All, last week the U.S. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) issued a split ruling on the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s challenge to the underground injection control (UIC) permits for the proposed Dewey-Burdock ISL uranium mine in the Black Hills. The ruling sends the permits back to EPA for further review with new public involvement and appeal opportunities.

Overall, it is a significant win for the Tribe and hopefully provides EPA Region 8 enough room to pull back and take a better look at its permitting for the project to include better groundwater data and to conduct a cultural resources survey at the site.

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The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (introduced by Senators Joe Manchin and John
Barrasso) would increase oil and gas extraction on public lands, allow approvals of
liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports regardless of their impact on the climate or public
health, and facilitate the construction of more fossil fuel infrastructure that would lock us
into decades of fossil fuel use. Additionally, it would undermine the few protections that
regulate how mining operations are conducted on public lands and limit the ability of local
communities to seek justice in the courts.

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President Joe Biden signed a proclamation designating the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument on Aug. 8, 2023, in Tusayan, Arizona.

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