Coteau Properties Company in Mercer County, North Dakota, plans on expanding an existing coal strip mine, which will destroy approximately 1349 sacred sites, burials and stone effigies, all of which are within the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory. The Coteau Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the environmental analysis for leasing federal coal in Mercer County, ND, was recently released. The deadline for comments on this project is early to mid-July. The Bureau of Land Management is the lead federal agency. The contact people are:

Lee Jefferis, Project Manager

701-227-7713

and

Doug Burger, Field Manager

701-227-7703.

Written comments can be sent to:

Coal Team

Bureau of Land Management

North Dakota Field Office

2933 Third Avenue West

Dickinson, ND 59601.

For more information, read an editorial by Charmaine Whiteface, member of the Oglala band of the Tetuwan Oceti Sakowin and Coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills, published in the Sioux Falls Argus on February 22, 2004.

The Bureau of Land Management is also hosting the following public meetings in North Dakota:

June 1, 6:30-8:30 pm, Four Bears Casino & Lodge, New Town, ND

June 2, 6:30-8:30 pm, Civic Center (120 7th Ave NE) Beulah, ND

June 3, 6:30-8:30 pm, Prairie Knights Casino, Fort Yates, ND