FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 28, 2026
Rapid City, SD – Last night, plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service (NDN Collective, Black Hills Clean Water Alliance, and Earthworks) filed motions for an emergency temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
The motions, filed in the United States Federal District Court for the District of South Dakota, can be viewed here. Exhibits supporting the motions can be viewed here. Please note, you may need a Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) account to access the documents.
“Last week, we became aware that there are at least two active drill pads already operating at Pe’ Sla, both within a zone protected for cultural and religious use,” said Tracey Zephier, General Counsel for NDN Collective. “It’s clear the project is determined to go full steam ahead within the sixty day window that the U.S. Forest Service has to respond to our lawsuit – so we filed these motions to stop the drilling before irreparable damage is done to the land.”
“We believe the graphite drilling project is operating both unethically and illegally,” said Wizipan Garriott, president of NDN Collective. “This land has been sacred to the Lakota and other tribes for over 2,000 years. We regularly practice ceremony there – including peaceful prayer, songs, offerings for plant and animal relatives, and sharing of spiritual food. We must act now to stop the desecration of the land before it’s too late.”
“This is a water issue, a human rights violation, an ecological threat, a slap in the face to Indigenous peoples, and endangers religious and cultural freedom for everyone,” said Dr. Lilias Jarding, Executive Director of the Black Hills Clean Water Alliance. “Everyone living in Rapid City and Ellsworth Air Force Base, as well as tribal communities and ranchers downstream along the Cheyenne River, should be gravely concerned about the potential this project has to contaminate their drinking water.”
NDN Collective, Black Hills Clean Water Alliance, and others have been fighting to protect Pe’ Sla for over a year. They filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service earlier this month, mobilized community members to submit thousands of public comments last spring, testified against the project at hearings and information gathering meetings, collected over 6,000 signatures on a petition calling on the U.S. Forest Service to rescind the permit to Pete Lien and Sons, and educated audiences about the importance of this sacred site through the LANDBACK For the People podcast, social media, news interviews, and more.
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NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.
