(C) South Dakota Searchlight
This story was originally published by South Dakota Searchlight and is unaltered.
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Miners, environmental advocates unite behind bill to increase financial protections [1]
['Joshua Haiar', 'More From Author', '- February']
Date: 2024-02
PIERRE — A bill to dramatically increase the state’s financial protections against some types of abandoned mines has achieved the rare feat of uniting miners and environmental advocates.
The bill passed the Senate on Thursday by a vote of 28-3 and is headed to a House committee.
The legislation addresses sand, gravel and construction-aggregate mines. Mine operators already have to post a surety, which is cash or a financial instrument the state can seize to clean up a mine if the operator doesn’t complete the work.
Read more South Dakota Searchlight’s coverage of mining issues.
For the types of mines addressed in the bill, that surety is currently $500 per acre or a statewide “blanket” of $20,000 — amounts that haven’t changed since the 1980s.
Those amounts would go up to $3,850 per acre and $300,000, respectively, if the legislation becomes law.
“After more than 40 years, some of the provisions need to be updated,” said Mike Lees, administrator of the state Minerals and Mining Program.
Lees testified recently to the state Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, which voted 6-1 to advance the bill to the full Senate. The legislation includes additional provisions to modernize and streamline portions of the state’s sand, gravel and construction-aggregate mining laws.
Lees said the estimated cost to restore a small sand and gravel mine to a natural-looking condition — a process known as reclamation — is $3,300 to $5,500 per acre. For a large quarry, the estimate goes up to $20,000 per acre.
That means the cost to reclaim the 21,000 acres’ worth of sand and gravel mines in the state could be in the hundreds of millions, even though the state only holds $4 million worth of sureties for those mines. With higher sureties of $3,850 per acre, the state would hold $81 million.
Because the proposed increases are so substantial, the bill includes a two-year deferment for mine operators to adjust to the higher sureties, and a five-year staggered increase for the statewide blanket bond.
Representatives of both the mining industry and conservation and environmental groups spoke in support of the bill.
“This is long overdue,” said Paul Lepisto of the Izaak Walton League of America, a conservation group.
The lone no vote came from Sen. Joshua Klumb, R-Mitchell. He said that while he agrees “with most of the stuff in the bill,” he’s worried it infringes on the property rights of mine operators who own their land.
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[1] Url:
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/briefs/miners-environmental-advocates-unite-behind-bill-to-increase-financial-protections/
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