Contact us at: whispernthunder1@gmail.comSanctity and Sovereignty vs. Exploitation and Greed
~ Mary Burrows
(Author's note: Areas are described in modern map
designations that were known by other names to
Native Americans.)
Writing in Lakota Times in August 2022, Chase
Iron Eyes, Lakota Peoples Law Project (LPLP)
founder and activist, said, “The willingness to defend
the land is a state of spiritual consciousness because
we are the land. Our bodies become the land. We depend on the land and we will always protect the land...All the colonizers' early efforts to cut our ties to the land, language, ceremonies, etc. have been done to prepare us for maintenance of the Corporate West, which leads to the ultimate destruction of our entire planet...A change is needed, a change that may come only by a cleansing force...As long as we are living there will be a fight to protect all of our sites!”
At the end of the last Ice Age, when mammoths still roamed Mother Earth, Paleo-Indians moved, camped, and hunted around what is now known as the Black Hills and the high plains of Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, and North and South Dakota. Tipi rings, fire pits, stone tools, and Bison jumps reveal evidence of human presence in the southern Black Hills as recently as 12,000 years ago.
The Lakota emergence myth relates how the People came out of Wind Cave in the southern Hills to live on an island created by turtles who carried earth from within the cave to the surface, hence Turtle Island. (The area was once covered by the ancient Western Inland Sea.) Other traditions have the Lakota migrating, via Serpent Mound in Ohio, to North Carolina and back, to settle in Minnesota. After being driven from Minnesota by other tribes, the Lakota subsequently drove the Arikara from Paha Sapa and re-claimed it as their own.
Eventually came the trappers and the settlers and contact with the Corps of Discovery, Manifest Destiny, and Colonization. And the U.S. Army. And the Treaties...
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 recognized only the Teton and Yankton Sioux tribes and ceded to them 60 million acres of land west of the Missouri River, parts of which were in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming (Shining Mountains: Big Horns) and included the Black Hills.
Verbiage in Article 5 of the treaty states that “It is, however, understood that, in making this recognition and acknowledgment, the aforesaid Indian nations do not hereby abandon or prejudice any rights or claims they may have to other lands, and further, that they DO NOT SURRENDER (author's emphasis) the privilege of hunting, fishing, or passing over any of the tracts of country heretofore described.”
Encroachment into Native treaty lands by gold seekers resulted in the Powder River War of 1866-1867.
By 1868, the Fort Laramie Treaty expanded tribal numbers to ten, shrunk the delineated land (The Great Sioux Reservation), and included the verbiage: “...and henceforth they will and do hereby relinquish all claims or rights in and to any portion of the United States or Territories, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid, and except as hereinafter provided.”
The General Mining Act of 1872 is a federal law which allows any “citizen of the United States” who
is 18 years or older the right to locate a claim on any federal lands open to mineral entry for exploration and/or purchase. Rather than deal with the treaty violations, the government simply passed laws that allowed for the trespass. At that time, Native Americans were not considered to be “citizens.”
The Expedition of 1874, led by George Armstrong Custer, left from Fort Mandan in North Dakota and consisted of 1000 people sent to survey the Black Hills for suitable locations for a fort, for a path to the Southwest, and for potential mining opportunities. Custer's troops moved through the Black Hills from north to south along the limestone ridge and found suitable camp sites in the area of Custer, South Dakota. When men from the expedition found gold in French Creek, many of them staked claims to hard-rock mine in the Black Hills under the 1872 law.
One requirement of the 1868 Treaty was ratification consent by three-fourths of the male Lakota, which government had failed to obtain. Consequently, they passed the “agreement” anyway, and it became the Black Hills Act of 1877. The act allowed Natives access to even less land, “and the said Indians do hereby relinquish and cede to the United States all the territory lying outside the said reservation, as herein modified and described, including all privileges of hunting; and article 16 of said treaty is hereby abrogated.” This was a deliberate and heavy-handed attempt to destroy Indigenous people and their culture in pursuit of material wealth.
