The EPA suggests removing the requirement that Powertech begin construction within one year of getting its permit(s). The requirement should be kept in place – the company should not be allowed to have permits forever by filing a simple report once a year.

Draft permits should not have been issued until meaningful Tribal consultation was completed. The EPA has jumped the gun, and now the damage has been done, as the results of Tribal consultation were not included in the draft permits. This means the public cannot consider and comment on the issues raised by the Tribes as part of the review process.

The climate change discussion in the EPA’s documents ignores the greenhouse gases emitted by most of the uranium enrichment process. These emissions are substantial and should be identified and discussed in detail as part of the cumulative impacts of this project.

The EPA has made a critical and unwelcome change in its documents since 2017. This is to remove all down-gradient compliance boundary wells and post-restoration monitoring from this project. In other words, there would be no physical monitoring using water measurements along the critical edges of the site. Instead, the EPA proposes to use a mathematical model to determine what the contaminated water is doing underground. This would be ridiculous, if the likely impacts weren’t so serious. A model is not adequate protection — especially in a complex geological area like the Dewey-Burdock site that is bordered by domestic and livestock wells that are in use. Both nature and human interactions with nature are dynamic and complex, unlike models.

The EPA suggests allowing Powertech to take a sample of the Minnelusa Aquifer to see if it is appropriate for drinking water after giving the company its permit to inject mining wastes into the aquifer. Water testing of the Minnelusa Aquifer must be done before any permit is issued. The EPA, not Powertech, must select testing sites, take samples, and insure that they are tested properly.

In its revised draft permits, the EPA acknowledges that the Lakota and other indigenous nations have important cultural, spiritual, and legal ties to the Black Hills. But then the EPA says it won’t consider these issues in making its decisions. This is a clear violation of the requirement that these types of issues must be considered during the permitting process.

No permits should be issued until the 7500 + old boreholes on the Dewey-Burdock property have been identified and properly plugged. If the boreholes are not plugged, mining fluids will not be contained, and radioactive and toxic contamination is likely.

In addition to the Dewey-Burdock project, Powertech has about the same number of claims on the Wyoming side of the state line at its Dewey Terrace uranium project. The EPA’s cumulative impacts discussion does not include the Dewey Terrace project. This must be corrected, and the cumulative impacts of two neighboring uranium projects – especially on water — must be fully considered.

The current plan to identify and protect cultural resources is totally inadequate. It allows unqualified Powertech employees to self-monitor and determine the locations of cultural sites when they think they encounter one using heavy equipment. This creates a situation in which cultural resources are very likely to be destroyed. A thorough, tribally-designed process for cultural resources identification and protection should be undertaken and completed before any permit is issued or any earth is moved.

Floods are becoming more destructive in our area with climate change. Using a past “100-year flood” as the guide for protecting landscapes, radioactive settling ponds, and mining structures in the future is not adequate. Additional protections must be put in place.