"Freedom Mine"

Sacred Places: Ancient Prayer Turtle to the Lakota, “Freedom” Coal Mine to the Energy Company and Elected Politicians    

            Lakota People of long ago knew their place on Earth, and knew their place in the Star Nation.  These places, and their relationship within the Universe, as well as their relationship to each other and to the Lakota people, gave guidance to our ancestors on how to live their daily lives, how to plan for the future, how to take care of the past.  Our ancestors kept this knowledge and wisdom alive, generation to generation, until now it has been handed down to us. 

            For our people alive today, this knowledge and wisdom is very precious to us, as precious as it was to our ancestors.  We can journey on Earth, and stand in the places our ancestors stood. We can go to these places, and make our offerings and send our voices to the directions, just as our ancestors did.  This may change, if plans by the multinational energy companies, elected politicians and administrative employees have their way. 

            We saw how these three entities of the American fabric are interwoven together.  A delegation from Owe Aku traveled to Bismarck, North Dakota to attend an administrative hearing regarding an area of land “owned” by the Coteau Properties Company which is located in Mercer County, North Dakota. This company operates a coal mine there, the Freedom Coal Mine. Coteau wants to expand their coal mine to over 17,000 acres in an area that contains graves of our ancestors as well as many sacred places.  At the administrative hearing of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, it was stated that if this commission issues the mining permit to Coteau Properties, digging will begin in 2007.

            To the Oceti Sakowin, one of these special places is Keya (turtle).  If the company gets its way, Keya will be one of the 1,349 sites destroyed to accommodate the expansion of the coal mine.  The archeologist of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says that this project “will destroy more cultural resources than any other current project in the United States.”  Stone circles, effigies, and burial mounds will be “moved” and then replaced after a ten year period.  This intent by the company, and the elected officials who supports the company, are in a conspiracy to violate the Human Rights of all our people, our tribes, our Nations, in this proposed coal mine expansion which cannot happen unless our sacred places are destroyed.

            These sacred places are already being violated.  We saw the environment of the Freedom Mine, the pollution in the sky is visible from miles away.  Dark yellow and brown clouds of pollution hang over this land where the electrification plant is located.  As you come upon this place out there, it is like a scene from a horror science fiction movie-it is literally a little city out there, enormous smoke stacks rising high in the sky, spewing the foul-smelling dirty yellow smoke into the air, where it hangs over an area many, many miles in diameter.   The processing method used by this company results in acid rain. 

            Our delegation was a small delegation, maybe 12 cars and vans, with a total of 40 people. We joined with a few folks from the Defenders of the Black Hills, and we drove as far as we could, until we were stopped by uniformed security guards employed by the Coteau.  These guards informed us that we could not proceed without filling out an application.  A quick consensus was taken and we decided that we would stand in a sovereign manner, this was Treaty Territory and we would go in and make our prayers.  We proceeded without a permit and were stopped several miles down the road by officials.  However, we informed them of our stance, and proceeded to enter the sacred ground.  They did not attempt to stop us.

            We stood in a circle around Keya: Lakota, Dakota, Ponca, Northern Cheyenne, American, Iranian; grandfathers, grandmothers, young mothers and fathers, young children, toddlers, babes in arms.  A Dakota Medicine Man used sage to aziliya everyone and then he sent his voice to the directions.  A young man with a hand drum sang a prayer song.  The young children in our delegation were very serious about this, and they said they want this place to stay intact for them to come back to when they are grown up and can bring their children to pray at Keya.

(The commission voted to approve the application for the new permit.  However, it was determined that something was amiss and the whole process has to start over).

NOTE: Tribes that are being asked for input by the state of North Dakota are the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and the Ft. Peck Sioux Tribe.  Excluded from this process are the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Flandreaux Santee Sioux Tribe, Santee Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, and the Dakota bands in Minnesota and Canada.