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HAROLD ONE FEATHER
Uranium Runs Through It
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Heyoka Magazine: When and where
did you first discover these dangerous abandoned uranium mines?
Harold One Feather: I first heard about the Riley Pass abandoned
uranium mine in the spring of 1997 from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Cultural Resource Planner, La Donna Brave Bull-Allard; she said that the Grey
Eagle Society of Pine Ridge / Rapid City told her that there were uranium mine
tailings out there. Then the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as part of the Sioux
Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Environmental Impact Statement organized a meeting
on June 6-7, 1997 at Picnic Springs, North Cave Hills Unit, Sioux Ranger
District, Custer National Forest; I attended this meeting and asked to see
the abandoned uranium mine tailings. The US Forest Service said that the
meeting was about the cultural resources on the Cave Hills and not the
uranium mine, more specifically, the USFS was more concerned about the
petroglyphs that were being vandalized by unknown people and the amount of
the other graffiti that was being added to the sites where there were
petroglyphs.
At this meeting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sent as its representatives
Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Tim Mentz, Sr., Cultural Resource
Planner La Donna Brave Bull-Allard, SRST EPA Officer Cynthia Moore, SRST
Community Health Representative Director John Eagle Shield, the SRST BIA
Firefighters and many young students from the SRST Grant School.
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My tribe is well aware of the mine but not the affected communities such as
Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD) and Running Antelope (Little Eagle, SD). To
protect these resources at the Custer National Forest, the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe, as recommended by Tim Mentz, Sr. SRST-THPO, issued a resolution
569-97 saying the cultural properties are sacred.
The next year I tried to organize an
informational meeting concerning the abandoned uranium mines at the Custer
National Forest, but had to postpone due to inclement weather.
HM: When you first saw these mine sites
back in 1997; do you remember seeing any warning signs posted by any
of the agencies you mentioned, of
the potential health hazards of uranium exposure?
Harold One Feather: In 1997 there were no signs posted at all; I don't know
the actual number of radiological hazard signs they posted in 2002.
As of 2004 I saw two signs, one was stolen. In 2005 I went to the
Pickpocket mine which is about two miles east of the Riley Pass mine
and have seen a sign post that had the radiological hazard sign
stolen.
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HM: How far are these abandoned uranium mines from the reservations
and the general population and when did you first learn about people getting sick from the uranium contamination?
Harold One Feather: As the crow flies,
the nearest Native community is Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD) and it is 110
miles downstream.
With respect to the steadily emerging
health problems in Rock Creek,
my mother died at 41 of cancer, my
father died at 33 of heart disease, my aunt died of cancer, and
there are many other people in the community that have died of
cancer. There are also many miscarriages by young women occurring
right now. On the Standing
Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, there is a very marked increase in
diabetes rates and cancer; they just haven't been given the proper
motivation to determine the cause since for them it is easier to
blame alcoholism; this defeatist attitude stops with me. The Indian
Health Service has been blaming alcoholism for too long; I know that
this is not the case with several of the other unfortunate cancer
deaths that could be explained by alcoholism.
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Another issue that I would like to discuss is that there are four major
federal agencies that have water management authorities on the Grand River;
they are the US Bureau of Reclamation, US Army Corps of Engineers, USDA
Natural Resource Conservation Service and the US Forest Service. Although I
might seem presumptuous in assuming that only the US Forest Service is the
only agency that is aware of the uranium mines, none of the other mentioned
entities are monitoring water quality on the Grand River and they definitely
aren't monitoring for radionuclides.
Currently as a result of my insistence, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, through their SRST EPA department, has started investigating
the radiological hazards in the Grand River; I have included these results but please note that this table was compiled on Microsoft Works and was conducted during years of drought. There will be more sampling
conducted in the future.
Another issue is that prior to the new water system installed in Rock
Creek several years ago, the water came from the alluvial aquifer
which drew water from 10 feet under the surface and 150 feet from the Grand River. The water from the household taps existing during this time were never sampled for radionuclides.
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Grand River South Dakota
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The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River
reservations were at the center of the so-called Ghost Dance uprising
among the Lakota in 1890 and home to
Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Black Elk. |
In addition, there are major oil
drilling operations occurring near the North Cave Hills area yet there
aren't any surface water or groundwater sampling conducted by any of the
previously mentioned federal entities. The US Forest Service in its Sioux
Oil and Gas Leasing FEIS
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/custer
states the oil
drilling must be regulated to protect groundwater resources from
contamination in "Section 3.10.1.2 Forest Plan Direction" but no mention is
made of actual water quality monitoring, in other words, they aren't going
to monitor these oil wells yet they are going to lease the public lands for
oil drilling.
- HM: Does the Grand river run near
these mines and flow towards the grasslands near Rock Creek, Standing Rock
reservation or the other communities?
- Harold One Feather: The Riley Pass
Abandoned Uranium Mine flows into both the north and south forks of the
Grand River. Following the link and I have attached the
results of the link as a jpeg image.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/custer/projects/Planning/nepa/SiouxEIS/map.packet/Location_map_Ch1_Ver5.pdf
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- HM: What about fish, cattle, birds,
fauna or wild
life that drink from this Grand River water?
