Two groups opposed to renewed uranium mining in the Black Hills say they'll go to court again to stop exploration northwest of Edgemont.

"No dose of radiation is safe," Charmaine White Face of Defenders of the Black Hills said Thursday at a press conference.

Defenders, an Indian treaty rights group, has joined with ACTion for the Environment, a Black Hills environmental group, to oppose exploration by Powertech Uranium Corp. The company has a permit to drill 155 exploration holes in the Dewey and Burdock areas in Fall River County.

Powertech hopes to use a technique called "solution mining" to flush 7.6 million pounds of uranium ore out of the ground through recovery wells. (A mining permit would come later.)

The two activist groups already have challenged the exploration permit in court.

The South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment first approved Powertech's exploration permit in January. In April the board reconsidered archaeological data and approved an amended version of the permit.

Gary Heckenlaible of ACTion for the Environment said the minerals board approval of the Powertech exploration permit was not surprising. "Whatever business wants is what they'll approve," he said.

Rapid City attorneys Cindy Gillis and Mario Gonzalez - representing Defenders and ACTion for the Environment - have challenged the exploration permit in state court, saying public hearings were inadequate.

They also asked 7th Circuit Judge Jack Delaney for a "stay" to stop the exploration while the court considers the broader challenge.

A hearing on the stay is set for June 4, Gillis said, but Powertech already has drilled eight exploration holes. "They have jumped over the judicial process," Gillis said.

Powertech attorney Max Main of Belle Fourche, however, said the company had the right to drill. Powertech voluntarily delayed exploration for weeks, Main said, waiting for new archaeological data. Absent a court order to stop drilling, he said, Powertech's exploration permit remains valid.

Gonzalez argued the company should stop at least until the June 4 hearing. Now he'll ask the court for a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the drilling.

Exploration should not continue until broader issues are settled, Gonzalez argued. "Whatever happens in this case will affect everyone in the area," he said.

The two sides sharply disagree over whether drilling exploration holes is dangerous.

White Face says aquifers in the exploration area lead to the Cheyenne River.

Powertech and the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources say the drilling is safe. Powertech has posted a $213,500 reclamation bond for the exploration holes.

Uranium mines in the Edgemont area operated from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. A renewed interest in nuclear power and a sharp rise in uranium prices have sparked a new uranium boom.

Actual mining for uranium in Fall River County is still probably years away. A mining permit would have to be approved by the state of South Dakota, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, and it would require a formal environmental impact statement.

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