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our team putting together the applications."
• Opponents said they would ask a judge to issue a stay against the license.
• "Just because a pro-nuclear agency has given this a green light doesn't mean it's a good idea," Lilias Jarding with Clean Water Alliance told the Rapid City Journal.
• Hollenbeck called the NRC permit a "milestone," but Powertech Uranium still needs approval from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and South Dakota before it can move forward with the Dewey-Burdock mine near Edgemont. The mine, which would sit within a 17-square-mile site, is projected to recover 1 million pounds of uranium annually for eight years.
• Opponents fear the mine would pollute the environment and upset American Indian burial grounds. Supporters dispute that and say the mine would bring jobs to the area and tax revenue to the region and state.
• Hollenbeck said the EPA has indicated it will issue a draft permit sometime this month and take public comment. The state Board of Minerals and Environment and the state Water Management Board suspended hearings late last year until the federal agencies make decisions.
• NRC said in its Tuesday statement that the Powertech license is only the fourth such license it has issued since 1998.
• Powertech is in the process of merging with its largest shareholder, Azarga Resources Limited. The new company will be known as Azarga Uranium Corp.
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• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The Army Corps of Engineers says there is plenty of room in upper Missouri River reservoirs to handle spring runoff, but some groups are urging the agency to step up dam releases sooner rather than later.
• Officials with North Dakota's State Water Commission and a county water board in the Bismarck-Mandan area both are pushing the corps to guard against flooding like the region experienced three years ago when hundreds of thousands of acres of mostly farmland were devastated in Missouri River states.
• "Constant vigilance must be maintained," Water Commission engineer Bruce Engelhardt said.
• The corps is holding a series of public meetings in Missouri River states on its plans for managing the river this year. Meetings were held in Bismarck, N.D., and Pierre, S.D., on Wednesday. Corps officials reassured those in attendance that while mountain snowpack is about a third higher than normal, there is plenty of room for the water.

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