Pollution center stage at Smithfield site

In South Dakota the Big Sioux River is a toxic shit hole and is considered one of the most polluted in the US frequently ranked in the top 10 to 15 for toxic releases. Roughly 75-80% of the river is classified as impaired, with excessive E. coli bacteria and sediment from agricultural runoff, along with urban waste, making it unsafe for swimming. 

Smithfield gets a wrist-slap from South Dakota's Republican-owned Department of Aggravation and Natural Ruination nearly every year for discharging toxic pollution into the Big Sioux River but it is usually a measly sum. Smithfield Foods has historically been the leading industrial polluter of the Big Sioux River, though it was recently overtaken by Wharf Resources gold mine as the state's top toxic releaser.

Pollutants include but not limited to: 1. Refrigeration Chemicals (Very Common, High Risk) 2. Cleaning & Sanitation Chemicals (Long-Term Soil Impact) 3. Fuel Storage & Petroleum Products (Very Common Superfund Trigger) 4. Rendering & Waste Disposal Residues 5. Heavy Metals (Building & Equipment Related) 6. Asbestos (Extremely Likely in 100-Year-Old Facility) 7. PCBs (Mid-Century Electrical Equipment) 8. Nitrites & Nitrates (From Curing Operations) 9. Smokehouses & Combustion Residues 10. Pesticides & Rodenticides 

A site becomes a Superfund site when: contamination is significant, there is groundwater impact, there is off-site migration and responsible parties cannot fund cleanup. A slaughterhouse alone doesn’t automatically equal Superfund, but: the biggest Superfund triggers in this type of facility would be leaking underground fuel tanks, PCB contamination, large-scale petroleum contamination, significant groundwater nitrate pollution, industrial ammonia system leaks and buried waste lagoons.

Current Environmental Status & Remediation Plans

• Nitrate & Ammonia Legacy: Historically, the plant was the state’s largest toxic chemical emitter, primarily due to nitrates released into the Big Sioux River. While a $45 million wastewater upgrade in 2023 reduced these emissions by 77%, the legacy of over 5 million pounds of waste annually (recorded as recently as 2021) suggests significant soil and riverbed impact to be addressed.
• The "Sanford District" Transformation: City officials plan to turn the remediated site into a "whole other downtown" extension called the Sanford District.
• Timeline: Redevelopment is not expected to begin in earnest until at least 2030, after the new plant is operational and the old one is demolished.  
  While not currently a Superfund site, its 100+ year history aligns with the triggers you noted:
  • Structural Hazards: Given its 1909 origin, asbestos and lead-based paint are highly probable in the demolition phase.
  • Chemical Spikes: The facility has faced past fines for massive ammonia violations (over 20 times the daily limit), indicating the high risk of the refrigeration systems you mentioned.
  • Groundwater & Soil: The sheer volume of wastewater (3 million gallons per day) and the concentration of nitrate compounds pose a risk of long-term soil contamination that the $50 million cleanup fund is intended to resolve. 

The Black Hills National Forest is broken

Dave Mertz is a retired natural resource officer for the Black Hills National Forest who attended a 2024 roundtable discussion in Spearditch hosted by South Dakota's Earth hating US Representative Dusty Johnson when Johnson sicced two fellow Republican congress members on Regional Forester Frank Beum and BHNF Supervisor Shawn Cochran. Mertz' comment below appears at a Colorado Springs forest policy blog.

Regarding [mountain pine beetle] treatments, if you get ahead of the beetles and thin to 40 BA (basal area), I believe it was affective here in the Black Hills. In some areas, very effective. Once the beetles are already in an area, it is a lot tougher to deal with them. It doesn’t work to go chasing after beetles. We also did a lot of “cut and chunk” where infested trees are cut into 2-foot lengths soon after infestation and left to dry. This is obviously very labor intensive and costly. There was some minor success with this, but I don’t think it was worth the effort or money. 

