State archaeologist: Pipeline should avoid Indian burial site

State Archaeologist John Doershuk is recommending that a sacred Native American burial site be avoided by the planned Bakken oil pipeline, which raises questions about whether the pipeline will need to be relocated in northwest Iowa's Lyon County.

Doershuk toured the site in the Big Sioux Wildlife Management Area on Friday with state and federal officials and Sioux tribal leaders whose ancestors had ceded the area now known as Lyon County to the federal government in 1851. The site is near the Iowa-South Dakota border.

In a  follow-up report that Doershuk filed over the weekend, the state archaeologist of Iowa described the site as a place of significant cultural and historical importance to the Upper Sioux Community, Standing Rock Sioux tribe and other Sioux people.

Doershuk's report, which he sent in an email  Saturday, has arrived as the Iowa Utilities Board has scheduled a meeting at noon Monday to consider giving a go-ahead for the start of construction along most the pipeline route in Iowa. The pipeline, which has been proposed by Texas-based Dakota Access LLC, would pass through 18 Iowa counties while carrying crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.

But the Iowa Utilities Board is only considering granting authorization  Monday for construction to start in areas where Dakota Access has obtained permission to build the pipeline. Permission has not been granted through water crossings under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and areas where private landowners haven't provided easements.

Wallace Taylor, a lawyer for the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, said in a filing with the Iowa Utilities Board on Monday that the fact this site had not been previously discovered by Dakota Access' consultants is evidence that proper archaeological studies had not previously been done. He said the confirmation of the Indian burial site also demonstrates why the Sierra Club was correct in requesting an environmental impact study for the entire route of the pipeline.

"How many other archaeological sites, sensitive natural areas, or rare species will be impacted by the pipeline? We don't know because proper surveys have not been conducted," Taylor said. "The board should continue to prohibit construction from commencing until an environmental study is completed."

Taylor said the Iowa Utilities Board has no obligation to accommodate Dakota Access' construction schedule.

Doershuk said in his report that he made the visit mainly to learn of the tribal commitment to the site. He noted that a large number of tribal elders came Friday and engaged in a discussion lasting almost two hours, and that tribal officials provided detailed information and context. This made it evident that the material the site houses and its intangible traditional cultural aspects are well understood and appreciated by modern Native American descendants of ancestral populations who used the Big Sioux River valley and the surrounding area as part of their cultural way of being that continues today, he said.

Therefore, Doeshuk said he is recommending that the site be considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and also protected under an Iowa law protecting American Indian graves.

"The site is to be avoided and protected in place," Doershuk wrote in his report. He also reiterated a previous statement that no one may conduct any sort of ground-disturbing activity or investigation at or near the location of the site without his prior written permission or that of bioarchaeologist Lara Noldner. The area includes the eastern half of the Big Sioux Wildlife Management Area overlapping the proposed pipeline right of way in Lyon County, he said.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, as the land-managing agency, "should do whatever reasonable steps they can to protect the area and site from disturbance," Doershuk wrote.

The Iowa DNR in March granted a state permit allowing the pipeline to be constructed through the Big Sioux Wildlife Management Area. DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins said last week that the state permit has not been revoked, but work has been stopped at the site in Lyon County until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can conduct further investigation.

Carolyn Raffensperger, of Ames, an environmental lawyer and executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, which opposes the pipeline, said Sunday night she believes it is likely that the pipeline will have to be rerouted to avoid the sacred Native American site in Lyon County.

If the pipeline is relocated more than one-eighth of a mile to either side, it will require an amended permit from the Iowa Utilities Board, Raffensperger said.

"A sane regulatory decision would be to hold off on construction until the Corps has given all its permits. The identification of this site is a big, unexpected surprise that must be addressed before proceeding," she added.