Board adopts new rules aimed at uranium mining

By Bill Harlan, Journal staff | Friday, January 19, 2007

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PIERRE — A state board has adopted new mining regulations in anticipation of uranium mining in Custer and Fall River counties.

Charmaine White Face of Defenders of the Black Hills, who opposes uranium mining, said she was disappointed that the new rules didn’t provide for better public notice of mining. “This process needs to be way more public,” she said.

White Face attended a marathon rule-making hearing Thursday in Pierre, where the state Board of Minerals and Environment hammered out regulations for a technique called “in situ leach mining.”

The minerals board examined 100 pages of rules line by line while listening to objections and suggestions from environmentalists, industry representatives and staff from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The new rules cover mine inspections, water-quality monitoring, well and pipeline design, mine closure, reclamation — 59 different regulations in all.

White Face repeatedly requested public notices at every step of mining, mostly without success, though the board did add a provision to post quarterly reports on the mines online.

Environmental activist Dick Fort of Lead repeatedly asked for tighter monitoring. “Rather than more, we’re getting less,” Fort said.

Board chairman Richard Sweetman finally ended public comment, saying: “We could meet monthly and continue tweaking. We have to start somewhere.”

In situ leach mining, also called “solution mining,” involves injecting a solution into wells to dissolve underground ore. The ore-laden solution is pumped to the surface through production wells.

Solution mining can be used to recover a number of minerals, including copper and sulfur, but it is most often used to extract uranium. There are in situ uranium mines in Wyoming and Nebraska, but the technique has never been used in South Dakota.

Geologist Bob Townsend, who directs the DENR’s Minerals and Mining Division, said he and his staff began working on the new rules two years ago, in anticipation of a boom in uranium mining driven by skyrocketing prices.

On Wednesday, in fact, the Board of Minerals and Environment approved an exploration permit for Powertech Uranium Corp. to drill 155 exploration holes 13 miles northwest of Edgemont in the Dewey and Burdock areas.

However, before mining could begin, Powertech would have to get permits from the state, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That process could take more than three years, Powertech vice president Richard Blubaugh said.

Mining could last eight or nine years, Blubaugh said, and reclamation, including groundwater restoration, could take another five years.

The new rules now go to the state’s Legislative Research Council for review, then to the Legislature’s Interim Rules Committee for a hearing.

Nancy Hilding of Black Hawk, president of the Prairie Hills Audubon Society, lodged objections to a number of the regulations. She also said the board hadn’t given her enough time to study the rules. “This is very critical and important,” Hilding said. “I’d like to be able to read it and comment on it.”

Fort said he, too, would continue to contest the rules, though he added, “They have made some changes that were good.”

Board member Mike DeMersseman of Rapid City said, “There are people who, if you approved every one of their objections, they’d find other objections.”

Sweetman said the new rules could be changed later. “I hate to say it, but rules are meant to be amended,” he said.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com