Prairie Hills Audubon Society

Board of Minerals and Environment Telephone Conference Meeting 11/20/25
2025-11-20 09:00 - 16:00 (America/Denver)
Board of Minerals and Environment Telephone Conference Meeting 11/20/25
Board of Minerals and Environment , Telephone Conference Meeting DANR Large Conference Room
523 East Capitol Avenue , Pierre, SD
November 20, 2025
10:00 a.m. Central Time
The public may participate in-person or via telephone by dialing 1-605-679-7263 and entering Conference ID 424 209 532#
The full board packet and the link for live streaming are available on the South Dakota Boards and Commissions Portal at https://boardsandcommissions.sd.gov/Meetings.aspx?BoardID=67.
We have no idea how long the meeting will last and have guessed at 5 pm CT as the end point.
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Agenda
Approve agenda
Approve minutes from September 17, 2025, meeting
Mining issues consent calendar – Tom Cline
Christine Hamilton site 849001 and Oacoma Township site 1033001 Release of Liability – Bret Graves
Release of reclamation liability and surety for American Colloid Mine Permit 475 – Eric Holm
Request to extend period of final reclamation after completion of mining for James Dean, Small Scale Mine Permit 453 – Eric Holm
Transfer of Exploration Notice of Intent 447 from SDO Services, LLC to Longview Minerals LLC – Roberta Hudson
Public comment period in accordance with SDCL 1-25-1
Upcoming board meetings

Protect Piedmont Valley from Sand/Gravel Mine meeting eve of 11/20/25
2025-11-20 18:00 - 20:00
Here is a link to Protect Piedmont’s Future Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61582808211903
Just below are excerpts from NewsCenter 1 article found at this link:
https://www.newscenter1.tv/news/local/protect-piedmonts-future-to-hold-special-q-a-meeting-on-new-proposed-limestone-mine

“Protect Piedmont’s Future, a group opposing a new proposed limestone mine, will be holding an open forum Q-and-A for concerned residents. The meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Elk Creek Lodge in Piedmont.
According to the group, State Senator John Carley is set to moderate the discussion, and an attorney will be present to answer questions free of charge. The Q-and-A meeting will cover homeowners’ rights and what residents should do prior to the mine’s arrival.”
“The proposed 300-acre limestone mine will be operated by Simon Construction of South Dakota. The mine has already received license approval from the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources and is slated to begin operations in August 2026.”
“Protect Piedmont’s Future has been working behind the scenes and is currently trying to get 501(c)3 status. Greenberg says the community is already mobilizing in response to the plan.”
We don’t know how long the meeting will last, but have guessed at 2 hours
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PHAS Calendar has more information on this issue on the date of Nov 3rd meeting Meade County Planning Commission. Our substantive alerts usually happen on the calendar page identifying comment opportunity.
https://phas-wsd.org/event/meade-county-planning-commission-meeting/
But here is an excerpt from that page:
Nancy Hilding’s statement on Sand/Gravel regulation in SD and Piedmont
https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/Nancy-Hilding.SandGraveldocx-20251102132226.pdf
For ordinance templates one can look at Pennington Counties Sand/Gravel Mining ordinance sub-set found in their zoning ordinance and Lawrence Counties Extractive Industries ordinance sub-set found in their zoning ordinance.
Lawrence County‘s Extractive Industry subset of Zoning Ordinancehttps://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/EXTRACT.INDUSTRYawrencecounty-sd-ZONING2025.pdf

Pennington County’s Sand/Garvel subset of Zoning Ordinance
https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/PennCounty.Sand-Gravel_ZoneOrdinance2025PC.pdf
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CHAT GTP discussion of rewrite of State Law for Sand/Gravel

SD’s statewide laws & regulations that govern sand/gravel mines are woefully inadequate and need to be changed with lobbying effort in Pierre.
https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/CHAT_SDCL_45-6_Revision_Public_Comment_Contested_Case.docx
