Natalie Stites Means, a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe with ties to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, is the first Native woman to run for mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota. Campaign photo

Candidates say gold prospecting threatens city water

RAPID CITY – Mayoral and city council candidates who are invited to a forum on water issues May 28 told the Native Sun News Today the main threat they see to a safe and steady supply for this town of some 75,000 residents is the mining exploration upstream from the municipality’s Pactola Reservoir source.

“The city of Rapid City owns water rights to a significant portion of Pactola Reservoir,” said incumbent mayoral candidate Steve Allender . “This reservoir is a portion of the water supply for Rapid City and Ellsworth Air Force Base.”

Native Sun News Today asked the mayor and Lakota candidates what they consider threats to the Mniluzahan (Rapid City) water supply and how they would work to protect it, if elected on June 4.

“Protecting drinking water means guarding against all threats, environmental and human caused,” Allender said. “The possible threat by mining must be assessed using facts over emotions. This is a serious issue, and the assessment and solutions or prevention strategy must be taken seriously as well.”

Steve Allender, the mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota, is seeking a second term in office. The municipal election takes place June 4, 2019, though early voting has already started. To find a polling place, visit sdsos.gov.

His challenger Natalie Stites Means said she agrees with the positions of Dakota Rural Action and Clean Water Alliance, which are sponsoring the upcoming candidate’s forum to be held at Racing Magpie at 406 Fifth St.

“A Canadian gold mining company has drilled holes in the Rochford Pe’ Sla area, and a second company has proposed to drill in the immediate area around Pactola Lake and Silver City,” the grassroots organizations said in announcing the public event entitled, “Pre-Election Dialogue Surrounding Clean Water Issues.”

Stites Means, the first Native American woman to seek the Rapid City mayor’s office , is from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. She considers herself a classic water protector, after taking part in the spirit camps established to oppose the construction of the DAPL, a hazardous materials conduit to carry fracked oil across the Missouri River at Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

“I was at Standing Rock and camped at Oceti Sakowin with the Kul Wicasa,” she summarized, adding only, “Mni wiconi!”

In her campaign statement, she proclaimed, “Rapid City needs a mayor to champion the environment we live in against those who seek to use public natural resources exclusively for their own bottom line. We need to collectively prevent the further destruction of our air, land and water.”

Allender said, “One of the main responsibilities of government is to deliver safe drinking water now and into the future. We take our duty to protect our water supplies very seriously and will use every legal option to do so.”

Ward 2 City Council candidate Ramona Herrington pointed to a 2013 council resolution signed by then Mayor Kooiker, stating the municipal governing board’s precedent for protecting drinking water from mining. It declares:

“Due to the unanswered questions regarding the safety of the community’s water supply, the Common Council of the City of Rapid City believes that the proposed in situ mining of uranium in the Black Hills poses an unacceptable risk to the primary source of Rapid City’s drinking water.”

Herrington acknowledged the role the mayor and council have assumed historically in the defense of water and said she would carry on the tradition. “I would definitely defend and protect the water. That’s our first medicine.”

It’s a historic time in Rapid City, South Dakota! There’s Lakota/Dakota candidates for City Council & Mayor!!! It’s... Posted by Whitney Rencountre on Wednesday, March 27, 2019

A record five Native women are running for public office in Rapid City, South Dakota. From left: Natalie Stites Means for Mayor, Ramona Herrington for City Council (Ward 2), Cante Heart for City Council (Ward 5), Stephanie Savoy for City Council (Ward 3) and Terra Houskaa for City Council (Ward 1). Image: Whitney Rencountre

Again citing history, she pointed to the toxic water pollution from the Homestake and Gilt Edge mines of the northern Black Hills, which resulted in taxpayer supported Superfund sites to remediate the headwaters of the Cheyenne, Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

“The Superfund sites demonstrate that we need to regulate the companies more, because they have proven they won’t regulate themselves,” she said. “I’m definitely concerned about my family and children.”

In reference to current gold exploration at Rochford near the sacred tribal trust land of Pe’ Sla and similar prospecting closer to Pactola Reservoir near Silver City, she said, “They’re digging for gold and they’re acting like that’s more important than water. I don’t appreciate that.”

Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@)gmail.com

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today

Join the Conversation