EPA Gives Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota Cleanup Grant
Story-Date: 09:06 a.m. PST Sunday   , November 2, 1997

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EPA Gives Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota Cleanup Grant
By K. Marie Porterfield, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D.


PINE RIDGE, S.D.--Nov. 3--The Oglala Sioux Tribe was commended for taking
charge of their own environmental destiny, Bill Yellow Tail the EPA
regional office director from Denver told officials.

"You should be proud of what you are doing," he told tribal officials. He
said that recent efforts by OST to clean up the environment will serve
as a model to other tribes.

Mr. Yellow Tail handed OST President John Steele a check for $550,000 on
Oct 6. The money will be used to develop an integrated management plan to
deal with solid waste, hazardous waste and underground storage tanks
including an emergency response plan.

The grant is the largest Environmental Protection Agency grant
OST has ever received. Four other tribes were awarded similar grants this
year.

"The scientists act as if ecosystem protection and pristine air quality are
new ideas," Mr. Yellow Tail told the audience. "They are old ideas that are
part and parcel of our spirituality."

In addition to help from the EPA, the tribe recently received the
promise of 18 months of pro bono legal help in its environmental
struggles from the Native American Rights Fund based in Boulder, Colo.

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(c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News.



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