Amelia Schafer
ICT + Rapid City Journal
RAPID CITY, S.D. – A petroleum pipeline previously shut down by the federal government for its route through Pipestone National Monument, an area sacred to over 23 tribes, will now be relocated and re-opened adjacent to the site.
In April 2023, Magellan, an Oklahoma-based energy pipeline company, filed a route permit application for an existing petroleum pipeline it previously built under the monument and was forced to shut down in 2022. Initially, Magellan sought to relocate approximately 0.74 miles of an existing eight-inch petroleum pipeline onto private property adjacent to the site.
On Sept. 11, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission granted Magellan’s permit, though it did pick a route farther from the monument than the one Magellan initially proposed.
Both the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Upper Sioux Community submitted alternative routes that the pipeline could take further from the site. The Public Utilities Commission chose the Mille Lacs-proposed route, though the tribe no longer supports it.
The Mille Lacs Band did not respond to requests for comment.
Many tribes would prefer that the pipeline never be reopened.
“This economic-based pipeline marginalizes the importance of one of the most sacred resources to the Oceti Sakowin or Seven Council Fires, the Great Sioux Nation, and many tribal nations across the United States or what we call Turtle Island,” the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, an organization representing over 16 tribal leaders from the Great Plains, said in a statement in March 2024.
Pipestone National Monument was created in 1937 to protect the historic quarries used by Indigenous people. Many Native people use the red pipestone from the quarries as part of their sacred items, including medicine pipes. The area is inscribed with thousands of years worth of carvings and is used for ceremonies including an annual Sundance.
Indigenous leaders expressed concern over the potential disruption of grave sites and other cultural sites in the area.
“Generations of Ihanktonwan and other Indigenous People frequently traveled across the areas that are now under consideration for new ground disturbance during construction and for the operation of a hazardous materials pipeline,” Faith Spotted Eagle of the Brave Heart Society said in a letter to Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings. “These areas hold cultural resources and potentially burials of Indigenous ancestors, and the closer the proximity of a route to the Sacred Site/Monument, the denser cultural resources are likely to be.”
Right outside of the quarry, Pipestone is also the site of a former boarding school and a cemetery within the National Monument that was used for students who attended the boarding school. The school was located at the northeast corner of the monument.
On July 17, 2024, an administrative law judge’s report concluded that Magellan had satisfied the criteria for a route permit and suggested that a permit be granted.
The report did outline the concerns of tribes, such as the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, which said Magellan never followed up with tribal leaders despite being required to do so.
According to a resolution from the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, South Dakota tribes were not contacted about the pipeline, only Minnesota tribes.
“There was no ‘good faith’ effort to reach other tribes, including affiliated and treaty tribes with an interest in or historical ties to the region. A single attempt was made without follow-up,” the resolution said.
The original Pipestone Indian Reservation, which is now the National Monument, was originally created in 1858 to ensure that the Yankton Sioux Tribe would have access to pipestone in the area. In 1859, the tribe was relocated to southeastern South Dakota.
According to the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, the Yankton Sioux Tribe was not properly consulted.
Now that the permit has been issued, discussions of how to stop the pipeline within the Indigenous community have begun, with some activists calling for a protest reminiscent of the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
This story is co-published by the Rapid City Journal and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the South Dakota area.
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