SD uranium shill caught in water trap

In 1951 after uranium was discovered in South Dakota's southern Black Hills more than 150 mines were ripped into the Earth where the Oglala Lakota once made their winter camp. Since then, radioactive tailings from those scars have been detected in Angostura Reservoir after a dam on the Cheyenne River broke in 1962. Beginning in 1958 Homestake Mining Company gouged uranium from New Mexico leaving piles of waste rock laden with selenium causing cancers and thyroid disease in its wake.

In 2019 because the Trump Organization despises Native Americans uranium mining was fast-tracked in and around Indian Country where tribes already suffer from diseases and birth defects wrought by radioactive contamination and in northwestern South Dakota cleanup in the Cave Hills area went for decades without remediation.

Clean Nuclear Energy Corp., a subsidiary of Nexus Uranium Corp., applied for a state exploration permit to drill exploratory holes up to 700 feet deep in search of uranium on state land and since Mark Hollenbeck had previously shilled for enCore Energy's nearby Dewey-Burdock uranium site Nexus appointed him to its advisory board in April 2026 to leverage his regional expertise ahead of regulatory hearings.

Following application submitted directly by Nexus Uranium Corp itself and not a subsidiary and after the May 2026 hearings the Chord Project permit stalled prompting Nexus to pivot its immediate exploration focus toward its projects in Wyoming and Arizona.

Canada-based Clean Nuclear Energy Corporation wants to drill through the water-bearing Inyan Kara Group on School and Public Lands property in Fall River County. The project is less than a mile from Craven Canyon where pictographs and rock art of the Lakota, Cheyenne, Mandan, Hidatsa, Ponca, eastern Dakota, and other Native American cultures are protected on the Black Hills National Forest.

Read the Faceberg comment here.

Pheasants disperse invasive eastern red cedar

In South Dakota the Chinese ring-necked pheasant is not wildlife but it is a canary in a chemically and genetically engineered coal mine. 

As the climate warms the northward march of eastern red cedar adds habitat for songbirds but is explosively flammable especially during red flag events. Pheasants rely heavily on eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) berries (fleshy female cones) as a critical winter survival food source. While the invasive fowl primarily feed on agricultural grains like corn and milo during the fall, the persistent berries of the eastern red cedar provide vital nutrition when snow covers ground-level foods. 

Beyond food, eastern red cedar stands provide excellent thermal protection against harsh winter weather and serve as dense escape cover from predators. As pheasants and other wildlife forage on these berries, they act as primary seed dispersers for the tree across the landscape. Highly invasive; unchecked cedars quickly take over open spaces and crowd out vital native plant diversity but also serve as aquifer recharges especially in playas like those that sustain the Ogallala.

The good news? Some 1.3 million invasive pheasants were put to death by hunters in the state in 2025 in addition to the intentional culling of about 30,000 farm-raised fowl at Gisi Pheasant Farm because of the H5N1 bird flu outbreak.

BHNF hoping to protect streams with Wild and Scenic designation

The 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects waterways that are primitive, unpolluted, and accessible only by trail or are largely primitive with natural shorelines but accessible in parts by roads. 

In 2022 when Joe Biden was president, the Black Hills National Forest proposed Wild and Scenic designations for Little Elk Creek, Little Spearditch Creek, Spearditch Creek, Sand Creek, and Beaver Creek even though the assessment found 21 streams or stream segments totaling 144.7 miles in the South Dakota and Wyoming Black Hills were eligible for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Designation takes an act of Congress or a direct order from the Interior Secretary.

Some of Box Elder Creek and the Bogus Jim Creek tributary are strongholds for the lake chub and the only location within South Dakota and the Black Hills where it has been identified in the past 50 years. Finescale dace was the only fish found in Black Hills streams by the Custer Expedition in 1874 but the white sucker and threatened lake chub are also native. Dace and chub are preyed upon very heavily by non-native brown and rainbow trout. 

Earth haters in Meade County want no part of it.

The Little Elk Creek section under consideration is in both Meade and Lawrence County, and is located between Dalton Lake and the forest boundary near Piedmont. A parking lot at Little Elk Creek Trail is already frequently full, and commissioners expressed concern about what additional tourism would mean for the area, and for surrounding private property owners. The Meade County Commission’s opposition will be noted in the environmental impact statement, that is part of the Forest Service decision-making process for land designations. [Meade Co. opposes Little Elk Creek wild and scenic river designation]

Learn more from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Montana last domino to fall in BHE/NWE merger

[image or embed]

— Problembear (@problembear.bsky.social) October 24, 2026 at 11:14 AM

Utilities are not your friends. 

In January the three Earth haters in the South Dakota Public Utilities Cartel approved a rate increase for NorthWestern Energy but the absence of transparency in the proposed merger with Black Hills Corporation is worrying the Montana Farmers Union. 

Now, the five Earth haters on Montana Public Service Commission are scheduled to take up the $15.4 billion merger proposal but non-profit 350 Montana has joined with MFU saying it will place additional financial risks on Montanans. And, if NWE and BHE merge, the deal could mean some $16 million for CEO Brian Bird and probably $30 million for top company executives.

The two parties urge the PSC to reject the merger — or set conditions that protect Montanans, especially from the potential costs of data centers. “In the end, this is not about love. This is about money,” wrote lawyer Monica Tranel on behalf of 350 Montana and Montana Farmers Union. “Enforceable conditions are the necessary prenuptial here.” The new company is named Bright Horizon Energy. If approved, the new company will operate in Montana, South Dakota, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming. [UPDATED: Public Service Commission to take up NorthWestern, Black Hills merger]

In a related story NWE is hiding information from the SDPUC about a planned 131-megawatt natural gas fired power plant south of Aberdeen.

Problembear is the online handle used by William Fleischman, a longtime Montana-based progressive blogger, wilderness enthusiast, and political content creator.

Gaia targeting Betty Olson again

Remember when Betty Olson said global warming is bunk because it's cold during the Harding County winters? Well, the grassland fire danger index will reach the extreme category on Friday for her front yard because Gaia is targeting Republican counties again.

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Rapid City SD
738 PM MDT Thu Oct 22 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 11 PM MDT FRIDAY DUE TO
GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR NORTHERN FOOT HILLS, BUTTE
COUNTY AREA, AND WYOMING BLACK HILLS...

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 11 PM MDT FRIDAY
DUE TO GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR NORTHERN CAMPBELL,
SOUTHERN CAMPBELL, CROOK COUNTY PLAINS, AND WESTON COUNTY PLAINS...

SDZ323-327-WYZ318-231645-
/O.EXA.KUNR.FW.W.0040.261023T1700Z-261024T0500Z/
Northern Foot Hills-Butte County Area-Wyoming Black Hills-
738 PM MDT Thu Oct 22 2026

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 11 PM MDT FRIDAY...

* AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zones 318, 323, and 327.

* TIMING...From 11 AM to 11 PM MDT Friday.

* WINDS...Southwest winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...As low as 15 percent.

* IMPACTS...Any fires that develop will spread rapidly. Outdoor
  burning is not recommended.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are
either occurring now, or will shortly. A combination of strong winds,
low relative humidity, and warm temperatures can contribute to extreme fire behavior.