Defenders of the Black Hills

Donations are welcome and encouraged

P.O. Box 2003
Rapid City, SD 57709
Phone: 605-399-1868
http://www.defendblackhills.org
bhdefenders@msn.com
Charmaine White Face, Corrdinator: bhdefenders@msn.com
Brian Brademeyer, Treasurer: brademey@rapidnet.com

The Defenders of the Black Hills is a group of volunteers, without racial or tribal boundaries, whose mission is to ensure that all of the provisions of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868 are upheld by the federal government of the United States.

In doing so, these volunteers are also upholding the Constitution of the United States which, in Article Six, states that "treaties are the Supreme Law of the land."

Until the Treaties are upheld, the actions of the Defenders are to restore and protect the environment of the Black Hills and the surrounding Treaty Area to the best of their ability.

As appointed moderator to the Defenders of the Black Hills MySpace group, I must inform you of its purpose; first of all, this group will complement their established website http://www.defendblackhills.org and be a forum for the issues on their website.

As another item of importance, we must all agree to disagree in a constructive manner. I also believe that group consensus must not be the focus in decision-making no matter how controversial or risky; I'd sooner sacrifice group consensus than have to live with a bad decision made by a faulty group consensus.

Secondly I will not allow profanity, slurs, slander, libel or any similar non-productive statements to be posted in the topics.

The following list are their main areas of critcal environmental concern and are on their website. MySpace allows us to make comments, suggestions and ideas that we can share to promote ~UNITY~

The Nuclear Nightmare as seen by the Defenders of the Black Hills

Here is the sequence of local newspaper articles discussing the uranium mining issue in North and South Dakota; hopefully that it is complete enough to give you an understanding of newspaper bias as it relates to our genocide.

Rapid City Journal Articles

2006
Colleges test for effects of Cold War era uranium mining
Mining school and Indian college testing land near uranium mines
Mine study underway
Uranium info meeting today
Uranium informational meeting

2005
Uranium mines slated for cleanup
Interest renewed in uranium exploration in South Dakota
Burdock could supply uranium
Experts making cleanup plan for Harding County sites
Uranium contamination significant, experts say
Forest Service plans public meetings to discuss cleanup of uranium mines
Uranium cleanup may cost $20 million
EPA puts $20 million pricetag on uranium mine cleanup
State leases uranium rights
Forum 6-11 Shortsightedness in a sacred place
Public comment meeting Friday
Uranium cleanup meetings set
Timeline shows events of mine site cleanup, restoration
Lethal Legacy Abandoned uranium mines bring health worries
Uranium in water under scrutiny
Abandon mines could be sickening residents

2002
Water study raises septic-tank questions
Radiation exposure funds sought

2001
Daschle objects to any delay in miner pay
Feds to ship nuke waste across Wyoming

Bismarck Tribune Articles

2006
Uranium study to expand
Uranium mine study brings back uncertain testing results

2005
Uranium mine cleanup tagged at $22 million
Clean up uranium mines now
'Is this bad-bad or just bad'

2003
Belfield family looks for connection between uranium mine and illness

The Silkwood Project
http://www.silkwoodproject.com



The following links best describe problems in community involvement in South Dakota as well as in other states!!!
Zoltan Grossman
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/
UNLIKELY ALLIANCES: Treaty conflicts and environmental cooperation between Native American and rural White communities
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/diss.html
Cowboy and Indian Alliance in the North Plains
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/cowboysindians.pdf

Here's a link to my photos of the mines and more links to the North Dakota and South Dakota newspaper stories on the abandoned uranium mines.
My MSN Spaces Photos of Riley Pass Abandoned Uranium Mine

The following are the Custer National Forest links and describe this act of genocide. They are worried more about the oil workers' health and safety than the toxic waste sites on the Custer National Forest draining into the Grand and Moreau Rivers. Downstream communities use these rivers as their drinking water.
Custer National Forest
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/custer/

Riley Pass Abandoned Uranium Mine
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/custer/projects/Planning/nepa/Riley_Pass/index.shtml

Sioux Oil and Gas Leasing Final Environmental Impact Statement
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/custer/projects/Planning/nepa/SiouxEIS/Index.htm

Here is the link to the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology. This inventory is not available to the reservations in South Dakota. Very few people know its existence.

