New prison in Box Elder could tap federal dollars for Oahe pipeline boondoggle

Officials at Ellsworth Air Force Base say water wells in Box Elder have tested far above the US Environmental Protection Agency health advisory level at 551,000 parts per trillion for two chemicals, PFOS and PFOA, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — compounds in foam used to fight petroleum-based fires at a site where pit fires are common. Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls is poisoned with over 255,000 parts per trillion and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota suffers 453,000 parts per trillion.

There are 679 military bases in the United States with known or suspected PFAS contamination and according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) the Department of Defense has not fully briefed farmers about the likely pollution of surface and groundwater near some 36 of 126 military bases with the highest parts per trillion of PFAS contamination.

And speaking of poisoning your own water supplies then begging for more federal money for a Missouri River pipeline that would lift water nearly two thousand feet in elevation then pump it a hundred and fifty miles for lawns, Rally campgrounds and Ellsworth with tax dollars spent on carving through Native America for white privilege instead of empowering communities to harvest snowmelt and rainwater rural communities are still dependent on politicians who exploit need.

Now imagine a state prison built on land seized from Indigenous cultures then housing a majority per capita Native American population in a new men's prison in Box Elder on purloined property then fast track the proposed Oahe water pipeline.