Native Organizers Alliance - Submit public comment to save sacred Pipestone National Monument from destruction

 

Patricia, In modern-day Minnesota, Pipestone National Monument is the only place with sacred red pipestone, which is known among the Oceti Sakowin as “the blood of our people.” Tribal members carry on ancient practices there, such as quarrying the stone by hand to carve ceremonial pipes, as well as sacred ceremonies, prayers, sweat lodges, and sun dances. But this sacred place is under threat: The fossil fuel corporation Magellan wants to route an oil pipeline through it. As Iktomi Wašte Wiŋyaŋ Favel with the Brave Heart Society explained, this project “to transport gas” within and adjacent to “one of our most sacred sites” could “be extremely fatal to our Oceti Sakowin spiritual way of life.” We’ve delayed this pipeline project by sending a flood of public comments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC), and now we need to speak up again to fully stop it. Please submit a public comment now to oppose the oil pipeline that could destroy the sacred C’an O’he (now known as Pipestone National Monument). SIGN NOW TO SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT Thanks to people like you back in 2024, we submitted over 25,000 official public comments to lift up the Yankton Sioux Tribe’s objections to the PUC’s environmental analysis on the pipeline. Then we sent 24,000 sign-ons in support of the Tribe’s official request to appeal the Commission’s decision to approve the project. The Minnesota Public Utility Commissioners listened. They cited the public backlash as a main reason why they rescinded their permit for the pipeline. They ordered the Magellan Corporation to center Tribes in future decision-making and coordinate with Tribes on cultural and archeological surveys of the area. But Magellan violated these orders, including the order to hire surveyors with expertise in cultural surveys. Sidelining Tribes, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, and key sacred sites from their cultural survey makes their survey unacceptable. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has again opened up a public comment period, inviting comments on what actions the Commission should take with the new survey, and what actions they should take regarding the permit for the proposed pipeline project. They need to hear from you to reject the incomplete survey and to deny the project altogether. That’s what they need to do in order to protect the sacred Pipestone National Monument, Tribal sovereignty and cultural continuity, and endangered species and ecosystems. Please sign now to submit a public comment calling on the Public Utilities Commission to deny a permit for this dangerous pipeline and protect the sacred Pipestone National Monument. SIGN TO SEND COMMENT Hawwih (thank you) for defending this sacred place and Tribal sovereignty. Taking action to protect Pipestone also protects treaty rights, such as the 1858 treaty signed by the Mdewakanton, Sioux, Wahpekute Tribes with the federal government, which secured “free and unrestricted use of the red pipestone quarry.” We’ll continue partnering with the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Brave Heart Society, a traditional women’s society on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, to protect Pipestone and to re-establish the Oceti Sakowin’s inherent rights to co-manage the Missouri River Bioregion, in accordance with traditional Native teachings and values. With your support, together we’ll keep building Native political power to co-manage our ancestral lands and waters for the health of Mother Earth, our climate, all living beings, and our descendants. Judith LeBlanc (Caddo) Executive Director PROTECT SACRED PLACES

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