Abandoned-Inactive Mines on
Custer National Forest-Administered Land, Open-File Report MBMG 421
http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/pdf-open-files/mbmg421-Custer.pdf

This link is to an excellent CERCLA/Superfund primer, download it. It should be apparent to you what is wrong with the CERCLA process as this relates to the abandoned uranium mines and the health crises in Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD). This health crises was not considered during the remediation process, the US Forest Service had consultation meetings with the SRST Tribal Historic Preservaton Officer and used this as justification for continuing the CERCLA process without including the health crises in their Risk Assessment.

CERCLA/SUPERFUND Orientation Manual
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/resources/remedy/pdf/542r-92005-s.pdf

Is your hamburger tainted by radioactivity? Do you know where your beef steak came from, I hope it wasn't from here in northwestern South Dakota.
Molybdenosis in an Area Underlain by Uranium-bearing Lignites in the Northern Great Plains
http://jrm.library.arizona.edu/data/1983/363/2ston.pdf

The following link describes the level of incompetence of our state in managing environmental progams funded by the US EPA. We were very fortunate to have met the deadline for the commenting period. Charmaine White Face and I made comments that caused them to begin monitoring all of the western South Dakota rivers for radiation contamination. Charmaine's comment begin on page 187 and my comment start on page 190 of the pdf file. If you read into it, you will see the cut and paste job and the "fill in the blanks" attitude of this department. LOL

THE 2006 SOUTH DAKOTA INTEGRATED REPORT FOR SURFACE WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT
http://www.state.sd.us/denr/Documents/06IRFinal.pdf

The following article describes clearly the same situation as is currently occurring in the Custer National Forest with respect to the uraniferous lignite radioactive contamination of the environment. This gives me hope since North Dakota didn't wait for CERCLA to cleanup their abandoned uraniferous lignite mines. Instead they just reclaimed these mines using their own funds and established over 120 groundwater monitoring stations near these reclaimed mines.
Volcanic Ash in North Dakota
http://www.state.nd.us/ndgs/minerals/nd_uran_h.htm

Here is another rumor control tactic (costs the US EPA $200,000) since it is too hard to just tell the truth: Enough studies already, clean it up!!!

Study of abandoned uranium mining impacts on private lands surrounding the North Cave Hills, South Dakota
http://www.cavehills.org/index.html

Defenders of the Black Hills Video Available

A 12-minute video about the work of Defenders of the Black Hills, produced by the Seventh Generation Fund, is now available from the Defenders' office. For a copy of the video, send a self-addressed, stamped padded CD mailer to Defenders of the Black Hills, PO Box 2003, Rapid City SD 57709. Donations welcome.

DESTRUCTION OF THE BLACK HILLS



Riley Pass Abandoned Uranium Mine Video (sorry about the video quality)


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Picnic Springs Campground and canyon 3 miles north of the Riley Pass Abandoned Uranium Mine, sorry about the video quality, but it does show the beautiful wilderness that is being destroyed by unregulated energy development in South Dakota!



The Uranium Mines..."Visually Speaking"...To All Of Us!



Yellow Dust



Watch more of shonie777's video on YouTube, this artist has real talent.
www.youtube.com/user/shonie777

Rock Creek (Bullhead, South Dakota) looking southeast



Anthony Swift Cloud's family swimming in the radioactively contaminated Grand River, I told him about the problem at the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine and the fact that he is swimming in very dangerous water.



This is radioactive stormwater runoff, the base of the mine is in the distance. Photo courtesy of Portage Environmental, Inc.



This is the next year, they have fixed it May 2005



This spring March 2006



This sign has been stolen by unknown thieves. We have requested that the US Forest Service replace the signs but still has not. There is one other sign but is relatively inaccessible.



The Defenders of the Black Hills inspecting the Riley Pass Abandoned Uranium Mine standing on the high wall on the west side of the mine.



The Defenders of the Black Hills


More photos of Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine

URANIUM SUMMIT August 17-18 Reva Gap Campgrounds: Custer National Forest