Regarding the benefits of thinning, there are pluses and minuses, but I think the pluses win the day. It is true that thinning, particularly heavy thinning, can increase the 20-foot windspeeds (this is why it works on MPB and disrupts their pheromones) and the reduction of shade increases the ground level temperatures. Trees also suck up a lot of water so if there are fewer of them, soil moistures should be higher. Regarding thinning and wildfires, it should reduce the likelihood of crown fire, but a big factor is what is left on the forest floor? Is it covered with activity fuels? Did the opening of the canopy facilitate a flush of growth (seedlings/saplings, grass, shrubs)? Was the stand rx burned after thinning? So, in my opinion, the answer is complex. Generally, I believe that thinning down to 60 BA or so, combined with rx burning is a good thing.

I agree that with high winds, low RH, high temps, and low fuel moistures, no fuel treatments will be effective. 

I did want to respond to your post on “Different Forests”. I agree that the Black Hills NF is probably different from a lot of the other Forests, but the truth is, I don’t really know if there are other Forests in the situation of having to cut more than what their best available science tells them is sustainable. The Chief and others have said that many (if not most) Forests are not cutting to their [allowable sale quantity], in some cases nowhere near their ASQ level. I don’t really know if that is a good metric to use. For instance, here on the Black Hills, our ASQ was developed in 1997 and the Forest was overstocked at that point. The Forest that exists today is not even remotely similar to the Forest that existed back then. I am going to guess that there are a lot of Forests out there with ASQ’s that are not viable with the conditions today. If your Forest has had large fires and/or bug kill, was the ASQ ever updated?

I can look up what Forests are selling in the cut and sold report and see who the big producers are, but how do I know if the levels they are selling are sustainable? ASQ is not always a good metric. The Chief wants an increase of 25% to the volume sold by FY 28. How did they come up with that number? Was there any analysis or was it as we used to say, a rectal extraction? [Dave Mertz]

Nothing is impossible

New Hampshire - Democratic Presidential Polling Among 18-34 Year Olds: AOC: 42% Buttigieg: 24% Harris: 9% Newsom: 6% Kelly: 5% Sanders: 5% Pritzker: 3% Beshear: 2% UNH / Feb 16, 2026

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— Polling USA (@usapolling.bsky.social) February 19, 2026 at 6:24 PM

Trump Organization ending environment protection because eugenics

In a new @newsweek.com, leaders from the @sierraclub.org, @nrdc.org, Environmental Defense Fund, and @earthjustice.org warn that the Trump administration’s latest Environmental Protection Agency pollution policy puts corporate profits ahead of public health.

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— Sierra Club (@sierraclub.org) February 15, 2026 at 8:30 AM

In past years the Trump Organization used the federal courts to punish tribal nations who built casinos Trump said were competition but in 2020 the White House deployed COVID-19 as a biological weapon in Indian Country. 

Star Trek canon describes how the Eugenics Wars cause WW3 so an episode of ST: Deep Space 9 written in 1994 and broadcast in 1995 but set in 2024 is unfolding today in Minneapolis, Chicago and in other blue cities. That war against people of color was resurrected in ST: Picard. 

Michigan ophthalmologist, John Tanton held white nationalist beliefs and wrote that to maintain American culture, “a European-American majority” is required. Today the extreme white wing of the Republican Party is driving the abolition of women’s rights because they’re wedded to the Great Replacement hypothesis.

Emails recently unearthed from the 

Jeffrey Epstein files have sparked intense controversy by linking his views on climate change to a radical solution for overpopulation. 

Epstein’s Views: Climate Change as "Culling"

New documents reveal that Epstein viewed environmental destruction as a potential remedy for a growing global population. 

• "Earth's Forest Fire": In a 2016 email exchange with AI researcher Joscha Bach, Epstein referred to climate change as the "earth's forest fire" and suggested it could be a "good thing for the species" by eliminating the "elderly and infirm".
• Eugenics Connections: These emails have been characterized by critics and scientists, such as climatologist Michael Mann, as part of a disturbing "eugenicist" ideology where mass death under climate stress is seen as "existential optimization". 