Do they show any unusual symptoms?
- Harold One Feather: Cattle and sheep in the
area suffer from molybdenosis, meaning they have copper deficiency which
causes their coats to become white. Every now and then a deformed fish
or frog is caught in the Grand River.
HM: When you said "they just haven't
been given the proper motivation to determine the cause" Do you mean US
Bureau of Reclamation, US Army Corps of Engineers, USDA Natural Resource
Conservation Service and the US Forest Service?
Harold One Feather: All of the mentioned federal agencies aren't
working together to address this problem but yet they have water management
authorities in the Grand River.
The ACOE manages the Bowman-Haley dam on the north fork of the Grand River
about 15 miles from the mine.
The Bureau of Reclamation manages the Shadehill dam which is at the
confluence of the north and south forks of the Grand River.
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Custer National Forest
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The NRCS manages water quality as it pertains to the EPA program section 319
non-point source pollution prevention program.
The US Forest Service manages the uranium mines on the Custer National
Forest and has taken the position that they don't know what happens to the
water after it leaves forest boundaries.
In my MSN Spaces photos, there is a slide describing what the US
Forest doesn't know. I'll include the link for convenience to you.
http://spaces.msn.com/uraniummine
In 2003 the US Forest Service
issued an imminent threat of a hazardous release under CERCLA
(Superfund) to the SRST THPO Tim Mentz, Sr. His associate Byron
Olson gave me a copy and I gave a copy to the Defenders of the Black
Hills in 2004. As is apparent, they have not acted on this CERCLA
warning letter, so I did.
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My main point is that these
federal agencies are either not aware of the radiological hazards
associated with the abandoned uranium mines in the Custer National
Forest or they are deliberate part of the genocide through their
staff. It is a case of who
really should conduct intensive water monitoring sampling surveys
and has the authority to enforce pollution violations; with the
reservation downstream who has the jurisdiction?
Let us not forget that the State of South
Dakota also doesn't monitor water quality on the Grand River yet they
have been authorizing oil and gas leasing of public lands.
HM: So what you are
saying
so far is that there have been no government studies or tests on the water to see
if there are high doses of uranium?
Harold One Feather: The only samples that have been conducted on
the site and the other mines at South Cave Hills, and Slim Buttes. The SRST
EPA has only recently been conducting sampling for radionuclides. I know of
two other reports conducted under contract by the SRST; one was conducted in
1984 by the Morrison-Maiaerle, Inc. as a Mineral Inventory by Dr. Charles
Robinson (I will forward that also) and the other was conducted by the BIA,
I have the file and will forward that also. The latter report detailed the
uranium potential of the SRST reservation but didn't analyze water quality,
the former by Dr. Charles Robinson concluded that although SRST had a large
uranium potential, this was not the source of the contamination in the Grand
River and left it as that.
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Deformed frogs |

Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine |
I have read the link before and it is included in both the Portage Risk
Assessment in the Riley Pass Uranium Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis at
their website and the Sioux Oil and Gas Leasing FEIS but was only included
after the comment period was over.
That also is stated in the FEIS.
Personally I feel that including the uranium mine material after the
commenting period was over was the greatest mistake that the US Forest
Service made in the EIS process and will have the greatest repercussions in
terms of natural resources damages, personal damage/wrongful deaths lawsuits
and job/contract terminations. The US Forest Service should issue a SEIS
(Supplement Environmental Impact Statement) if they are going to continue
changing the FEIS rather than trying to include them without public
comments. The US Forest Service also conducted an Environmental Assessment
named the "Riley Pass Uranium Reclamation Project" April, 1992, that was
never published for comment; personally I am against any more studies and
would rather see all of the mines reclaimed and made safe for the future to
enjoy and that compensation be paid to the victims, deceased and potential,
of radiation poisoning by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since they were
the ones buying the uranium as the Atomic Energy Commission when the uranium
mines were active.
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In addition, most of the material added to the FEIS was conducted by the
Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology "Abandoned-Inactive Mines on the Custer
National Forest-Administered Land" 2003 which MBMG used to close a part of
the National Forest due to radiological hazards that had radiation levels
far below what is on the Riley Pass uranium mine and the other mines listed
in this inventory. In fact, if I didn't search through the bibliography of
the Sioux Range Analysis, I would never have known of this inventories
existence.
HM: Do you know if anyone has done any private independent testing of
the water?
Harold One Feather: The only group that I
know of that has conducted water quality testing is the Defender of the
Black Hills Coordinator Charmaine White Face.
HM: Have the main stream media showed any
interest in this situation?
Harold One Feather: Are you
interested? Other than the links on MSN Spaces, That is it!!! If this
were a small isolated white community, there would be heads rolling and
people getting their medical expenses paid and claims for wrongful deaths.
Since both of the affected reservations Cheyenne River and Standing Rock are
populated by Natives, they just don't care unless it starts some sort of
violent confrontation. Basically it is racism and genocide!!!!!!
HM:
Do you know if the mainstream media, television stations, newspapers,
magazines, radio have been made aware of the peculiar health problems?