Modern-day Indigenous people the world over, specifically the Lakota in the United States, are asserting their Sovereignty and Treaty rights to protest the violation of their sacred territories by acquisitive, exploitative entities.
A Summit was convened at Storm Mountain Center in the heart of the Black Hills from August 20-22, 2024, to discuss “Protecting the Black Hills from Mining.” The Summit was organized by Black Hills Clean Water Alliance (BHCWA) to discuss Sovereignty and Treaty rights, Protecting the Water, and Extraction Mining and its danger to sacred lands. Attendees and speakers included Indigenous Americans and their allies.
In his opening remarks to the Summit, Chase Iron Eyes urged turning deliberation into action and using Tribal Sovereignty as a vehicle.
Radionuclides, pollution from mine sites unrecovered since the 1950s, have been found in waters far flung from Uranium in-situ leach mining sites in southwest South Dakota. Hundreds of bore holes permeate the ground and have yet to be re-filled, while the State and EPA seem unwilling to compel recovery of the land.
Ancient knowledge and rituals are associated with sacred sites in existence throughout the Great Plains. Such knowledge must be protected, and a circle of people care-take the Ancient Ways. The Black Hills have always been held in reverence by many tribes but are considered sacred to the Lakota.
There are seven sacred Lakota sites within the Black Hills. In addition to these, there are many ceremonial sites imbued with ancient wisdoms. “Praying changes the molecules of water,” said Paula Antoine. “Paha Sapa is Wakan!”
Mining is at odds with the sanctity of the Black Hills, driven by a power struggle in a broken, sick system. Government dilutes spiritual awareness and connection to a divine meaning. The Lakota believe their ancestors walk with them on a pathway prepared for them and sacred systems are in place that hold the Oyate together. “We are walking on a road paved by ancestors,” said Keith Horse Looking.
Taylor Gunhammer of NDN Collective stated that “The colony has invaded our space, downgrading our way of life and the strength of who we are. Rights mean nothing if we are not willing to fight!”
Eric Descheenie, Din'e, described similar reverence the Navajo hold for Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah, which encompasses many historical, cultural, and natural resources. Tribal identities rest in specific places. The Din'e receive “health care” through ceremony in sacred spaces. He suggested “a multi-nation coalition to keep up pressure to protect historical sites.”
From July of 1878 to 2001, Homestake Mine in South Dakota extracted 43,900,000 troy ounces of gold and 9,870,000 troy ounces of silver from the Black Hills. And that is only ONE mine! For decades, cyanide, arsenic, and other heavy metals were dumped into waterways by Homestake and other mines. Whitewood Creek was once a Superfund site that Homestake was forced to re-claim in 1999. By 2001, Homestake was closed citing declining gold prices, low quality ore (yield was 1 ounce per ton), and operating expenses. Cleaning up their mess must have been very costly.
The cleanup does not account for any downstream flow into, and the subsequent pollution of, Cheyenne and Missouri river drainages. Oglala Sioux Tribal Water Resources director Reno Red Cloud described how Uranium and Arsenic have been found in Badland waters. He is also Vice Chair of the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance. Red Cloud stated, “The reservation is not our existence. The Black Hills is our homeland. This is about the State versus Sovereignty, about treaties and water rights.”
No Black Hills aquifer has ever been restored to pre-mining conditions. According to Jeff Parsons, Oglala Sioux tribal attorney, EPA “...regulations have been loosened to accommodate mining.”
Additionally, the value of minerals removed from the Black Hills has yet to be “reparated” to the Natives, who always knew about minerals in the Hills but had no use for them and were advised by a priest to never tell anyone. “The Black Hills has contributed enough to the economy,” Mario Gonzales, Oglala Sioux tribal attorney, opined.
Co-founder of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance (BHCWA), Lilias Jarding advised that the US Forest Service, in particular, has a pattern of blocking release of information with regard to the Freedom of Information Act. Particularly, they have singled out Native opposition to mining, labeling them as a “protest group.”