Trump Administration Actions (Feb 2026)

Simultaneously, President Donald Trump has significantly shifted U.S. climate policy, which critics connect to the broader "Epstein class" of indifferent elites. 

• Revoking the Endangerment Finding: In February 2026, the Trump administration and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin revoked the 2009 "endangerment finding," which legally established greenhouse gases as a threat to public health.
• "Scam" Rhetoric: Trump has labeled climate change a "giant scam" and a "con job," arguing that federal regulations based on it were "overreach" without a basis in fact.
• Focus on Fossil Fuels: The administration maintains that fossil fuels have lifted billions out of poverty and that environmental regulations are "hidden taxes" on American families. 

The Intersection of Overpopulation and Climate 

The debate over overpopulation is increasingly viewed as a "third rail" issue: 

• Wealth as an Insulator: Critics argue that ultra-wealthy individuals may welcome climate impacts because their wealth insulates them from the consequences while the poor suffer most.
• Shifting Blame: Some experts suggest that blaming "overpopulation" for climate change is a tactic to shift responsibility away from high-consumption nations and fossil fuel companies toward the global poor.

Gaia continues her rage against Republican counties

This isn't national forest being blocked from fuel treatments by radical environmentalists; it's Republican ranch land decimated by a century of poor management practices and if livestock grazing is the key to preventing wildfires why is ranch country still suffering from near daily high even extreme grassland fire danger indices? Because Republicans are evil. Just a hundred and fifty years ago bison, wapiti, bighorn sheep, pronghorns and deer cleared the grasses driving western South Dakota's fire years. If grasses remained in the fall tribes burned the rest.

Unseasonably warm weather will combine with very dry air (RH as
low as 15 percent) and gusty westerly winds (gusts 25 to 35 mph)
to create critial fire weather conditions for Sunday afternoon for
portions of northeastern Wyoming through south-central South
Dakota.

NM Earth haters fail to field a US Senate candidate

My home state of South Dakota will suffer brain drain for years to come and New Mexico has its own set of challenges but living where the Republican Party is virtually meaningless and Democrats rule is well worth it.

For the first time since New Mexico became a state in 1912, Republicans won’t field a candidate in a US Senate race.

(Harris +6 | 2024) pic.twitter.com/6DZShsmyP1

— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) February 13, 2026

'When Power Silences Truth:' Jancita Eagle Deer's voice still matters

Editor's note: confusion still exists whether it's spelled "Jancita" or "Jacinta."

When Power Silences Truth

Jacinta Eagle Deer’s story is often misunderstood. It is not simply about personal harm it is about how authority, systems, and silence can outweigh truth.

In the late 1960s, Jacinta was only fifteen years old when she reported being assaulted by Bill Janklow, a lawyer working on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. She spoke to adults she trusted. Medical staff documented her condition. Her account was recorded. Yet no charges were filed.

What failed her was not a lack of evidence but a maze of jurisdictional rules that left Native women without protection, especially when the accused was a non-Native official. Her voice was caught between federal authority and tribal limitations, where responsibility was passed and accountability disappeared.

Years later, Jacinta chose to act where the courts had not.

With the support of the American Indian Movement and tribal legal advocates, she brought her case before the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Court. In 1974, the court took a rare and powerful step, removing Janklow’s right to practice law on the reservation. It was a defining moment an assertion of tribal authority in defense of a Native woman.

That victory was brief.

In April of 1975, Jacinta was found dead along a rural Nebraska road under circumstances that raised unanswered questions. Her death was never resolved.

Her stepmother, Delphine Eagle Deer, refused to be silent. She spoke openly, demanded accountability, and continued to press for recognition of what had happened. One year later, Delphine was also found dead, her case likewise left without answers.

While two Lakota women were lost, the man Jacinta accused continued his rise eventually becoming Attorney General, Governor of South Dakota, and a member of Congress.

