Underground Injection Control (UIC)

Dewey-Burdock Class III and Class V Injection Well Applications

The EPA Region 8 Underground Injection Control Program has received two applications from Powertech (USA) Inc. for injection well permits at the proposed Dewey Burdock uranium In-Situ Recovery (ISR) site, located in the southern Black Hills, 13 miles from Edgemont, South Dakota and 46 miles west of the western border of the Pine Ridge Reservation: a Class III injection well permit application for the injection of solution for uranium recovery and a Class V injection well permit for deep wells for the disposal of ISR process waste fluids.

The Class III permit application proposes 14 well fields, each field containing many injection and production wells. The Class V permit application proposes up to eight deep injection wells with four proposed for construction at this time.

The uranium ore bodies are contained in the Fall River and Chilson aquifers of the Inyan Kara Group, which will be the injection zones for the Class III wells. An aquifer exemption has been requested for the Inyan Kara Group. The proposed injection zones for the deep Class V wells are the Minnelusa and Deadwood Formations.

The EPA has not issued any draft (proposed) permit decisions regarding these applications and is not soliciting public comment at this time.