In South Dakota gravel trumps gold

As yet another sacred site in the Black Hills is being probed, threatening to destroy Indigenous cultural centers is simply another American tradition. Rapid City attorney David Ganje tells readers how waste rock and overburden can be more valuable than the ore it covers.

In the natural resources, mining and geological fields, the ‘experts’ are reluctant to call gravel a mineral. It matters not whether they are a lawyer, judge or geologist. Gravel is everywhere – in South Dakota alone, there are more than 1,800 permits for gravel mining on file with the Department of Mining and Natural Resources. As a result, the term ‘mineral’ will sometimes be construed so as to include gravel, and other times to exclude gravel. On private land, gravel rights are managed by the state. In South Dakota no statute provides a definition for ‘mineral’ or ‘mineral interest’ with the purpose of explaining existing mineral interests or leases. On federal land, where the federal government has reserved mineral interests, the analysis is similarly convoluted. This may indicate that whether or not a specific federal mineral reservation includes gravel can depend heavily on the composition of the court at the time of the case. [Ganje: Don’t look for the gold, look for the gravel]

Thank you, Nino Scalia, for reminding us why Democrats need to control not just the federal bench but every court and every jurisdiction. Yes, white people have cashed in on the General Mining Law of 1872.

Estimates of the number of such abandoned mine sites range from 161,000 in 12 western states to as many as 500,000 nationwide. At least 33,000 have degraded the environment, according to the Government Accountability Office, and thousands more are discovered every year. In 2017, the EPA proposed requiring companies still operating mines to post cleanup bonds or offer other financial assurances so taxpayers don’t end up footing cleanup bills. The Trump administration halted the rule, but environmental groups are scheduled to appear in federal court next month in a lawsuit that seeks to revive it. [US mining sites dump 50M gallons of fouled wastewater daily]

Republican former State Senator Stan Adelstein's ancestors owned a store in Kadoka, adjacent to the Pine Ridge Reservation: he is vested in many mining interests from gold to gravel on stolen treaty lands.

Photo: the wanton destruction of an entire northern Black Hills ecosystem is clearly evident.

Three years into the Trump administration and Superfund appears to be in worse shape than ever. https://t.co/vHip8zfqDx

— grist (@grist) January 13, 2020