RAPID CITY, S.D.—Two environmental groups are critical of a working relationship between a brother-in-law of Gov. Mike Rounds and a Canadian business doing uranium exploration near Edgemont.
Randy Brich (BRISH) of Pierre is married to the governor’s sister and works in media relations on contract for Powertech Uranium Corp. He also does public relations for its Dewey Burdock project in southwest South Dakota.
Powertech has a corporate office in Vancouver, British Columbia, and operations in South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Representatives of ACTion for the Environment and Defenders of the Black Hills said the relationship is questionable because Rounds appoints members of state boards that approve or reject such projects.
Rounds said through a spokesman he wasn’t aware of the relationship and Brich wrote in an e-mail that he hadn’t broached the subject with the Republican governor.
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