Forest Service Sued Over Drilling Project on Sacred Tribal Site

A group of environmental and Native American advocacy groups sued the Trump administration to stop a recently-approved drilling project in South Dakota’s Black Hills.

The US Forest Service failed to evaluate the project’s impacts to Pe’Sla, a site recognized by the federal government and South Dakota as sacred to Native Americans, the groups alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of South Dakota.

The Forest Service in February approved the Rochford Exploration Drilling Project on federally-managed public lands and authorized exploration mineral drilling, road construction, reclamation, and other ground-distributing activities in and adjacent ...