Pure Pierre Politics

This is a small but vitally important improvement by our state government in opening its doors to greater public knowledge and easier public involvement.  The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources took its “one stop” another step by consolidating all of its public notices onto a single page on the DENR web site. The address is http://denr.sd.gov/public on the Internet. Secretary Steve Pirner’s agency stepped up in making its hearings better known to the public, and there are two other important improvements. There is now an opportunity for citizens to comment on-line regarding a specific proposal or permit. And anyone can subscribe to receive a weekly e-mail that new public notices have been posted. The last feature is similar to a service found in some other agencies and offices of state government. Congrats to Pirner and those who worked on the project such as Ron Duvall and Kim Smith for making all of this happen.