SB 46 Clarifies DENR Authority over State Geologist
Published 2017-01-10 by
Cory Allen Heidelberger
Funny things catch my attention in the Legislative hopper. Senate Bill 46, for instance, revises provisions relating to the state geologist. Section 1 makes minor language revisions. Sections 2 and 3 move a provision making samples the state geologist collects state property from the USD chapter to the state geologist chapter in South Dakota Codified Law. Section 4 strikes language allowing the Commissioner of School and Public Lands to ask the state geologist to study the land under that offices jurisdiction… a change I suspect doesn’t impair the geologist duties spelled out elsewhere in statute.
But I had to check on Section 5, which appears to strike the state geologist’s authority to “incur expenses for equipment, personnel, materials, and other items necessary for conducting surveys and implementing the provisions of” Chapter 45-2. No spending authority? Holy cow—did the state geologist dig a hole in the wrong yard?
Nothing of the sort, says State Geologist Derric Iles:
Dr. Derric Iles, South Dakota’s ninth state geologist.
The short answer to your question is that there will be no practical effect on the duties and functions of the state geologist. Senate Bill 46 was initiated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and I had input in the drafting of the bill.
…As you note, Section 5 would repeal SDCL 45-2-4.3, which had its origin in the year 1939. The Geological Survey was not part of DENR in 1939 (DENR did not exist in 1939) and the administrative and financial functions of the Geological Survey were handled directly through the office of the Governor. Presently, all of the Geological Survey’s administrative and financial functions are part of DENR. Repealing this statute would eliminate a statute that is not consistent with the manner in which the financial functions the State Geologist, and the Geological Survey Program, have been conducted since before my time in the position [Dr. Derric Iles, e-mail to Dakota Free Press, 2017.01.09].
State Geologist Iles, who has served South Dakota in this rocky position for 19 years, also notes that Section 4 removes some conflicting authority with respect to his position. The state geologist answers to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; a statute that allows the Commissioner of School and Public Lands to tell the state geologist what to do violates the proper chain of command. SB 46 thus cleans up statute and makes clear the state geologist’s position in the DENR.
You realize that our common friend Mr. Pay is going to tear at his tinfoil hat on this bill and postulate that it is all about making sure that this heinous DENR group puts a tighter chokehold over The Borehole, and any other boreholes, which might be dug in Haakon county, don’t you? This is a big government, cloaked in secrecy, heinous behind-the-back bill all about jamming a borehole, perhaps The Borehole, down the maw of a few whiners who live in Philip.
You realize that our common friend Mr. Pay is going to tear at his tinfoil hat on this bill and postulate that it is all about making sure that this heinous DENR group puts a tighter chokehold over The Borehole, and any other boreholes, which might be dug in Haakon county, don’t you? This is a big government, cloaked in secrecy, heinous behind-the-back bill all about jamming a borehole, perhaps The Borehole, down the maw of a few whiners who live in Philip.