Regional Industry & News

Contested hearing halted, GOP Governor's poll and more | Today's Stories | May 22.See the audio attached above to listen to the full news update/podcast.Each day, SDPB brings you statewide news coverage.We then compile those stories into a daily podcast.Subscribe on Apple and Spotify.______________________________________________________________________________________ Below is a transcript of today's podcast: With SDPB News, I'm Jackson Dircks.It's Friday May 22, here are today's stories.Meetings are on pause for a contentious uranium project in the Black Hills.The Craven Canyon project hearings, near Hot Springs, are halted until further notice after several speed bumps in the process.SDPB's C.J.Keene has more… The Craven Canyon drill site is about 20 miles away from Hot Springs and north of Edgemont.Many opponents of the project are concerned with the drillings impact on Lakota cultural sites, including petroglyphs, and potential impacts on drinking water.The hearing process ultimately found more questions than answers about uranium mining in the area, a prospect which had previously been declared a nuisance by Fall River County voters.That culminated in a federal lawsuit filed by mining opponent Elizabeth Lone Eagle against the state board of Minerals and Environment.Lone Eagle has previously testified in opposition to this project, in which she said language and interpretive access are essential to a fair process.She also contends there is a deeper throughline to extractive business practices in the Black Hills, which highlights over a century of battles.“Different century, same intent.Your disingenuous tactics have no defense legally, morally, or ethically, and there is nothing but a permit denial that can stop it.We are all here watching, and we are not going away.” Among the marquee claims in the Lone Eagle suit is an allegation of “systematic, ongoing and deliberate denial of meaningful participation to Lakota first-language” opponents.Further, the suit claims an active, ongoing, and visible exclusion of these people from the proceedings.“Every witness examined without adequate interpretation, every exhibit introduced without translation, every procedural ruling issued without comprehension, and every deadline imposed without meaningful language access compounds an injury that cannot later be undone.” The full claims of that suit, addressed in an 18-page filing, can be found online at sdpb.org/news.Clean Nuclear Energy Corporation, the company behind the mining effort, declined to comment on the matter to SDPB.Another issue in the hearing is the use of interpretation services.At issue -- how to best ensure every person attending can comprehend the meeting in the language most comfortable to them, while also hiring interpreters who aren’t actively tangled in the debate about a particular issue.In the following exchange between Lone Eagle and Mike Lees, state DANR mineral mining program administrator, Lone Eagle questions the interpretive selection process.“I contacted the University of South Dakota the only university I contacted was the University of South Dakota Institute of American Indian Studies.That’s number 13 on my memo.” “Did you contact Oglala Lakota College?” “No.” “Did you contact Sinte Gleska University?” “No.” “Did you contact Sitting Bull College?” “No.” House Bill 1219, passed in the last legislative session, is a bipartisan bill which expanded these interpretive services but came without an emergency clause.That means it doesn’t take effect until July 1.Previously, such services were only available for civil or criminal cases.Issues, like the mining permitting debate seen in Hot Springs, did not fall under those classifications.While House prime sponsor, Sioux Falls Democrat Erik Muckey says leaving the emergency clause out was intentional, but cases like Hot Springs prove its value.“Let’s let law stand on its own, but also, given the timing, it has created some challenges when it comes to the administration actually playing this out.As we speak today, the conditions technically haven’t changed since they have last fall, but that will change.It’s an interesting case for the state to say can we work in good faith with tribal members across the state and give them a real voice in this process.Especially given that is largely being contested on environmental and cultural concerns.” Muckey says this specific uranium mining question was a key matter in the drafting process of the bill.“The intent behind this, first and foremost, was to navigate this particular case.Making sure that Lakota-language speakers could participate in the Craven Canyon administrative contested case proceeding, but then also looking ahead to say this obviously has much broader implications for the state than just this particular case.” The bill expands interpretative services provided by the state broadly.That could be a Lakota Speaker in the Black Hills, a hearing or visually impaired resident in Mitchell, or an Arabic speaker in Sioux Falls now entitled to these interpretive services.While representing a step in the right direction, Muckey said there are still questions he’d like to address in future legislative efforts.“This is part of, what I think, what will become a broader reform for administrative law going forward, as far as how we’re able to participate in it as South Dakotans.In my opinion, there are still outstanding concerns around a cabinet secretaries’ ability to override decisions made on a particular rule, as far as a neutral hearing.” It is unclear when or if the hearings will resume.I’m SDPB’s C.J.A new public poll shows a shakeup at the top of the GOP Republican Primary race for governor.Though some candidates are pushing back at the results.A new poll commissioned by KELO-TV has Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden leading the GOP governor’s primary race.The poll was conducted by Emerson College.The results are answers from 432 Republican respondents who said they are either very or somewhat likely to vote in the June 2 primary.Doeden sits at 26%, U.S.Dusty Johnson at 23%, incumbent Gov.Larry Rhoden at 19% and Speaker of the state House Jon Hansen at 16%.Fifteen percent of respondents said they’re still undecided.While Doeden appears to have taken the lead, the poll shows a credibility interval, which acts like a margin of error, of 4.7%.However, the polling shows an 8-point jump for Rhoden from a Kelo-TV-Emerson College poll in March.Johnson dropped 5%.Both Rhoden and Hansen saw a 2% increase.Speaker Hansen took to social media saying “[the] poll does not reflect what we are seeing on the ground nor internally, at all.” Meanwhile, Doeden says that his internal polling “looks even better.” Johnson told SDPB that it’s hard to say because different polling “gives such different numbers.” “In general, our numbers are pretty consistent with all of the other public polling, which puts us me in the low-to-mid-30s,” Johnson said.“So, this Keloland poll, it might be an outlier, but I think it’s bad politicians that attack polling.So, I’m not going to say that.I’m going to say who knows what the reality is.It doesn’t really change our focus.” A South Dakota News Watch-Chiesman Center for Democracy poll last month had Johnson at 34%.Rhoden did not acknowledge the poll on social media.His campaign manager did not respond to SDPB texts or phone calls Thursday on the matter.To avoid a runoff, a candidate needs at least 35% of the vote June 2.South Dakota has never seen a runoff for governor.The winner faces Democrat Dan Ahlers in November.I’m SDPB’s Jackson Dircks.A South Dakota navy veteran will be laid to rest next week with full military honors decades after he gave his life in service to the country.Thomas Ruth was born in De Smet, South Dakota in 1917.He served in the South Dakota National Guard and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC, at South Dakota State College before joining the U.S.He was a Lieutenant Junior Grade.Ruth’s final m