It is time to write letters to our Congressional representatives asking that they protect water for future generations. Please take action and make federal and state officials follow the law.

FACT: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission failure to hold consultation with tribal governments in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act, a federal law, is unconstitutional.

FACT: A foreign company, in this case Azarga/Powertech Uranium, would consume over two and a half billion gallons of water during its lifetime.

The proposal for just this one uranium mine in Fall River and Custer counties of South Dakota would use huge amounts of water.

Powertech Uranium has asked the state for a permit to extract 551 gallons per minute from the Madison aquifer. They have also applied for a permit to extract 8,500 gallons per minute from the Inyan Kara formation.

9,000 gallons per minute equals 12,960,000 gallons per day. Multiply that by 365 days and then by a ten years, and this equals 47 billion gallons of our water.

You are also welcome to raise any other issues you feel are important. This only takes a few minutes using their “Contact” forms, so please follow the links and comment now!

Here’s a public comment card to help with your comments.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Public Notice: Administrative Record for the Dewey-Burdock Class III and Class V Injection Well Draft Area Permits for AZARGA Uranium Corp. (formerly Powertech).

LET’S VOICE OUR CONCERNS!

DON’T LET A FOREIGN CORPORATION USE AND POLLUTE OUR WATER!

Governor’s Office

Mailing Address:

Office of the Governor
500 East Capitol Avenue
Pierre, S.D. 57501

Phone Number: 605.773.3212

To contact South Dakota congressional representative and senators:

Senator John Thune: http://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

(202) 224-2321

Senator Mike Rounds: https://www.rounds.senate.gov/contact/email-mike

(202) 224-5842 or Toll Free: (844) 875-5268

Contact Senator John Hoeven, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and let him know what is happening here and how cultural resources could be destroyed without there having been proper consultation with tribal governments. His phone number is (202) 224-2551. In his case, say you’re calling about Indian Affairs. Or you can also go to his website.

Lobbying the Legislature via the LRC Website

Here’s the simple procedure for lobbying your legislators via the Legislative Research Council’s website:

Find out the names of the legislators you wish to lobby. If you’re not sure which district you live in, check your voter registration card to find out or go to the Secretary of State’s Voter Information Portal: https://sos.sd.gov/Elections/VIPLogin.aspx
/VIPLogin.aspx. If you live in the district of those you want to lobby, your message will carry more weight than if you don’t.
- Draft your message. You can then cut and paste it into the LRC’s website.
- Go to the website: http://legis.sd.gov/
- On the menu bar, click on “Legislative Session,” then on “2017.”
- On the menu that appears, click on “Legislators.”
- Click on the name of the first legislator you wish to lobby. You’ll go to a screen showing a photograph of the legislator and containing basic information about that person: party, district, county, occupation, contact information, etc. Under “Other Contact Information — Email,” click on the contact link.
- You’re now at the message screen. You MUST enter a valid email address in the top box; the message won’t be sent without it. Enter your legislative district, the subject of your message, and then cut and paste your carefully crafted message into the box. Proofread. Sign the message.
- Click on “Send.”
On that same page, go back up to the “To:” box and pull down the list of legislators. Both senators and representatives are listed, so you can simply go to each of the legislators you want to lobby, one at a time, and send them the same message. Be sure, however, that if you begin your message with “Dear Representative ___,” that you change that greeting for each subsequent email.

Shortcut:

You can email your legislators simply by using the following format:

Senators: sen.lastname@state.sd.us Example: sen.tieszen@state.sd.us

Representatives: rep.lastname@state.sd.us

Example: rep.sly@state.sd.us