Defenders of the Black Hills  - Hesapa O'nakijin

Hello Defenders,

The following is a message from the Clean Water Alliance of which we are a part. Lilias Jarding has been following this House Bill to reinstate the regulation by the state of South Dakota of In Situ Leach mining.

The uranium mining company, Powetech, last year had the legislature drop the state regulations after their own state office, the SD Department of Environment and Regulation refused to give a permit to Powertech until they answered all of DENR's regulations.

Powetech lobbied the state legislature and won.

This year, one of the SD Representatives has introduced House Bill 1098 to reinstate the state regulations.

Please make a call, write a letter, and-or attend the hearings in the House Committee on State Affairs.

Thanks so much.

Charmaine White Face, Coordinator
Defenders of the Black Hills
PO Box 2003
Rapid City, SD 57709

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Greetings --

 

Please take a few minutes this weekend to call the members of the House Committee on State Affairs.

These are the members of the state legislature that will have the first vote on House Bill 1098, which would return state regulation to in situ leach uranium mining. This bill would reverse last year's bill, which removed state regulation of this type of mining.

We are for this bill.

Here are the points to make:

* HB 1098 will protect our state's water and our health, livestock, and wildlife from the radioactive and chemical contamination that is caused by uranium mining.

* HB 1098 will restore the state's full role in regulating in situ leach uranium mining -- a role that is needed.

* HB 1098 will remove the current confusion about what the state must do before it can issue a mining permit for a uranium operation.

* HB 1098 will insure that distant federal bureaucracies are not in control of South Dakota's future.

* No in situ leach uranium mine has ever been fully cleaned up. The water has always been left contaminated.

Powertech Uranium lobbyists have been very busy at the state Capitol trying to defeat this bill. This is a critical time for us to be just as active in supporting it!

Here are the members of the House State Affairs Committee. Please remember to address them as "Representative" and to be respectful. If your last name starts with A - L, please start calling at the top of the list. If your last name starts with M - Z, please start calling at the bottom of the list. That way, we can be sure everyone gets some calls:

Gene Abdallah -- xxx-338-0544

Susy Blake -- xxx-334-1296

Justin Cronin -- xxx-769-1017

Mitch Fargen -- xxx-695-0705

Peggy Gibson -- xxx-352-9862

Brian Gosch -- xxx-719-3365

Charles Hoffman -- xxx-577-6530

Bernie Hunhoff -- xxx-665-2975

David Lust -- xxx-343-8261

Nick Moser -- xxx-661-7374 -- thank him for sponsoring HB 1098

Val Rausch -- xxx-862-8635

Charles Turbiville -- xxx-722-2082

Hal Wick -- xxx-332-1360

We also need letters to the editor. Send it to any state newspaper. Contact information for many of them are on our website -- www.bhcleanwateralliance.org.

Thanks for all you do! Let me know if you have any questions.

Lilias