11/27/20

Biden EPA expected to overturn Trump attempt to mine Black Hills uranium


Pants Butte in northwest Nebraska just south of Ardmore, South Dakota

South Dakota is no stranger to ecocide because it's a way of life in the chemical toilet. Under the General Mining Act of 1872 even foreign miners have carte blanche to rape the Black Hills, so they are. 

Nearly all of the 300 mile long Cheyenne River flows through Indian Country. Powertech USA, part of Canadian firm Azarga Uranium, wants to mine near a tributary of the river even though tailings from uranium mining near Edgemont have been detected for years in Angostura Reservoir on the Cheyenne River in the southern Black Hills.
In addition, Powertech/Azarga Uranium needs 10 permits before it could begin any mining operations. So far, it has a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is tied up in litigation. And it has two EPA permits, which can be appealed and, hopefully, withdrawn. So, despite over a decade of trying to start this project, the company has gotten nowhere. A poorly thought-out project that could have disastrous impacts for our water is right where it belongs – still on the drawing board. And we will continue to work with our allies to oppose it. [press release, Black Hills Clean Water Alliance]
Recall that the South Dakota Republican Party ceded regulatory authority to the US Environmental Protection Agency for uranium mining after the legislature realized there is no competent oversight from state agencies.

It's widely expected the incoming Biden Administration will overturn most of the damaging policies wrought by the Trump Organization including this ridiculous ploy to mine uranium in the sacred Black Hills.

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