Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

The Surface Transportation Board will Conduct a Public Meeting on the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad (DM&E) on Thursday, Nov 2,2000, from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City.

Anyone concerned about the 30,000 people of the Pine Ridge Reservation and the sacred Black Hills need to speak and also write letters because:

      1. The DM&E Railroad plans to build a new railroad line around the northwest corner of the Pine Ridge Reservation. This is a violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 and 1868.

      2. The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council and the OST Council has already passed a resolution opposing the building of this railroad line but have been ignored.

      3. Air pollutants created by surface mining of coal in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming is carried by the wind and is causing increased air pollution in the Black HIlls and the Pine Ridge Reservation.

      4. Air pollutants created by surface mining of coal in the Powder Rivber Basin in Wyoming could casue acid rain in the Black HIlls and the Pine Ridge Reservation.

      5. The DM&E Railroad with its many trains will cause increased air pollution of coal dust, diesel fumes, and exhaust on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

      6. The DM&E Railroad with its many trains will increase the chance of fires on the northwestern portion of the reservation and in Red Shirt village.

      7. The land on which the DM&E railroad track is to be built contains historic massacre sites.

      8. The DM&E Railroad track and its trains will stop the migratory path of the pronghorn antelope back to their winter home in the Black Hills.

      9. The land that the DM&E railroad track is to be built on is shale which is very unstable and cuases landslides among other things.

      10. A question that hasn't been answered is: what will be carried in the empty rail cars on their return trip to Wyoming?

Send your letters to: Office of the Secretary Case Control Unit, Attention: Victoria Rutson, STB Finance Docket No. 33407, Surface Transportation Board, 1925 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20423-0001

Charmaine White Face is a former treasurer of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and is a freelance writer.