PIEDMONT, S.D. (South Dakota News Watch) – Three lawmakers who represent a Meade County city hope to change weak state mining laws that allowed a proposed limestone mine to be sited without notification or input by any local officials or residents.

The plan by Simon Contractors to begin mining limestone on 300 acres within the city of Piedmont and in the surrounding Black Hills came as a shock to locals, who only learned of the mine project through an October notice in a local newspaper.

Piedmont is located along Interstate 90 about midway between Rapid City and Sturgis.

Simon, a French-owned, Wyoming-based mining and materials company, said it has acquired state approval and private landowner agreements to allow limestone mining on 10 parcels of land in and around Piedmont. The mine is

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