Uranium rumors roil Oglala tribal politics

Diverse factions join in opposition to mining

By Bill Harlan, Journal staff | Sunday, December 09, 2007

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Oglala Sioux Tribe President John Yellow Bird Steele has easily survived a uranium-related impeachment vote.

Meanwhile, a New York energy company is appealing a tribal judge's order banning the company from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Adding pressure to the dispute are soaring uranium prices and a boom in uranium exploration throughout the West, including two exploration projects west of the reservation near Edgemont.

So far, no mining company has even applied for a permit to explore on the reservation.

However, the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, which is independent of tribal government, said in an "impeachment complaint" that Steele had worked with the Native American Energy Group of Forest Hills, N.Y., "to develop a plan to explore for and mine uranium on the reservation."

The Rapid City Journal was unable to reach Steele last week, but last month, he told the Journal: "We're not going to mine uranium on the reservation. Yes, there were some individuals who mentioned it. They didn't bring a formal proposal to the council."

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council -- the official legislative body of the tribe -- exonerated Steele, voting 14 to 1 Monday to reject the treaty council's call for impeachment.

"There wasn't really even any discussion," Garfield Little Dog, a tribal council member from the Wounded Knee District, said. (Little Dog said he abstained because he is Steele's brother.)

Little Dog also pointed out that the tribal council had passed its own resolution opposing uranium mining.

Native American Energy Group's two principal officers, Raj Nanvaan and Joseph D'Arrigo, said in a telephone interview last week that their company had never mined uranium anywhere and had not made a formal proposal to the tribe. "There are no drafts of any agreements," D'Arrigo said.

However, the company did raise the subject of uranium, after discussion about other proposals.

Native American Energy has oil and gas interests on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana, Nanvaan said, and on other reservations he would not name.

The three-year-old company also has a license from a Canadian company to build energy-efficient, prefabricated homes, Nanvaan said. "Fifteen homes can be erected per day."

Last March, D'Arrigo and Nanvaan said, they met with met with tribal housing officials to discuss building homes on Pine Ridge -- financing the projects from grants from U.S. government agencies, private groups or even the World Bank.

Nanvaan said the company also explored bringing some kind of industry to the reservation, but he said the poor quality of water would have made that difficult. "It's no secret that the water there is contaminated," he said.

D'Arrigo and Nanvaan cited a USGS study that found on Pine Ridge some evidence of uranium level that exceeded Environmental Protection Agency standards. There is no oil or gas on Pine Ridge, they said, but if natural uranium was already contaminating groundwater, the tribe might be able to earn money by removing it.

D'Arrigo said they proposed a groundwater study on Pine Ridge. The study would be done by an independent contractor of the tribe's choice, and Native American Energy would pay for it. Nanvaan estimated the study would cost at least $5 million, and maybe more.

In return, according to D'Arrigo, his company would have "right of first refusal" to recover uranium, possibly using injection wells in a process called in situ leach mining.

D'Arrigo also emphasized that any proposal would have included a call for a reservation-wide referendum.

"At the end of the day, it's their land and their decision," D'Arrigo said.

D'Arrigo said rumors and misinformation had distorted his company's intentions. "Nobody's laid it out for them," he said. D'Arrigo also thinks the 14 to 1 vote to exonerate Steele showed that his company does have some support on the tribal council. "We're very confident everything will work out just fine," D'Arrigo said.

Uranium, however, is a hot-button issue most places -- and especially on South Dakota reservations.

An environmental group called Defenders of the Black Hills, which also advocates for tribes' treaty rights, is challenging uranium exploration and mining proposals in the Edgemont area, off the reservation. The group also has protested contamination from old uranium mines in northwestern South Dakota.

Little Dog said the tribal council supported the efforts of Defenders of the Black Hills.

The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, which opposes President Steele and the current Oglala Sioux Tribal Council on many issues, also supports Defenders of the Black Hills in opposing uranium mining. Treaty council spokesman Floyd Hand said his group also was opposing ongoing uranium mining at Crow Buttes, Neb.

In other words, Native American Energy has big hurdles to clear.

First, the company must win its case at the tribe's Supreme Court. Then, the company has to overcome the tribal council's uranium-mining ban. Then, if exploration turns up uranium on Pine Ridge, the company would have to win a referendum on a proposal that might draw opposition from two factions normally opposed to each other.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com