Attorney Robin Zephier, Mnicouju Lakota, asserted that treaty laws are environmental laws. The Grand Goal is to heal the Sacred Hoop of Life. He urged the summit to “be a good relative,” which is the basis of Native society. Individual Sovereignty is the essence of life, and the Hoop is the energy of all things. He described treaties as “agreements that defined the things the government took.”
“As a group,” Zephier said, “we must be mindful that we are to serve and help all within the Sacred Hoop. The earth will protect us, but we must also protect!” He went on to say, “The Law of 1872 is a poison that needs to be ripped out by the roots.”
Resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) in 2016, which threatened the Missouri River and Standing Rock reservation, set the template for Indigenous-led actions to protect sacred lands and waters. Thousands of participants came to Standing Rock from all directions and cultures, bringing world-wide attention to the issue. During the protest, Chase Iron Eyes was arrested for “trespassing” on ancestral lands and “instigating a riot,” from which he was successfully defended by LPLP.
Extraction entities are relentless in their pursuit of mining revenue. Fall River County, South Dakota, has an ordinance on the books declaring Uranium mining to be “a nuisance,” but corporate entities
continue to pursue ways to evade local desires and ordinances. Activities are described as “exploration” rather than mining, and the state makes money from the land lease. The State of South Dakota leases school and public lands to raise revenue.
Basin Uranium and its subsidiary Clean Nuclear Energy Corporation (CNEC) have a pending application to explore on State lands that are adjacent to Craven Canyon in southwest South Dakota, a culturally and historically significant area, both to Indigenous people and local ranchers. Some of the most ancient pictographs and petroglyphs on the continent are etched into the walls of Craven Canyon. Regions of the canyon are on the National Register of Historic Places, and a mineral withdrawal, which prevents mining, exists in some areas.
As early as 1981, extractive enterprises have attempted to mine in Craven Canyon. Government knew of radioactive water since 1956 and failed to notify the public. Pollution from tailings from the old Edgemont mill has been found in Cheyenne River and Angostura Reservoir. Pollution was also noted in 1980 in the Rapid Valley area east of Rapid City by USGS and EPA to be 11 times allowable limits.
Unci Madonna Thunder Hawk, Cheyenne River Sioux, is grandmother to generations of activists. She was among those who occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay during a period from 1969 to 1971. In 1970 and '71, Madonna also participated in occupations of Mt Rushmore to protest continual violations of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.
Pro Red Power and a leader in the American Indian Movement (AIM), co-founder of Women of All Red Nations (WARN) and Black Hills Alliance (precursor of BHCWA), Thunder Hawk has long advocated and acted to protect her people and the earth. She once conducted analyses of water sources on Pine Ridge Reservation that proved the presence of high levels of radiation pollution in the water supply. Subsequently, a new water system was implemented.
The Black Hills Alliance (BHA) prevented Union Carbide from Uranium mining on sacred Lakota lands in 1979 when the corporation attempted to mine in Craven Canyon, Fall River County, South Dakota, without a state mining permit. A local resident noticed large earth moving equipment in the canyon and notified BHA.
Thunder Hawk described struggles for survival, police brutality, and expectations of respect. In the past, she acted with the intention of bringing international attention to the issue. She was an international Indian Treaty Council delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, a delegate to the U.N. Decade of Women Conference in Mexico City, and in 2001 to the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa.
“Nation to Nation status when it comes to treaties is effective because there are no egos involved, and it requires accountability to 'do the work,'” Thunder Hawk said. The Oglala Lakota Nation enjoys Nation-to-Nation status with the US Government.
The Brafford family lived in a home in Edgemont, South Dakota, for approximately 28 months from 1977 to 1980. Sandy tailings from the mill were put around the foundations of the house, as was done to many structures in town. Tailings contain radioactive waste, including radium. Radioactive decay led to the pollution of the house by radon. Testing by EPA and South Dakota Department of Health and Natural Resources showed the Braffords were living with levels far in excess of what is acceptable. A lawsuit was filed against mill owner Susquehanna Corporation for loss and potential dangers. All requests by defendants in opposition to this suit were denied. Braffords received a settlement and moved to Chadron, NE. This case shows that, from early on, the dangers of pollution by exploitative mining were known and that offenders should bear responsibility for the damage
they create.
