Last updated on 2026-05-09
That was fast: NDN Collective launched protests at Pe’ Sla last week; they won a temporary injunction in federal court Tuesday; and now today, their target, Pete Lien and Sons mining company, appears to have decided not to continue drilling for graphite near the sacred grassland in the middle of the Black Hills:
Today, NDN Collective was notified that Pete Lien & Sons sent a letter to the United States Forest Service, officially withdrawing their plan of operations for the Rochford Mineral Exploratory Drilling Project (RMEDP) at Pe’ Sla.
This victory follows a week of concentrated action by community and tribal leaders in South Dakota to protect the land. From the land defenders who occupied two active drill pads for a week, to fighting in the courts through multiple lawsuits and a temporary restraining order, today’s win is multi-faceted and offers a blueprint for future land defense fights.
Pe’ Sla is sacred to the Lakota, who have visited the site for thousands of years. It is actively utilized for prayer, ceremony, and cultural activities – and with today’s victory, will be the site for many more ceremonies to come.
“Today’s successful protection of Pe’ Sla, which is the result of courageous land defense by the community, strategic legal action, and collective prayer, marks a great victory for the people and Mother Earth,” said Wizipan Garriott, president of NDN Collective. “We must build on this win to continue the people’s work to secure a bright future for generations to come – in the Black Hills and beyond.”
“This victory reaffirms a critical human truth – that we all have a right to clean drinking water,” said Lilias Jarding, Executive Director of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance. “Community engagement and action forced an extractive company off our shared land. Today is a reminder that not only do we all have a duty to protect the Black Hills from harmful drilling and mining projects – but that we have the ability to win.” “From the very beginning of this battle, our ancestors were with us – we felt prayers coming to Pe’ Sla from all over Turtle Island,” said Valeriah Big Eagle, Director of He Sapa Initiatives at NDN Collective. “When we ground together in truth and what is right, led by our spiritual leaders and the next generation of warriors, we are unstoppable. This is just the beginning” [NDN Collective, press release, 2026.05.08].
Court documents indicate that Pete Lien and Sons had already completed exploratory drilling at seven of its eighteen permitted sites before NDN Collective began occupying the area on April 30.
Now, how about some collective action to get Donald Trump to stop drilling holes in the Constitution?
Update 2026.05.09 08:10 CDT: NDN Collective’s co-plaintiff Black Hills Clean Water Alliance posts the May 7 letter from Pete Lien and Sons to the U.S. Forest Service:
Tidemann also says the company will not apply for another Categorical Exclusion or file another Plan of Operations to drill for graphite at the contested site, which consisted of two areas straddling the South Rochford Road about five miles southwest of Rochford, one about a mile north of the northern edge of Pe’ Sla and the other closer to the northeast corner of the grassland.
OMG, is there anyone much bigger in western SD than PL&S? How TONE DEAF is this old, WEALTHY family corporation? Trump voters no doubt. Drill on Pe’ Sla????
The1864 Mining Law is completely for the birds. The Mineral Board and Thune and Noem and Rounds and Johnson have all likely been in their pockets. Ugh. No ethics and morals whatsoever. And graphite? “Raw” earth??
JFC.
Obviously grdz, (one encouraged to hang around here) must be one of their fave racist advisors! :o
Not “on”, but right next to Pe’ Sla, on both sides!
https://apnews.com/article/us-graphite-mining-lithium-batteries-6efea670a24e2a6570f2b978c8ad71b5
What else is left to take from Indians?
Project 2025 and the extreme white wing of the Republican Party want a not so civil war over critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI because oligarchs fear an admission of guilt implies liability and they will be compelled to pay reparations to Indigenous and to the descendants of enslaved people.
“Landback isn’t a slogan; it’s the solution to some of the biggest challenges we face as a society, from climate to racial justice to food sovereignty. Landback means reclaiming our power collectively to build the future that our great-grandchildren can thrive in.”
There are Indigenous Nations who can afford to buy much of the land in the public domain if it indeed goes up for sale and after a 23-year effort and $56 million about 47,000 acres in the Klamath Basin have been returned to the Yurok Tribe after studies showed how conservation goals are more effectively met when Indigenous peoples manage their own territories. There is at least a $billion in the fund for the Black Hills Claim just for instance so some day tribes will buy some of their own land from the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in occupied South Dakota and Wyoming.
Take it to the judge.