Rapid City-based Pete Lien & Sons withdrew its plan of operations for a graphite drilling project in the Black Hills on Thursday, according to a letter provided Friday by the Indigenous advocacy group NDN Collective. The company told the U.S. Forest Service it does not intend to file another plan for the project, the letter said.
The project drew sharp opposition because of its location near Pe’Sla, a meadow in the Black Hills where Sioux tribes hold ceremonies and pray throughout the year. The land is also used for buffalo grazing. Tribal leaders and advocates argued the drilling threatened a cultural and spiritual cornerstone of their communities.
Opponents filed two federal lawsuits challenging the Forest Service’s approval of the project. Nine tribes — from South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska — sued the agency, alleging it violated the National Historical Preservation Act and the National Environmental Protection Act when it granted permits without an environmental review. NDN Collective and several environmental groups brought a separate suit, arguing the project did not qualify for the categorical exclusion from environmental review that the Forest Service had applied.
In the second case, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order on Monday, May 4, that barred Pete Lien & Sons from proceeding with drilling for two weeks. The cancellation came before the order expired.
NDN Collective described the withdrawal as “today’s win is multi-faceted and offers a blueprint for future land defense fights.” A spokesman for Pete Lien & Sons and a Forest Service representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the Associated Press reported.
The Black Hills, named for the dark appearance of their pine- and spruce-covered slopes, have long been a fault line between mining interests and tribes. The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie recognized the hills as Sioux territory, but the U.S. government seized the land after gold was discovered there. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that the tribes were owed compensation for the taking — roughly $100 million — but the Sioux nations have refused the payment, insisting on the return of the land itself. Tensions over resource extraction on and near sacred sites have simmered for decades, with the Pe’Sla drilling project the latest episode in that unresolved history.