Today, his legacy is marked in public memorials. Jacinta and Delphine’s names are not.

Yet their story endures not through statues, but through memory, advocacy, and the refusal to forget. Their lives expose a system where credibility often follows power, and where Native women have too often been denied justice.

Jacinta Eagle Deer and Delphine Eagle Deer are remembered not only for what happened to them but for the courage it took to speak when silence was safer.

Their voices remain part of a larger call: to listen, to protect, and to believe Native women.

Obesity takes a front row seat in Brookings

Hot off my Brookings bingo card, Earth hating Representatives Mellissa Heermann, Roger Degroot and Senator Tim Reed, all representing District 7 in the South Dakota's deranged and demented legislature addressed a gaggle of white people some of whom can't even see their own genitals without a mirror.

Shad Olson noticed it, too.

Fred Deutsch and Katie Hoffmann are a grotesque love coupling. These are losers. Stupid people. Ugly people. Katie Hoffmann is an inarticulate untalented advocate for the continuation of state prohibition loopholes to allow baby death. Because in her family, with a man who is pint sized and acquiescent, she wears the oversized pants. And she invokes the one sister who is the only member of her family who will still speak with her after she falsely accused her stepbrother of rape, as a confirmation for her stupidity. Fred Deutsch is a neoconservative pussy who passed a bill specifically criminalizing anything that can be characterized as antismetic [sic] speech. Both idiots. Easily dismissed. I'm sure Lee Schoenbeck and Pat Powers both reached climax. Possibly in the same room.

Brookings County screwing taxpayers, shitting in their own water supplies

There was a time when settlers could make a living clamming on the James, Big Sioux and Vermillion rivers but the industry dwindled in the 1940s due to over-harvesting, watershed depletion and environmental degradation. Since then the number of acres in agroecosystems tripled so poor ag practices like tiling have made soils unable to absorb rainfall creating toxic runoff and flooding. 

In 2024 nine of eleven sites below Watertown tested positive for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances including a hot spot in Falls Park in Sioux Falls but researchers found thirty two samples with nine types of PFAS compounds all the way to the Iowa border. None of that is lost on the Brookings County Commission so that same year Brookings provided rain catchment barrels with hopes to reduce stormwater runoff. Tiling by farmers increases water flow into the Big Sioux and more hard surfaces, such as roads, parking lots and driveways are increasing stream bed scouring in the river. 

Now, after spending some $70 million granted by federal and state governments on a water treatment plant Brookings officials have admitted the system fails at removing all the PFAS created mostly by 3M. Contaminated stormwater often overwhelms the collection pond on Solventum (3M) property then spreads the contaminants into aquifer recharges, to soils under George S. Mickelson Middle School and to the already polluted Big Sioux River because the State Senators and Representatives of Brookings County and the Mayor of Brookings are all Earth hating Republicans.

Media should investigate the collusion between the state and polluters instead of pandering to the South Dakota Republican Party as it destroys watersheds by deconstructing the Waters of the United States rule protected under the 1972 Clean Water Act because South Dakota will flout WOTUS until the cows come home.

Yes, the grassland fire danger index will reach the extreme, very high, high and moderate categories again Monday for parts of the horrible red state even in Brookings County.

Learn more at the Brookings Register.

SD Earth haters hate education, love wage slavery

Just caught this on Faceberg in the early hours of this morning, sleepily scrolling and it woke me up with a start. It's a scary tale to begin my day posted at the Pennington County Earth haters' page.

Did you know in South Dakota that public school employers are allowed to use your tax dollars to support labor organizations? 

On Monday, a bill to end this, HB 1217, is being heard in the House Education Committee. This bill, sponsored by John Hughes for District 13 House would: 

~ Stop payroll deduction of union dues from employee paychecks  

~ Prohibit using compensation increases intended to route money to union dues 

~ Restrict sharing employee personal information without written authorization 

 ~ Prohibit coercing employees to meet or interact with a labor organization 

 ~ Prohibit distributing union communications through school channels 

~ Prohibit endorsing/favoring any labor organization 

 ~ Prevent spending public school funds on behalf of a labor organization 

 ~Limit paid leave for labor organization activities (with exceptions in the bill) 

Taxpayer money in our public schools should be centered on instruction, student outcomes and neutrality. 

