the West.
Pressure to develop domestic energy sources has driven the price of uranium
from $7 or $8 a pound seven years ago to $72 a pound today, Clement said. At
that price, 7.6 million pounds would bring $547.2 million.
There are three long-abandoned uranium surface mines in the Dewey-Burdock
area, but Powertech will use "solution mining" - pumping a solution into deep
holes to dissolve uranium, then pumping the "pregnant" solution out another
set of holes.
The process is not new. It's already being used to recover uranium at Crow
Butte, near Crawford, Neb. But solution mining - also called in situ leach
mining - has never been used to recover uranium in South Dakota.
The Board of Minerals and Environment meets today in Pierre to work out new
in situ mining regulations that were ordered last year by the state
Legislature.
dick Fort of Lawrence County, who is founder of ACTion for the Environment,
also was at the hearing Wednesday to oppose the permits.
Fort also tried to persuade the minerals board to postpone approving the
exploration permits until after the new regulations were adopted. The new mining
rules might affect the way exploration is carried out, he said. "What's the
big hurry?" he asked.
Deputy attorney general Roxanne Giedd said the new mining rules would have
no impact on exploration.
Giedd also said Powertech had met all state requirements for an exploration
permit. The company will post a $213,500 bond to guarantee reclamation of the
exploration holes, which will be 400 feet to 600 feet deep.
"This is an ominous decision," Fort said after the meeting. He'll attend the
uranium-mining rules hearing today, with White Face and other opponents of
in situ mining.
But John Putnam, whose family has ranched near Dewey for a century, spoke in
favor of the permits. Powertech is leasing the right to drill 11 exploratory
holes on his ranch.
Putnam, who drove from Dewey and sat through a five-hour hearing to say one
sentence in support of the permit, is also a strong supporter of developing
nuclear power plants.
"We can either be all huddled in the cold alone, or we can do something
about the power situation in this country," he said. "Nuclear power is safe, it's
reliable, and we're crazy if we don't do something about it."
Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or _bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com_
(mailto:bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com)
Uranium exploration permit OK'd
By Bill Harlan, Journal staff
PIERRE - A state board Wednesday approved the first uranium exploration
permit issued in more than a quarter century in South Dakota - despite the
tearful objections of an American Indian activist from Rapid City.
Charmaine White Face of Defenders of the Black Hills urged the Board of
Minerals and Environment to protect "Mother Earth" by denying the permit. "She is
alive, and when you drill these holes in her, you are hurting her," White
Face said at a hearing in Pierre.
"Your testimony was very moving," board chairman Richard Sweetman of Sioux
Falls told White Face. "I think I understand what you were saying."
But Sweetman said Powertech Uranium Corp. met all of the state's criteria
for the exploration permit.
The board voted unanimously to allow Powertech to drill 155 exploration
holes in Custer and Fall River counties.
Powertech president Richard Clement said his company hopes to recover 7.6
million pounds of uranium from the Dewey and Burdock areas, about 13 miles
north of Edgemont in the southwestern corner of the Black Hills.
Clement said the operation could employ between 100 and 150 people.
Powertech also has interests in Weston County, Wyo., just across the state
line, and near Aladdin, Wyo. Clement predicted that eastern Wyoming and
western South Dakota would play a significant role in the uranium-mining boom
throughout the West.
Pressure to develop domestic energy sources has driven the price of uranium
from $7 or $8 a pound seven years ago to $72 a pound today, Clement said. At
that price, 7.6 million pounds would bring $547.2 million.
There are three long-abandoned uranium surface mines in the Dewey-Burdock
area, but Powertech will use "solution mining" - pumping a solution into deep
holes to dissolve uranium, then pumping the "pregnant" solution out another
set of holes.
The process is not new. It's already being used to recover uranium at Crow
Butte, near Crawford, Neb. But solution mining - also called in situ leach
mining - has never been used to recover uranium in South Dakota.
The Board of Minerals and Environment meets today in Pierre to work out new
in situ mining regulations that were ordered last year by the state
Legislature.
dick Fort of Lawrence County, who is founder of ACTion for the Environment,
also was at the hearing Wednesday to oppose the permits.
Fort also tried to persuade the minerals board to postpone approving the
exploration permits until after the new regulations were adopted. The new mining
rules might affect the way exploration is carried out, he said. "What's the
big hurry?" he asked.
Deputy attorney general Roxanne Giedd said the new mining rules would have
no impact on exploration.
Giedd also said Powertech had met all state requirements for an exploration
permit. The company will post a $213,500 bond to guarantee reclamation of the
exploration holes, which will be 400 feet to 600 feet deep.
"This is an ominous decision," Fort said after the meeting. He'll attend the
uranium-mining rules hearing today, with White Face and other opponents of
in situ mining.
But John Putnam, whose family has ranched near Dewey for a century, spoke in
favor of the permits. Powertech is leasing the right to drill 11 exploratory
holes on his ranch.
Putnam, who drove from Dewey and sat through a five-hour hearing to say one
sentence in support of the permit, is also a strong supporter of developing
nuclear power plants.
"We can either be all huddled in the cold alone, or we can do something
about the power situation in this country," he said. "Nuclear power is safe, it's
reliable, and we're crazy if we don't do something about it."
Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or _bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com_
(mailto:bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com)