SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO)– Nine Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota tribes are suing the US National Forest Service.
According to a press release from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the lawsuit follows the Forest Service’s approval of a mineral exploration project in the Black Hills. The project is near the sacred site known as Pe’Sla, which is owned and used by the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota tribes for traditional, cultural, and religious ceremonies and practices.
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The tribes that filed the suit are the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Santee Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Yankton Sioux Tribe. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Cricut Court for the District of South Dakota.
The press release added that the tribes lawsuit contends that the Forest Service violated the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) by failing to include Pe’Sla within the area of potential effects, failing to engage in meaningful, mutual, and legally required government-to-government consultation with the tribes…