This graphic was posted on the South Dakota Democratic Party Facebook page in opposition to this bill. Does the symbolism (clenched fist against a red background) remind you of anything? 

 Please contact your Representatives and Senators and ask them to vote YES ✅ on HB 1217! --Beth Hughes

Republicans want a police state, Libertarians want anarchy and Democrats just want a good ol’ fashioned representative democracy with all the warts of a constitutional republic so police unions in South Dakota are showered with cash while teachers' unions get the shaft. 

Yes, socialized agriculture, socialized dairies, socialized cheese, socialized livestock production, a socialized timber industry, socialized air service, socialized freight rail, a socialized nursing home industry, socialized water systems and now a socialized internet are all fine with Earth haters in South Dakota but then they insist teachers' union membership is socialism.

Gaia still targeting horrible red state

Update, 7 February: critical fire weather in overwhelmingly Republican counties again.

###

Because of Republican failures Gaia is targeting parts of South Dakota.

Trump's popularity in the shitter

Trump job approval rating by news platform 🟢 Twitter/X: +9 🔴 Facebook: -7 🔴 Cable TV: -10 🔴 Podcasts/YouTube: -14 🔴 Local TV: -17 🔴 Instagram: -21 🔴 Broadcast TV: -28 🔴 TikTok: -28 🔴 Newspapers/news sites: -33 🔴 Reddit: -40 www.theargumentmag.com/p/twitter-is...

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— Poll Tracker 📊 (@polltracker.bsky.social) February 6, 2026 at 6:10 AM

Google AI on Epstein's South Dakota ties

Updated 6 February, 1624 MST. Minutes before he was driven from the White House Herr Trump in 2021 pardoned Maria Butina's lover, Paul Erickson after his conviction for wire fraud and money laundering likely at Denny Sanford's request. Erickson's indictment, his relationship with Butina and Dusty Johnson, his efforts to establish backchannel communications with the National Rifle Association and MAGA conservatives covered up the Epstein connection. Butina was deported for being a Russian agent.

Recent investigations and a massive Department of Justice (DOJ) document release in February 2026 have provided the most detailed look yet at Jeffrey Epstein’s secretive financial network.

South Dakota’s Role as a Financial Hub

South Dakota served as a critical domestic hub for Epstein due to its unique trust laws that prioritize secrecy and asset protection.  

High Concentration: Investigations revealed Epstein utilized the state to hold 81 different trusts, more than any other U.S. jurisdiction in his network.

Legal Shielding: These "SoDa" trusts allowed for high levels of privacy, no state income tax, and protection from creditors, effectively creating a "secret web" that made it difficult for victims to trace his domestic assets.

Perpetual Secrecy: South Dakota law mandates that court records regarding trusts are sealed forever, preventing public scrutiny.

Asset Protection: The state allows for "self-settled spendthrift trusts," which protect assets from creditors and legal judgments, making it exceptionally difficult for victims to trace or recover funds.

"Quiet" Trust Laws: These laws allow a grantor to withhold all information about a trust from its own beneficiaries, even after the grantor's death.

Tax Shielding: South Dakota has no state income tax, no capital gains tax, and has repealed the "rule against perpetuities," allowing for "dynasty trusts" that never expire.

Current Estate Status (2026)

Fluctuating Value: Initially valued at $630 million, the estate has dropped significantly due to legal fees, taxes, and restitution. As of late 2025, it held approximately $120 million to $131 million in assets, bolstered by a $112 million tax refund from the IRS. 

Victim Compensation: The estate has paid out $121 million to over 135 victims through a compensation fund, plus an additional $49 million in separate settlements.

