Economy

A portion of the Wharf Mine near Lead in 2019. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)

State board considering expansion of Black Hills gold mine

BY: - May 19, 2023

A state board won’t make a final decision on the proposed expansion of South Dakota’s lone large-scale gold mine for another two months, after the board listened to two days of testimony during a hearing this week in Pierre. The expansion of the Coeur Wharf Resources mine, just north of Terry Peak and west of […]

(Illustration by Khanchit Khirisutchalual/Getty Images)

State investment manager argues against ban on ‘green’ investments

BY: - May 19, 2023

The state’s top investment officer doesn’t want lawmakers to bar him from trading the securities of “green” companies — provided those companies can make money for the state. The goal of stock market purchases in South Dakota, Investment Officer Matt Clark said, is to buy low and sell high — regardless of the kind of […]

Flip flop sandals are left behind as visitors make their way into the water for relief from the heat at the Wet-N-Wild Water Park on June 20, 2017, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Ralph Freso/Getty Images)

With summer coming fast, regulator issues electric reliability warning

BY: - May 19, 2023

As much as two thirds of North America could face shortages of electricity this summer in the event of severe and protracted heat, according to the regulator in charge of setting and enforcing standards for the electric grid.  “Increased, rapid deployment of wind, solar and batteries have made a positive impact,” said Mark Olson, manager […]

President Joe Biden speaks in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex Feb. 16, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden vows debt ceiling talks will continue while he’s overseas at G7 summit

BY: - May 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will remain in “constant contact” with debt ceiling negotiators and promised to update the nation Sunday upon his return from a shortened trip to Asia for the G7 economic summit. Biden delivered brief remarks Wednesday before departing on a scheduled trip to Japan that will no longer include stops in […]

Assistant Professor Shan Zhou holds a model of a triangular pyramid, the shape of the nanoparticles in his research samples, at South Dakota Mines on Feb. 8, 2023. (Nicole Schlabach/For South Dakota Searchlight)

South Dakota researcher aims to create gold material that heals itself from damage

BY: - May 16, 2023

Imagine a piece of shrapnel denting a service member’s combat helmet. What if the dent in the helmet could heal itself?  Shan Zhou’s research might make that a reality. He’s an assistant professor in the Department of Nanoscience and Biomedical Engineering at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City. Zhou hopes to create a gold material […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy outside the White House after talks on the debt limit with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders, May 16, 2023. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

Some movement reported in debt limit talks as Biden cuts short overseas trip

BY: and - May 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and congressional leaders struggled to find common ground on the debt ceiling during a Tuesday meeting, though lawmakers said afterward there was some progress toward a deal. Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will become the two primary negotiators on a bipartisan debt limit bill that could include other […]

The Blue Creek wind farm, which spans Paulding and Van Wert counties in Ohio, consists of 152 wind turbines with a total capacity of 304 megawatts. (Robert Zullo/States Newsroom)

Rural electric co-ops to get $10.7B in USDA funds for clean energy grants, loans

BY: - May 16, 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas, administration officials said Tuesday. Congress approved the federal spending — $9.7 billion for a grant and loan program the department is calling the New Empowering Rural America program, or […]

Opponents of liquid carbon pipelines rally Nov. 9, 2022, in Cowles Commons in downtown Des Moines. (Kathie Obradovich/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Landowner battles against pipelines vary by state

BY: - May 13, 2023

Sprawling Midwestern pipelines that would carry captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and other facilities would change little when they cross state lines. The proposals would be constructed the same way in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas — with carbon steel pipe ranging from 4 to 24 inches in diameter with operating pressures […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the U.S. Capitol following a meeting on the debt limit with President Joe Biden and other congressional leaders at the White House on May 9, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

U.S. risks debt default in early June, congressional budget office agrees

BY: - May 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government could default on its debt during the first two weeks of June without action on bipartisan legislation, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The nonpartisan budget scorekeeper issued an updated report Friday, warning that “if the debt limit remains unchanged, there is a significant risk that at some point in the first […]

A roughly drawn map of the two liquid carbon pipelines' proposed paths. (Illustration by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Judge says Iowa’s pipeline land survey law is constitutional

BY: - May 12, 2023

An Iowa district court judge decided this week that a state law is constitutional that allows land surveys for carbon dioxide pipelines regardless of landowners’ consent, according to court records. The ruling — in a Hardin County case — is at odds with another judge’s ruling last week in Clay County, which said the law does not […]

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an Iowa organization’s challenge to a law imposing restrictions on the sale of pork in California. (Photo by Keith Weller/USDA Agricultural Research Service)

U.S. Supreme Court rejects pork producers’ challenge of California law

BY: - May 11, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an Iowa organization’s challenge to a law imposing restrictions on the sale of pork in California. The decision marks a significant defeat for Iowa pork producers who have long argued that California’s law, backed by animal-welfare advocates, would disrupt the agricultural industry by allowing states to dictate the […]

Tina Lugo, left, shakes hands with Kendra Ringstmeyer of the Department of Labor during a graduation ceremony for Department of Corrections precision machining graduates on May 8, 2023. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Prison-based training program bolsters South Dakota workforce

BY: - May 11, 2023

There are nearly 3,500 people in the custody of South Dakota’s prisons. Most of them will walk free.  In the space of a year and a half, the state has trained and certified 57 of them in precision machining, welding and construction technology – three high-demand fields in South Dakota. The latest group of graduates, […]