Update 1/28/26

House Bill 1103 is tomorrow (Thursday) at 7:45 am CT!

The committee hearing on House Bill 1103 is tomorrow at 7:45 am CT!

Here is who to contact: 2026 House Agriculture and Natural Resources | South Dakota Legislature . You can click on each legislator’s name to get their contact information. The target time is by 4:00 pm MT on Wednesday, but you can even contact them if you’re a bit later than that. No calls or emails after 7:00 pm Mountain Time, though.

In your email, say you support House Bill 1103. This bill would protect water by stopping the practice of removing more water from a groundwater aquifer than is replaced (water “mining”). Here is the bill — 2026 House Bill 1103 | South Dakota Legislature. It would close a loophole that currently allows groundwater mining under some circumstances. It also prevents mining companies from pumping more water from an aquifer than is replaced, which is critical.

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January 6th: Pre-Hearing on Uranium Drilling Near Craven Canyon 

Last spring, “Clean” Nuclear Energy Corporation (CNEC) applied for an exploratory drilling permit on state lands adjacent to Craven Canyon, an inestimably important cultural and archeological area north of Edgemont, in Fall River County.

Dakota Rural Action worked with several allied organizations and local residents to educate the public and recruit individual intervenors to contest the case, which includes up to fifty drill holes through aquifers, and in an area that has numerous unreclaimed past drilling sites, raising the risk of water contamination. Thirty-five intervenors joined the case–including 31 individuals, two Tribal governments, and two organizations.

On Tuesday, January 6th, there will be a pre-hearing at Matthews Training Center in Pierre to discuss the Hearing Chair’s refusal to grant a change of venue request by Oglala Lakota & Fall River Counties, as well as a refusal to consider Fall River County’s uranium mining nuisance ordinance, and CNEC’s motion to quash discussion of treaty obligations on the unceded territory. The final hearing date and location will also be set.

You can listen in to the hearing, which starts at 11am CT/10am MT by dialing in to:1-605-679-7263 and entering passcode: 461974 74# 

CNEC application for exploration of uranium on state lands adjacent to Craven Canyon is now a contested case. To go directly to those documents and notices for this case click HERE or https://danr.sd.gov/public/ccdocs.aspx?CCID=CCID123

Note: This link takes you to the SD DANR website for Contested Cases at https://danr.sd.gov/public/ContestedCase.aspx. There you can click on the highlighted Documents link under each cases listed.

If you get a ERROR notice at any one of the State’s links try doing a Refresh for your browser or try a different web-browser (Safari, FireFox, Chrome). You can also notify us at CONTACT US. Please be specific and include the URL giving the error.

Chord Project