South Dakota

Working to make our water safe for drinking, swimming and fishing, while supporting healthy family farms.

~ Along with all South Dakotans we wish Senator Tim Johnson, a man of integrity and quiet determination, a tireless supporter of doing what's right for our land and our health, a speedy and full recovery ~

Worsening Water Quality

Our office has received numerous calls from citizens concerned about worsening water quality for lakes and rivers across the state. Sad to say, many of the water bodies in South Dakota remain untested, not monitored and unprotected from polluted run off and toxic industrial waste and from mining by-products, both West River and East. For example, see the interactive Toxic Release Inventory for Big Stone Plant Unit 1 (pdf).

Your Opportunity to Protect and Restore South Dakota Waters!

The Integrated Reporting (IR) and Listing Decision Concerning Clean Water Act Sections 303(d), 305(b), and 314 for all 56 States and Territories are to be submitted by April 1, 2008 - see U.S. EPA October 12, 2006 Memorandum. We will assist and coordinate CWA members and other group efforts in this process. Contact our office for 1) contact people in your area-or volunteer to be the contact person, 2) information on how to submit and have your water concerns included in the IR, or 3) information on how to nominate a water body as an OSRW (Outstanding State Resource Waters) pursuant to SDCL 1-26-13.

From the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, Steve Wegman sends us this message:

It's a New Year and let's start off by helping with Change A Light program!

The PUC is looking for more people who want to save money and energy by changing at least one incandescent light bulb in their home or office to an energy efficient model, like a compact fluorescent light (CFL).

If each South Dakota household changes one light bulb to a CFL, every year we would:

• Save $1.1 million.
• Save enough energy to light all of the bulbs in Pierre for 480 days.
• Keep 5,600 tons of coal from being burned.

The commitment is easy. Send your friends, neighbors, relatives, paper carriers and pet groomers to the Energy Star web site for more information.

Here, they will simply enter their name, e-mail address (optional), ZIP code and the number of bulbs they will change this year. Or, you can go to our Web site and click on the "South Dakota Change A Light Pledge" link in the center of the home page to get to the pledge form.

Thanks to all of you who have already pledged and for passing the good word on to others to pledge.

Take Action! Voice Your Opinion!

Our comment to the SD PUC While every bit helps, and we all MUST do our part and use resources more wisely, the expected annual use for Big Stone II, the proposed 600 MW coal plant permitted by the PUC last summer, is 2.9 million tons of additional coal per year with a maximum use of 3.3 million tons per year! Otter Tail 10 year plan (pdf), 2006. Does this make any sense?

Send your comments to the SD PUC on their new, easy to use electronic filing page! Except in cases of weekends or holidays, the PUC will notify you within 24 hours of receiving your message. Use the general information or non-docketed submission links.

Why go with more coal when we've got wind!
And what about the mercury and Coal Combustion Waste??
Where does it go? What goes up must come down. And what gets 'taken out' must go somewhere! More coming soon including water, water…water rights and information related to the new Farm Bill.

Please contact us for more information or to get involved.

New!

Send us your comments, short stories or essays related to any of the information above about our water, our health, our future and we will post it here!

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