Rapid City, SD -- South
Dakota Circuit Court Judge John Delaney denied a motion for
a stay to stop any further drilling by a Uranium mining
company near Edgemont. Opposing parties considering state
Supreme Court appeal.
Powertech, a
Canadian mining company, began drilling uranium exploratory
wells in the Dewey Burdock area northwest of Edgemont a few
weeks despite the approval of their permit being appealed in
court. Two environmental organizations, Defenders of the
Black Hills and ACTion for the Environment are appealing the
decision made by the South Dakota Board of Mining and
Environment. Cindy Gillis, lead counsel for the two groups
had previously sought a preliminary injunction and a
restraining order. Judge Delaney denied those requests and
said a "stay" was the proper procedure, and one was filed on
April 30. A hearing was held on June 19, 2007, in the
Pennington County Courthouse and the Judge denied the stay
stating there was not enough environmental information to
show harm to the plaintiffs.
Charmaine White
Face, Coordinator for Defenders, said, "This appeal is about
the violation of our Constitutional rights. Our concerns
about the environment were not even considered by the Board
during the first hearing in January," she said. "That's why
we appealed their decision in the first place. We are not
even to the environmental questions yet."
Attorney Gillis
raised the point in court that Powertech will have all their
exploratory wells finished before the hearing on the permit
can occur. Judge Delaney stated that even though a number
of procedural violations were committed by the Board and the
State Department of Environment and Natural Resources, he
now had the authority to make the decisions and this was his
decision.
The Board's
Hearing Chair, Lee McCahren, on Jan. 17, 2007, signed the
Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order that were
prepared by Max Main, the attorney for Powertech. This was
prior to the Board hearing the oral objections on Jan. 18 at
which no court reporter was present. The process also
allowed for written objections to be submitted within 30
days after the Hearing. The two groups submitted their
written objections, and their objections should have been
addressed by the Board in a Final Decision. The Board never
sent a Final Decision. In order to participate in an appeal
of the decision, the groups filed their appeal in State
Court based on the Order sent out by Powertech.
Without the
Board following their own procedures, the objections raised
by the two groups then become an admission of fact. "Failure
to answer an allegation in a petition constitutes and
admission of that fact." according to South Dakota Compiled
Law, 74:09:01:03. The two groups raise the contamination of
the water and watersheds in their objections, as well as the
health risks to all living things.
The permit that
is being appealed allows Powertech to drill 155 more
exploratory wells at depths of 500-600 feet in the
southwestern Black Hills. They already have 4,000 uncapped,
and unmarked uranium exploratory wells drilled in the past.
The mining company plans on doing In Situ Recovery (ISR) of
uranium from the Lakota and Fall River aquifers. In Situ
Recovery was formerly known as In Situ Leach (ISL)mining.
During the ISR
process, a solution to dissolve the uranium is poured down
the wells and the dissolved uranium brought back up to the
surface. The uranium is separated from the rest of the
radioactive waste solution. The radioactive waste solution
is then put back into the aquifer after being held in waste
ponds on the surface. The procedure contaminates aquifers
and cannot be controlled underground. In case of sudden
rainstorms, the radioactive waste ponds often overflow and
contaminate the surface ground and nearby watersheds as
well.
According to
Powertech's application, each exploratory drill hole "will
have a small excavated mud pit that will be approximately 12
feet by 5 feet" and 10 feet deep. Among the concerns of the
environmental groups are the possibility of overflow from
the mud pits with the sudden rain showers that occur in the
Black Hills. One of the aquifers empties directly into the
Cheyenne River and is used by many ranchers to water their
livestock. Among the deeper aquifers of concern is the
Madison which provides water for many western South Dakota
communities.
The two groups
are considering appealing the request for a stay to the
state Supreme Court. They continue to state that Powertech
does not have a valid permit to drill until after the appeal
of the granting of the permit is finished.
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For more information call Charmaine WhiteFace, Coordinator,
at (605) 399-1868.