Harold One Feather: I have listed most of the newspapers that have
printed the events occurring out at the North Cave Hills and of course,
there are those other newspapers out of Montana and the eastern South
Dakota, but they aren't very detailed or describe the threats to
downstream/downwind communities.
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Secretary Steve Pirner |
I was also on NPR and have included that
link. I have no confidence in any of the federal agencies I
previously stated, in fact, I feel that subconsciously they wished I
was dead!!!
- As for the State of South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural
Resources Secretary Pirner stated several times while being questioned by
the State Tribal Relations Committee early this spring about if the DENR
conducted any water quality studies in Harding County or any county on the
Grand River, he would evade the issue with the statement, "I don't want the
State and the tribes to get into a fight." There are several witnesses to
his statement; what does a jurisdictional dispute have to do with protecting
the health of people in this state?
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HM: Have any of these
reporters showed any real interest in this situation?
Harold One Feather: The only news reporter interested in my story was Jomay
Steen of the Rapid City Journal; she has heard me speak before and did
finally get the chance a couple of weeks ago. She asked almost the same
questions you did.
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HM: So none of the major networks have reported on this? ABC, CBS, CNN,
FOX Television etc. etc.
Harold One Feather: No
major networks!!!. They could focus on just how irresponsible the US
Forest Service has been or just how much money they have been
wasting on meetings and studies. But if we talk about genocide in
South Dakota, they will not listen or at least I am assuming this.
If this situation happened to small white community, they would call
it murder; since it happened to small Native communities,
it is called there are no mining laws to remedy this situation. I
call it genocide.
HM: What about the
politicians. Governor Mike Rounds of South Dakota. Has he been of any help
and do you know if he is aware of what's going on with all these native people
dying in his state and under his watch - miscarriages, birth defects,
cancer etc. etc. etc.?
Harold One Feather: He is not
aware or at least I don't think so. The State of South Dakota is
aware but chooses to ignore it because they are leasing lands to
Canadian Mining Companies and thereby profiting from uranium mining
and expect more bidding for SD public lands meaning even more
profits
HM: Do you know the names of these Canadian
mining companies?
Energy Metals of
Vancouver, British Columbia Strathmore Minerals Corporation, Kelowna, BC
Neutron Energy of Casper, Wyo., and Phoenix
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Governor Mike Rounds
of South Dakota
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These companies lease public lands in South Dakota but are not the ones that
caused the environmental damage at the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine;
this company is KERMAC Nuclear Fuels Corp., a subsidiary of Kerr-McGee,
Oklahoma. The State of South Dakota has established 100% reclamation bonding
for energy companies that want to conduct ISL (In situ leaching) solution
uranium mining; the problem is that since there aren't any water quality
monitoring programs being conducted in the areas where there is uraniferous
lignite as in Harding or Fall River counties, they would not be able to
determine if there is any natural resources damage or aquifer contamination
until after it occurs.
This is what lead to this issue at the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mines.
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HM: You mean the company founded in the 40s
by Dean A. McGee and democratic senator Robert S. Kerr. You believe they are
responsible for this uranium contamination and what this has caused; death,
uranium cancers, miscarriages, disease etc? Also, what about
the clean up?
Harold One Feather: Kerr-McGee of Oklahoma is responsible for the mess at
the Riley Pass; they have been discussing with the US Forest Service their
desires to reclaim this mine for more than 40 years. This is in the
Administrative record at Camp Crook, SD, they have submitted
reclamation plans to the US Forest Service; I don't understand why the US
Forest Service has not allowed them to reclaim the mines then.
- Now the US Forest Service has received $22
million for reclamation, will Kerr-McGee be allowed to use this fund to
reclaim the mines finally? You ask them.
HM: Do you know the death statistics of cancer at Standing rock
reservation. How many fetuses have died, children, babies who have had cancer or
have died of cancer, leukemia or other strange illnesses?
- Harold One Feather: The IHS has the statistics but in the past, they
have not released this information to the public. Hopefully as this issue
becomes more public, they will release these records.
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Senator Robert S. Kerr.
founder of Kerr McGee |
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Harold One Feather
www.defendblackhills.org
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HM: What about Homestake mines; do you think they have a role in this
situation?
Harold One Feather: There is really no relationship other
than the lack of legitimate water quality monitoring survey that
could be summarized and made easier for the general public to
understand.
- HM: What about Secretary
Pirner and The Department of Environment and Natural Resources
and his comment "I don't want the State and the tribes to get
into a fight." What do you think he means by this?
Does this comment have any validity or a ring of truth in your
opinion?
Harold One Feather: The main
witness to his statement is Charmaine White Face; she was at the
meeting also. Steve Pirner is definitely on the side of oil and
uranium development regardless of the impacts on Standing Rock.
HM: What is this Federal Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1983 about on secretary Pirners
website.
http://www.state.sd.us/denr/des/drinking/dwprg.htm
Harold One Feather: As for the
link to the SD DENR materials, that is so much a farce; most of the
US EPA grants are applied in eastern South Dakota, there are
definitely none for water quality monitoring in western South Dakota
and this should be very obvious. If you read more into their
website, you'll understand.
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Links to articles in
Rapid City Journal
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