In the last commentary, we discussed a recent court ruling ending an exploratory drilling program on Public (and private) land in the Black Hills. And speculated on the likely reasons for the judge to rule against it.

This is far from the first effort and controversy over environmental issues and projects in and around the Black Hills. The attempts to do what a property owner wants to do with their own land, or what has long been the policy and practice of wise use of public lands are many. And the costs, both direct and indirect, are massive.

We here at TPOL are aware of (and even involved) in many of these, in and around the Paha Sapa.

Let us look at a few of these.

In 1990, an “ash monofill” was proposed in the southern Black Hills, at a closed Army Ammunition Depot called Igloo. (From the shape of the buried ammo bunkers.) Ash from the incineration of municipal solid waste, mostly from waste-fired power stations in Minnesota, would have been delivered by rail and placed in a monofill. The ash would then have been processed to reclaim large quantities of metals (gold, silver, zinc, steel, etc.) and nutrients (nitrogen and carbon especially, but also phosphorus, potassium, and calcium) to reuse. Popularly called “recycling.” Instead of just entombing the ash for perpetuity. It was defeated, actually leading to a referendum in which fear and “science” were used to persuade voters of South Dakota to deny use of what was, again, private land after the Army abandoned it.

Jump forward to 2016. A new pipeline was proposed to allow oil from the Alberta tar sands to be transported to refineries in Louisiana and Texas designed to handle that very heavy crude oil. Hundreds of millions of barrels of oil would have been produced. But the proposed routes in South Dakota came close to several Lakota reservations, and a related project in North Dakota would have actually crossed the Missouri River just north of another. So once more, screams of desecration, environmental catastrophe, and other evils were loud. The mob assembled (actually many in person in an encampment which damaged the land so badly that the scars are still there, a decade later. Not reclaimed properly the way mines are today). Lies were told: the Albertan oil must be heated to such a high temperature that it would melt the stainless steel pipes. Which would then allow the oil to be released and contaminate hundreds and hundreds of acres of farmland. (Note, the necessary temperature of the heated oil was only a small fraction of the melting point of steel. And if any heated oil was released it would cool and solidify within minutes. Even in the hottest Dakota summer. And beome… gee! basically pure asphalt! Just like what already covers tens of thousands of acres) Oh, and the workers on the pipeline would get drunk and rape Lakota women in the nearby towns. (Even though many of the workers would have been Lakota or other tribesmen, just as in other States with large AmerInd populations and oil and gas operations.)

Currently, a company which wants to develop a new (and needed) limestone quarry on the east side of the Black Hills is being fought because it will destroy the water in the ground and in the streams, and will produce dangerous (“toxic” dust) and release it into the air. Nearby residents are freaking out. Even though three of the four quarries this would supplement and almost certainly replace are much closer to residences and businesses, and tourist highways, than the proposed one. And even though those residences (often 1/2-million bucks or more) were almost all built after the mines were operating. Again, lies, fear, and so-called “science” is being used to try and force the legislature and local governments to prevent it, citing greedy corporations as the only beneficiaries.

Those are just a few of many over the last half-century that we have seen and sometimes been dragged into.

People do not like it when lovers of liberty point out the only reason these “greedy corporations” are doing this. It is because they are attempting to satisfy the needs (and wants) of their customers. Which ultimately are the people who own or rent houses, who use the roads, who demand the electronics and the electrical power (and the computing power requiring data centers). So if they don’t want projects like this, all they need to do is stop demanding and using these products and services. And convince even a minority (only 20-30%) to also stop. How simple!

But they will not do that. Instead, they will use fear and lies to convince enough people to scream loudly (and almost never even close to a majority) to force their local and state governments, and their hireling judges, to stop these things.

The result if of course, tremendous costs (passed on to consumers – to you and them!) from failed projects and the need to find and haul the goods and send the power and water great distances. And at the same time, create more of the environmental damage that they claim they are preventing.

And of course, let our “civil servants” and our elected officials grab more power and steal more money to prevent and micromanage these things even more. Further raising costs both in money and environmental and social impacts.

Government – mandatory human government – is bad. Democracy and its successor, mob rule, are even worse.