{"id":39594,"date":"2025-12-12T11:17:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/mining-expansion-meets-foothills-resistance-over-transparency-gaps-erosion-of-local-control-and-property-risks\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T11:17:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T16:17:23","slug":"mining-expansion-meets-foothills-resistance-over-transparency-gaps-erosion-of-local-control-and-property-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/mining-expansion-meets-foothills-resistance-over-transparency-gaps-erosion-of-local-control-and-property-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mining expansion meets foothills resistance over transparency gaps, erosion of local control, and property risks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Piedmont<\/a><\/p>\n

Piedmont Mine map. (Photo courtesy of Simon Construction website.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MNI LUZAHAN SENIOR CENTER \u2013 Roughly thirty people gathered for the final Save The Black Hills (STBH) Dinner, hosted by the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance (BHCWA) with COUP Council pitching in to prepare and serve food. BHCWA has been sounding the alarm about new and proposed gold mines in Spearfish Canyon, mining near sacred sites, and the push to restart uranium mining in the Southern Black Hills\u2014while also bringing attention to other projects that too often advance without genuine public involvement.<\/p>\n

This coalition has been growing for decades but with the recent boom in mining interests, it has grown significantly. In attendance were residents, community representatives, and newly organized advocacy groups from across the Black Hills, who have just now been discovering the scope of mining proposals emerging near their homes and are concerned about the potential impacts these projects may have in their communities<\/p>\n

Most recently, Piedmont residents found out about Simon Contractors 300-acre limestone mine through brief public notices in the newspapers after the fact, according to Dakota News Network (DNN), despite promises on their website of transparency. The French-owned company received approval from the state and private landowners to allow limestone extraction on ten parcels along I-90, with operations expected to continue for nearly two decades. BHCWA Executive Director Dr. Lilias Jarding explained to attendees that under current state law, regulations for sand, gravel, limestone, lithium, other pegmatites and other construction aggregates don\u2019t require public notice, public participation, or a hearing before a mine is licensed,<\/p>\n

Protect Piedmont \u2018s Future was quickly organized by residents to rally against the mine and advocate for local preservation and responsible development against industrial impacts. Residents\u2019 concerns about air, water, traffic, tourism, and property values, are valid. In a video post on the Protect Piedmont Facebook page, standing outside the chainlink fence that prevents trespassing in the Hideaway Hills neighborhood where numerous homes sit abandoned, group representative and Piedmont resident Chris Greenberg explains, \u201cThere had been an old gypsum mine here, then the state of South Dakota allowed them to build homes. I spoke with a homeowner who is upside down about three-hundred grand. There\u2019s got to be rules for this kind of thing. There have to protections for the citizens. We need our state and county to protect us from things like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April 2020, a major sinkhole formed and collapsed in the neighborhood in Black Hawk. Homes were evacuated immediately. It was found that the homes had been built over an abandoned, state-operated gypsum mine. More testing found the damage was massive and the land was deteriorating rapidly putting the more than 150 homes in the neighborhood at risk.\u201d Since then, property values have plummeted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m against the mine at this location,\u201d said Bob Burns from Piedmont Planning and Zoning, referring to the Piedmont Mine. He said there are more appropriate places the company could mine but understand that this location close to the road is convenient. \u201cIt\u2019s not in my backyard but it\u2019s just in a very inappropriate location. If there were county ordinances governing this like what Lawrence County has, then the mine wouldn\u2019t have been allowed. There\u2019s so many things wrong here. For instance, the steepness of the slopes closest to the other houses and the effect on the rest of the community land values. A mining ordinance, like the one that Lawrence County has, wouldn\u2019t have let them build there. Meade County doesn\u2019t have an ordinance because the state would not let them pass an ordinance. That\u2019s kind of crazy. The state gives the authority to the locals to control mining because they don\u2019t want to do it. And then they forbid Meade County from doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Davies, who owns property in Whitewood and lives between Sturgis and Whitewood said he came to the meeting because he too is concerned about increased mining along the I-90 corridor. \u201cWe weren\u2019t aware of anything until a realtor knocked on our door and wanted to buy four of our properties. Since then, we\u2019ve learned that between Sturgis and Whitewood that mining companies own over two-thousand acres out there along the interstate, and they\u2019re looking for limestone, which is between 60 and 100 feet deep on the foothills along the interstate. We don\u2019t know what their plans are for sure, but what the realtor told us is that they want to mine within ten years in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to starting thinking about the foothills and the Black Hills as one entity, otherwise we\u2019re going to lose them.\u201d When asked why he has become involved, Davies expressed the same sentiments of many residents. \u201cWhen it\u2019s in your backyard, you see it a whole different way, with a whole new sense of urgency. I would just ask people to think about what would happen if there was a mine that opened up across the fence from their place. How would they feel about the dust, the noise, the blasting and the loss of property values. Is this what we want for our community? Is this what we want for our Black Hills? If we don\u2019t do anything that\u2019s what we are going to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Protect Piedmont newsletter included a lengthy letter from former Meade County Commissioner, Piedmont resident ,and owner of Aker Woods Alan Aker, which was addressed only to his Piedmont neighbors who are not opposed to the quarry, said that he has made his own agreement with Simon to quarry only 25 acres of his 210 acre tree farm. He said the quarrying will be of short duration compared to others in the area and will preserve the \u201cviewscape\u201d by not quarrying to the top of the hill which will remain timbered and the same elevation.<\/p>\n

Simon Construction has a community information page on their website about the Piedmont Mine. Stressing the importance of transparency, responsibility and respect, Simon says the page is designed as a community resources as the project progresses. They say they will employ modern dust and noise suppression technologies that keep operations safe and compliant with regulators.<\/p>\n

The Piedmont community meeting on November 20, 2025, was packed, but Simon Contractors did not attend.<\/p>\n

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)<\/span><\/p>\n

The post Mining expansion meets foothills resistance over transparency gaps, erosion of local control, and property risks<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Piedmont Mine map. (Photo courtesy of Simon Construction website.) MNI LUZAHAN SENIOR CENTER \u2013 Roughly thirty people gathered for the final Save The Black Hills (STBH) Dinner, hosted by the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance (BHCWA) with COUP Council pitching in to prepare and serve food. BHCWA has been sounding <\/p>\n

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