Distribution Freeze: No funds from the 1953 Trust will be disbursed to beneficiaries until all creditor claims and victim compensation obligations are fully resolved.

The 1953 Trust & New Beneficiary Details

The "1953 Trust," named for Epstein's birth year, was a "pour-over" trust signed just 48 hours before his death to shield his assets from public view and legal claims. Newly unsealed records list 43 beneficiaries:

Karyna Shuliak (Primary Beneficiary): Epstein’s girlfriend at the time, a Belarus-born dentist, was allocated $100 million ($50 million in cash and a $50 million annuity). She was also designated to inherit his real estate holdings, including his private islands and Manhattan mansion, plus a 33-carat diamond ring given "in contemplation of marriage".

Ghislaine Maxwell & Mark Epstein: Both were designated to receive $10 million each.

Darren Indyke & Richard Kahn: His longtime lawyer and accountant, who serve as co-executors, were slated to receive $50 million and $25 million, respectively.

Other Associates: Harvard math professor Martin Nowak was listed for $5 million.

Outlaw obesity in South Dakota

If Republicans really want to end women's health care decisions state government should outlaw obesity and encourage businesses like airlines and taxi services to charge more for obese people. Food stores would have scales at tills that add surcharges according to body mass index, businesses with buffets would have scales, too and anyone with a BMI over 23 will pay an additional $1.00 for every whole number above that. Gas stations would have scales that determine price per gallon according to BMI unless you have documentation in your debit/credit card updated by your physician that you’re on a weight reduction regimen and Mr. Trump's health guru, Mr. Kennedy, apparently concurs.

Groups warn of ag sector collapse

Since at least 2017 Creighton University's Ernie Goss has been warning that the Trump Organization is bad for American agriculture.

Late 2025 marked the most severe three-month cost-price gap for U.S. agricultural producers since 2015, driven by soaring production costs and lower commodity returns.  

Key findings from the USDA data and analysis:

• Deepening Deficit: October 2025 was the worst month in over a decade for the cost-price spread.
• Worst 3-Month Period: The final quarter of 2025 saw record-breaking gaps, with October (-34.1), December (-32.2), and November (-27.9) being the most severe.
• Long-term Trend: This is not a new issue; farmers have faced a cost-price deficit in every single month since at least January 2015.
• Production Costs vs. Revenue: In late 2025, production costs reached a point where they were 50% higher than in 2011, while prices received for crops and livestock were only 21% higher.
• Contributing Factors: High input costs (fuel, fertilizer,, labor) combined with reduced commodity prices (e.g., corn falling from $7 to closer to $4 per bushel) are forcing difficult financial decisions for farmers.

So, a cynical observer might suspect bankers provided gloomy outlooks to the Rural Mainstreet Index for the last five months of the Biden administration especially in midwestern swing states to sink Democratic Party prospects in 2024 just as Republicans in congress stalled immigration reform because it makes sense to Earth haters that after he was elected again the Orange Julius would run America into the dirt so banks can foreclose on the whole dealio to massage auction price points. 

Data from December 2024 indicated that the average South Dakota household needed to spend approximately $191 more per month to maintain the same standard of living as the previous year, with cumulative costs since January 2021 being significantly higher, particularly for transportation, shelter, and food. Factors like tariffs have complicated anti-inflation efforts, and some sectors, such as the cattle industry, are experiencing higher costs. South Dakota experienced a 2.8% headline inflation rate in August 2025, with core inflation (excluding food and energy) at 3.0%.

A bipartisan group of former leaders of America's major agricultural commodity associations and biofuels organizations, farmer leaders, and former senior USDA officials sent congressional ag leaders a letter on Tuesday warning about the deteriorating state of the farm economy, stating there is a risk of "widespread collapse of American agriculture." The letter comes as the Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer (AEB) Index fell in January. [DTN/Progressive Farmer]

Yes, the grassland fire danger index will reach the very high category again Thursday for much of the horrible red state of South Dakota.