Amelia Schafer
ICT
RAPID CITY — A unique grassy terrain in the center of the Black Hills is at the center of a local debate on drilling activity.
For Oceti Sakowin (Lakota, Dakota and Nakoda) people, Pe’ Sla is an incredibly sacred site. It aligns with the constellations at various points in the year and is a focal point of oral history.
The site is located in the heart of the Black Hills in western South Dakota, roughly 50 miles west of Rapid City. It’s visually unique, a relatively flat large grassy piece of plains devoid of any trees in the middle of a vast mountainous landscape.
“Pe’ Sla is a site that, in our oral history and tradition, has always been deeply connected to the way that we interact with our ancestors, with the universe, with existence itself, with the cosmos,” said Taylor Gunhammer, the lead of NDN Collective’s Protect the He Sapa Campaign. “It’s not coincidental that at particular times of the year, star constellations align with our sacred sites, it’s not rooted in whimsy or fancy. This is history.”
While much of Pe’ Sla is private property, it’s surrounded by forest service land, which is subject to various types of mining claims and proposals, and a newly proposed exploratory drilling project for graphite near Pe’ Sla is causing alarm amongst both Black Hills locals and Indigenous people.
In early spring, Rapid City-based mining company Pete Lien & Sons filed with the United States Forest Service requesting permission for exploratory graphite drilling three miles southwest of Rochford, South Dakota.
The proposed project is roughly a half mile north of Pe’ Sla and would be located on land held by the United States Forest Service around Pe’ Sla.
The project is currently undergoing environmental analysis, including hydrological and other related studies, said a representative from the National Forest Service in an email statement.
Exploratory drilling for graphite, in this case, would involve drilling up to 18 holes that are 3 to 3.5 inches in diameter down 1,000 feet into the earth. No mining would happen yet, this process is just to identify whether graphite is present in the area.
Documents provided by the forest service depict two different locations where drilling could occur, one north of Pe’ Sla and another off slightly to the southeast.
On May 16, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out wrote to the Mystic Rangers National Forest Office demanding the forest service conduct meaningful consultation with the Oceti Sakowin before moving forward with the project.
“The (Oglala Sioux Tribe) is opposed to any exploration or development of minerals in the Black Hills that would harm our sacred Black Hills, including the sacred site known as Pe’ Sla,” Star Comes Out said in the letter.
Star Comes Out said that the tribe is concerned over potential noise issues involved with drilling, which could disrupt ceremonies are conducted at Pe’ Sla by tribal members.
In 2012, the Rosebud, Shakopee, Crow Creek and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes came together to initiate a $9 million purchase of Pe’ Sla in a private land auction. In 2016 the 2,022 acres were entered into federal Indian trust status, meaning the land is held by the United States government for Oceti Sakowin tribes.
Aside from the private tribally-owned property, other parts of the area and surrounding areas are either privately owned by non-Native ranching families or is United States Forest Service land within the hills.
Much of the land within the Black Hills owned by the forest service is subject to mining claims or can be used for exploratory drilling following a comment and approval process. Currently, there is no graphite mining happening in the hills, but that could change, said Kwinn Neff, president of South Dakota Mineral Industries Association.
The mineral industries association is comprised of a group of mining companies across South Dakota, Pete Lien & Sons is a member.
Currently, all of the United States’s graphite comes from China, Neff said. With new tariffs from President Donald Trump, companies are looking for a domestic solution. That solution could come in the Black Hills, but not without threatening hard fought for tribal sovereignty over an area already promised to the Oceti Sakowin.
All of the Black Hills and much of western South Dakota was formerly part of the Great Sioux Reservation, guaranteed by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The 1880’s gold rush led to encroachment onto these lands and eventually the creation of South Dakota. Since then, the Oceti Sakowin have fought for their land back.
In 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills had been illegally taken from the Oceti Sakowin, and provided a settlement to tribes that tribes have never accepted.
As Pe’ Sla is within the Black Hills, it should belong to the Oceti Sakowin. But like most of the hills, it was private property or forest service land until that 2016 purchase.
Aside from the convoluted history and status, it’s simply a sacred site, one that should not be disturbed, Gunhammer said.
“Nobody would ever be drilling for graphite at Arlington National Cemetery,” said Gunhammer, who is Oglala Lakota. “Nobody would be opening up a uranium refinery inside the Vatican, and that is exactly equivalent to what is happening here.”
Graphite is defined as both a critical and strategic mineral. It’s used in aerospace and defense operations, but it’s also used for pencils, nuclear reactors, electric motors, electric vehicles and more.
“The goal of the Exploration Project is determine what kind of graphite ore is there,” Neff said. “If there is a quantity that would be economic, (then they) look at mining. And that’s the first step, it’s not an exploratory mining project. I know that’s a term that gets thrown around.”
The proposed project is only on forest service land, Neff said, not private land. But it’s extremely close to Pe’ Sla.
A new map from the U.S. Forest Service shows the project’s boundary falling (at its closest point) less than a mile from Pe’ Sla’s northeastern boundary line.
The project is also close to two creeks, North Fork Castle Creek and Castle Creek which both feed into Rapid Creek and its watershed about 16 miles away from the site.
The forest service said drill sites will not be in streams or wetlands and measures would be taken to prevent debris from impacting any wetlands.
If profitable amounts of graphite are identified and the company wishes to mine, the company will have to apply again with the forest service and go through another public comment and approval period, Neff said.
Neff said that the project should not pose any threat to the Rapid Creek Watershed.
At the end of the day, the site is sacred and should not be imposed upon or threatened, Gunhammer said.
“Saying it’s fine to drill at Pe’ Sla is absurd on its face, (it should have) never happened,” he said. “It should have never been considered. And honestly, Pete Lien & Sons should apologize to all of the affected tribes whose history and culture they are endangering for no real reason other than politics.”
Gunhammer said he encourages the public to make their voices heard in opposition to the project. Public comment on the project ends on May 16, but Gunhammer said he feels the public comment period should be extended, as the community was not adequately informed about the project.