SD Searchlight-Meghan O’Brien
A controversial uranium mining proposal on the edge of the Black Hills received approval from the federal Bureau of Land Management to begin constructing “ancillary infrastructure,” according to a press release from the agency Monday, although the project lacks permission to begin mining.
Uranium is a metallic, radioactive element used as fuel in nuclear weapons and power plants. The Dewey-Burdock project near Edgemont, in southwest South Dakota, has been in the proposal stage for nearly two decades and still requires additional permits. The Trump administration picked the project last year for an expedited permitting process known as FAST-41.
Monday’s approval from the Bureau of Land Management gives Powertech, a subsidiary of Texas-based enCore Energy, the green light to build infrastructure including access roads, four groundwater monitoring wells and overhead power lines on the section of the project site that’s managed by the bureau, according to the press release.
About 240 acres, roughly a third of a square mile, of the project site are on public lands that the bureau oversees. The entire project area is 10,580 acres, or about 16.5 square miles.
“The Dewey-Burdock Project still requires several additional approvals from other federal and state agencies, including a license renewal currently under review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” said a bureau spokesperson.
EnCore Energy did not immediately provide a response to South Dakota Searchlight questions.
Opposition to project
In April, the bureau published a draft of its environmental assessment and opened it for public comment until May 15. In that monthlong span, the agency received 764 submissions, according to Monday’s press release, “including comments related to groundwater, cultural resources, tribal concerns, environmental justice, and compliance with federal laws.”
The bureau published its final environmental assessment Monday, as well as a finding of no significant impact. If the project receives all other necessary permits, the bureau estimates a start date for the project within the next five years. Infrastructure will remain at the site for 20 years after the implementation of the project, which the environmental assessment describes as the mine’s lifespan.
The environmental assessment is vague about groundwater pollution concerns and impacts on cultural resources in the area such as Native American historic sites, according to Lilias Jarding, a project opponent and executive director of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance.
“The process was rushed. It’s only been a few weeks between the end of the comment period and this decision coming out in its final form,” Jarding said. “The Bureau of Land Management was being, what I would consider, irresponsible in this situation.”
EnCore Energy plans to use a method known as “in-situ” mining to extract uranium from underground. As opposed to open pits and tunnels, the method involves drilling wells to inject a water-based solution underground, dissolve uranium and pump it to the surface. The water would be pulled from local aquifers and then treated and pumped back underground after being used for mining, causing opponents to fear pollution of local groundwater sources.
“I don’t think the company understands the depth of public opinion against uranium projects in the Black Hills,” Jarding said.
The Black Hills Clean Water Alliance and other project opponents have also been working against another, nearby uranium exploratory drilling project in the southern Black Hills, proposed by Clean Nuclear Energy Corp. and its Canada-based parent company Nexus Uranium.
The decision on Clean Nuclear Energy’s exploration permit is in the hands of the state Board of Minerals and Environment. A hearing on the permit application was paused last month after a project opponent filed a federal lawsuit against the board, the state Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Clean Nuclear Energy Corp.
The lawsuit remains pending, and no date has been scheduled to resume the permit hearing.