Uranium in the Black Hills: The Oglala Sioux’s battle
Author: Chad G.
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Badlands in Black Hills South Dakota. Photo from nearsay.com
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Last
year me and my son set out on our annual summer vacation. We spent a week in
the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was a memorable time and we both agree it
was the best vacation we had went on so far. I have been many places in my life
and I was absolutely stunned at the beauty of this place. From the Badlands,
the Needles highway, and Custer State Park it was a place where we have agreed
that we will return.
The area of the Black Hills in South
Dakota is home to the Oglala Sioux tribe. I have recently learned of some
issues the Oglala Sioux are facing with possible Uranium mining in their land.
I decided to find out more about this issue due to my fascination with the
Black Hills area and its natural beauty.
The Oglala Sioux are contesting the
mining against the Azarga Uranium Corporation. The Azarga Uranium Corporation
is a Canada based company that takes part in many uranium mining operation in
the United States as well as Kyrgyzstan (Azarga 2019). The proposed mining site
in the Black Hills has been named the Dewey Burdock Uranium Project by the
Azarga Uranium Corporation (Azarga 2019). The proposed mining project consists
of over 12,000 acres of land just south of Custer State Park in South Dakota
(Azarga 2019).
The Azarga
Uranium Corporation desires to use the in-situ or also called the ISR method to
recover yellow cake uranium from this area (Azarga 2019). The ISR method is a
very complicated method of extracting very small uranium particles from the
ground and filtering them out and keeping them (Azarga 2019). In this method
there are chemicals or treated water are pumped into the ground and wells are
placed to pull water out of the ground nearby (Azarga 2019). The Azarga Uranium
Corporation’s website has a very detailed video explaining how this process
works as well as how it is cleaned up once the mining is complete. I recommend
watching this video as it explains the process very thoroughly.
The Oglala Sioux are opposed to this proposed Dewey
Burdock mining operation. The proposed mining operation is located near the
Pine Ridge Indian reservation and is upstream on the Cheyenne River tributaries
(Nauman 2019). The Sioux are worried about ground water contamination as well
as land contamination (Nauman 2017). Not only are the Sioux worried about
contamination in the water and land. The proposed mining area is sacred land to
the Sioux (Nauman 2017). The proposed site is on land that the Sioux had lived
on for generations and consider it part of their creation story (Nauman 2017).
The proposed mining land is part of land that the Sioux are supposed to have
control over under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty (Nauman 2017). Some Sioux have
even complained about past contamination from other uranium mines. According to
treaty council elder Henry Quick Bear uranium mining “has already caused
irreversible contamination throughout the Black Hills and Badlands.” It has
been linked to a “high proportion of cancer and birth defects (Nauman 2017).”
The legal battle of the Azarga Corporation getting all
of the state and federal permits is still ongoing and has been for many years
(Tupper 2018). The Azarga Uranium Corporation has been given a mining license
from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission but, the corporation is still in the
process to get other licenses from other state and federal agencies (Nauman
2019). Most recently the Oglala Sioux challenged the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission in a U.S. Circuit Court over its issuing the license to the Azarga
Corporation (Nauman 2019). On January 31, 2019 the Circuit Court ruled that the
license could remain in effect while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission corrects
its handling of tribal cultural resources under the National Environmental
Protection Act (Nauman 2019). The court ruled this since the Azarga Corporation
still needed other licenses from other government agencies they were not ready
to mine and could keep the license awarded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(Nauman 2019). With this the court stated that if they are to begin mining the
Azarga Corporation has to give a sixty-day notice of their intent to mine to
the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board as well as all of the parties (Nauman
2019). The contention is over Native American burial sites in the area of the
proposed Dewey Burdock uranium mine (Nauman 2017). The area could also consist
of artifacts and other cultural resources (Nauman 2017). These reasons are why
the Circuit Court ruled that the commission and the Azarga Corporation needed
to address these issues before mining begins.
With this contested issue of a uranium mine we see the
Oglala Sioux trying to save their native homeland from possible contamination
and destruction. The Sioux are fighting for the preservation of their culture
and its history. On the other hand, we have the Azarga Uranium Corporation
trying to mine uranium from this land for use in nuclear power plants. We need
to ask ourselves to what cost is it worth to have more uranium for more nuclear
power plants? Is it worth the cost of possibly contaminating water sources such
as aquifers to acquire this uranium? I will note that the Azarga Uranium
Corporation is based in Canada. So, potentially we have a foreign company
mining uranium on American soil. Further the American soil that is to be mined
is most likely under treaty to the Native American Sioux tribe. If the courts
end up letting this mining operation go active is that saying that the uranium
in that ground and the possibilities of contamination more important than the
Sioux culture?
Whatever the outcome I encourage you to read up on
these issues and become more educated. This issue is far more complex than the
brief explanation I have given. This legal process will most likely go on for
several years according to the tribe’s lawyer Jeffrey Parsons (Tupper 2018). I
hope that there is a resolution met protecting the Sioux land from the uranium
mine. However, if this is not the case then we must ensure that all precautions
and standards are followed in the mining operation. If we cannot protect the
Sioux land in the end, hopefully we can protect the water safety for all people
in the area.
Sources:
1.
Nauman, Talli.
2017. “Tribes give resounding NO to EPA questions on uranium mining.”
Nativesunnews.today. Accessed
February 21, 2019. www.nativesunnews.today/articles/tribes-give-resounding-no-to-epa-questions-on-uranium-mining/
2. Nauman, Talli. 2019. “Uranium company keeps license; OST keeps fighting.”
Nativesunnews.today.
Accessed February 20, 2019. www.nativesunnews.today/articles/uranium-company-keeps-license-ost-keeps-fighting/
Rapidcityjournal.com. Accessed
February 19, 2019. rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/court-regulators-clash-over-tribal-survey-for-uranium-project/article_deac0d24-3a34-517d-ac68-830cc5ef54c1.html
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