I have just sent the following comment to the US Forest Service in opposition to the proposed Rare Element Resources Inc. project to develop an open-pit mine with associated infrastructure and support facilities. The project also includes reclamation, monitoring, mitigation, and closing.
The Black Hills (South Dakota) Clean Water Alliance is organizing a national/international campaign to defeat this horribly destructive project.
The proposed Rare Earth mineral mining project would be located approximately 12 miles north of Sundance, Wyoming, and includes 1,060 acres of National Forest Service lands and 640 acres of private lands.
This site called Mato Tapila (Bear Lodge) has been a sacred spiritual gathering site for indigenous tribes throughout the entire region that includes South Dakota, Wyoming and beyond for countless generations.
Comments are now needed to the US Forest Service in opposition to this project. I urge you all to send comments using the easy form at:
Here is what I wrote:
I have been to the sacred Bear Lodge site and am astounded that this proposed plan for a 100+ acre open pit mine next to it is being considered. How could the government do such a deceitful thing?
The site of the proposed project is located entirely on territory delineated in the 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie, which was signed and entered into by both The Great Sioux Nation and the United States government. Why can't the government ever honor its agreements?
This project will have a horrific impact on our Mother Earth through the local air quality; potential exposure to radioactive or hazardous elements; desecration of the sacred site; affect on wildlife species and habitats, including northern long-eared bats; and impacts on local water resources and quality, acid rock drainage, and radiation risks associated with processing rare earth-bearing mineral deposits.
All said, it is a disaster in the making.
I absolutely oppose this farce of an operation for all the environmental reasons stated just above. But I also totally oppose this on spiritual and moral grounds.
Mato Tapila is a sacred spiritual jewel for many indigenous tribes from the region. This operation is a moral outrage as it flies in the face of the treaty giving these lands to the tribes. It represents another betrayal by our sick-minded government once again showing the world that the word of Washington is worth absolutely nothing.
Every single person with their dirty hands in this ugly pie should be ashamed.
Brunswick, Maine
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