{"id":10870,"date":"2020-09-11T09:14:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T14:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/fracking-violates-treaties-tribes-protest\/"},"modified":"2020-09-11T09:14:30","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T14:14:30","slug":"fracking-violates-treaties-tribes-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/fracking-violates-treaties-tribes-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Fracking violates treaties: Tribes protest"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span><\/div>

\"\"<\/a>PINE RIDGE \u2013 On Aug. 31, Oglala Sioux Tribal Acting President Thomas Poor Bear sent an official letter to the federal Bureau of Land Management requesting it take into account overlooked treaty rights before issuing a decision on a proposal to open up Wyoming oil-and-gas fracking.<\/p>\n

The origin history of the Sioux tribes in relation to the Black Hills, which was used as a basis for decision making in the development, \u201cis based on the speculation of white historians,\u201d the \u201cLetter of Protest to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) for the Converse County Oil and Gas Project\u201d complains.<\/p>\n

The letter is filed on behalf of all Sioux tribes in the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance, Inc., which coordinate Missouri River Basin water protection.<\/p>\n

The impact statement \u201cdid not include any history from Sioux spiritual leaders and historians,\u201d leading to a charge that BLM Authorizing Officer Stephanie Connally \u201cfailed to fulfill the intent and process outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act and implementing regulations,\u201d as necessary for cultural resource preservation.<\/p>\n

The protest letter notes that the area under consideration has not been ceded to the United States by the Great Sioux Nation and remains under the jurisdiction of the Oceti Sakowin due to the Ft. Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1868.<\/p>\n

\u201cThus, the Sioux Nation enjoys extensive treaty rights in the project area, including reserved water rights to the Missouri River and Cheyenne River downstream from the project area,\u201d the tribes argue.<\/p>\n

\u201cSignificantly, Indian water rights include the right to adequate water quality for all beneficial uses,\u201d they note, citing the Winters Doctrine, a legal conclusion that states, \u201cUpstream, non-Indian users may be required to limit their diversions as necessary to achieve or preserve the required quality of tribal water rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, groundwater is jeopardized by fracking and the injection of wastewater, and the groundwater \u201cinterrelates\u201d with surface water in the Cheyenne River headwaters, they note<\/p>\n

The Converse County Oil and Gas Project would significantly accelerate oil and gas development, magnifying the impacts on water and other resources of the existing energy extraction in the affected water basin. A total of 5,000 new wells would be authorized.<\/p>\n

Based on oil companies\u2019 estimates, the project\u2019s water requirements would range from 30,500 acre-feet to 61,500 acre-feet per year. The tribes claim, \u201cThat is too wide of a range to accurately determine the impacts of the water diversions on the water resources in the affected area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BLM totally ignores the existence of Indian water claims in the Cheyenne River watershed, and fails to disclose the potential impacts of contamination to Indian waters,\u201d their letter says. \u201cThe estimate of water use lacks credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the water quantity issue, the tribes raise a water quality issue: \u201cThe BLM underestimates the percent chance of migration from a fracked well and ignores the significant environmental risk posed by the injection of waste fluid.\u201d<\/p>\n

They add, \u201cStudies documenting groundwater contamination in close proximity to frack wells abound, but BLM ignores them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, they maintain, \u201cMethane gas contamination is a significant concern, but is not properly evaluated by BLM.\u201d They cite a study by the National Academy of Sciences determining that average methane concentrations in domestic wells near fracking sites are 17 times higher than wells in inactive areas.<\/p>\n

The effects of the project could be bad for wildlife and legally protected traditional Native hunting or fishing rights, they mention.<\/p>\n

\u201cBLM has a duty to include these items\u2026. Accordingly, the Oglala Sioux Tribe respectfully requests the BLM, as the tribe\u2019s trustee, to hold off on issuance of a Record of Decision until after concerns in this protest are resolved to the satisfaction of the OST and the 1851 treaty signatory tribes, \u201c the letter concludes.<\/p>\n

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Fracking violates treaties: Tribes protest<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>

Visit Original Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/div>

PINE RIDGE \u2013 On Aug. 31, Oglala Sioux Tribal Acting President Thomas Poor Bear sent an official letter to the federal Bureau of Land Management requesting it take into account overlooked treaty rights before issuing a decision on a proposal to open up Wyoming oil-and-gas fracking. The origin history of <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a>
Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> September 11, 2020<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1541,"featured_media":10871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5627],"tags":[10105,3222,6657],"class_list":["post-10870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resource-directory-blog","tag-archive","tag-news","tag-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1541"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}