Many mining claims surround the ceremonial area known as Pe Sla, a high mountain prairie in the heart of Paha Sapa that, in 2012, was purchased from a private “owner” for $9 million by the Rosebud, Shakopee Mdewakanton, Crow Creek, and Standing Rock Sioux tribes with intentions of returning it to its rightful status. Tribes subsequently petitioned the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to take the land into trust status to retain and protect its character as a sacred site. The goals were to keep the land in its original state, to re-introduce Bison and other natural species, and to preserve the land for traditional ceremonies. In the Spring 2015, the first Bison calves were born in Pe Sla. On March 10, 2016, the Oceti Sakowin was informed that the land had attained federal Indian trust status.
In 2013, Powertech/Encore/Azarga attempted to restart the permitting process for further expansion of the Dewey-Burdock Uranium mine near Edgemont. In 2021, the state Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources denied permits for the mine. The agency's water staff opposed the permits, as did the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Black Hills Clean Water Alliance, Institute of Range and the American Mustang (Wild Horse Sanctuary, whereupon lie sacred and ceremonial sites and petroglyphs), citizen intervenors, and members of the public.
With the advent of electric vehicles, the quest for domestic sources of Lithium began. Five state licenses for extraction of the heavy metal currently exist in the Black Hills. (There are also such things as Hemp batteries, which offer safe energy generation.) Additionally, as of May 2024, total lode mining claims in the Black Hills numbered 12,082, and total placer claims 571, with NEW claims (since Oct 2022) of both types encompassing 12,725 square acres or 19.88 square miles.
Basin Uranium (CNEC) intends to construct fifty 60x60-foot platforms and to drill to depths of 700 feet below the earth. Currently, this is not a “mining” project, just exploration within sight and sound of the sacred area of Craven Canyon, causing disturbance to any wishing to pray or study in the area. And that does not take into account the amount of water that will be siphoned from deep aquifers, polluted, and “re-cycled” into the earth, which is how leach mining works and destroys.
Andrew “Andy” Reid, JD, founder of Native Justice, LLC, works to advance the liberation of Indigenous peoples from the claws of colonization. Two of his many areas of specialization include water law and policy and environmental law and policy. Reid serves as domestic and international counsel for the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Speaking to the Summit, he advocated for “Law-fare:” using the law to fight the war by “throwing everything possible” at the various agencies. “The EPA is not protecting, but regulating,” he said.
Tactically, he advised relentless active opposition to exploration and mining. Cite water contamination issues. Demand environmental testing, and express concern for historical preservation. Force the various entities to spend money to defend their pursuits and decisions. “Hit them in the pocketbook!” Reid urged.
On August 28, 2024, Dakota Rural Action and BHCWA sponsored an informational meeting in Hot Springs, South Dakota, attended by interested citizens that included members of Oglala Sioux tribal government at Pine Ridge, to discuss the Basin project and to instruct citizens on how to intervene in the permitting process. State agencies still have questions about the project, but there are no provisions in state law for tribal agencies such as Tribal Historic Preservation offices to review or provide suggestions, so tribal entities must intervene before the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment.
Note: Many, many voices were heard over the time of the Summit. As an observer, I was not privy to all discussions, such as evening sessions, nor did I wish to be. The final hours of the Summit were devoted to discussions of strategies and tactics, the results of which will become public knowledge in the near future.
The author's goal was distill a lot of information down to the historical essence of why resistance is essential, and what community can and will accomplish. Many who spoke and offered valuable insights were not mentioned.
https://bhcleanwateralliance.org/
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/05/f74/EdgemontFactSheet_0.pdf
edgemont mill
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/586/14/1903159/ Brafford
Madonna Thunder Hawk - Wikipedia
Microsoft Word - Resume - May 2008.doc (du.edu) Andrew Reid
Let Them Tell Their Story: An Interview with Chase Iron Eyes, Co-Founder of 'Last Real Indians' (vice.com)