Minnesota regulators on Tuesday rescinded a previously approved permit to reconstruct a petroleum pipeline near Pipestone National Monument after pushback from several tribal nations who argued the route put a sacred site at risk.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted to rescind a permit issued in September 2024 to Magellan Pipeline Co., which is seeking to reactivate a southwest Minnesota petroleum pipeline that stopped operating in 2022.
The PUC, a governor-appointed board that oversees energy regulation, ordered the company to conduct a thorough cultural and archaeological review of two proposed pipeline routes in consultation with 14 tribal nations and one Native American group before returning for a new permit application.
The Magellan pipeline pumped petroleum products, including diesel, gas and jet fuel, between Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Marshall, Minnesota. Its original permit expired in 2022, but the company applied to reopen the pipeline in 2023, citing increased demand. The original pipeline went through the monument and an adjacent wildlife management area. The company proposed a route that would have gone slightly around the monument, and three other routes with larger detours around the site are being considered.
Native people from across North America have quarried pipestone, also known as catlinite, for thousands of years. Pipestone National Monument was created in 1937 and allows Native Americans to harvest the soft red stone used to make ceremonial pipes. The site is used for ritual ceremonies.
“I don’t think the general public understands the sacredness,” said Debra Topping, an enrolled member of the Fond du Lac Band.
Permit battle
In September 2024, the PUC approved a route that would take a 13-mile, right-angle detour around the monument and ordered Magellan to complete cultural and archaeological surveys of the land in consultation with four tribes: the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the Upper Sioux Community, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, and the Yankton Sioux Tribe, which has historical treaty rights to the Pipestone Monument land.
The commission subsequently received letters from 16 tribal governments and Native American groups expressing opposition to the decision and urging them to reconsider.
The PUC voted unanimously to rescind the permit and ordered Magellan to complete an archaeological and cultural review of two proposed routes to circumvent the monument. The order requires the company to select a consultant to complete the surveys in coordination with the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council to help ensure a qualified contractor. The order expands the number of tribes and Native American organizations the company must consult.
It is unclear how long the survey process will take or when the permit application will come back before the PUC.
Christy Brusven, an attorney representing Magellen, said the company has been holding regular meetings with tribal representatives to find qualified surveyors.
Commissioner Hwikwon Ham said he supported rescinding the permit order because of the letters from various tribal governments.
“This is not about efficiency only, my concern is we need to build trust and relationships with the tribal nations,” Ham said.
Topping is a pipe carrier, entrusted with caring for a sacred pipe used in ceremonies. She has visited the Pipestone area several times and used to live nearby in Marshall. Topping was glad that commissioners rescinded the permit Tuesday, but doesn’t think any of the routes under consideration should be approved.
Sacred stone
Tribes across North America use and value the pipestone harvested in southwest Minnesota.
Judy Hartman thought the pipeline was finally gone in 2022. Hartman, a Yu’pik Alaskan who lives in St. Paul, and visits Pipestone Monument for traditional ceremonies. She believes there is no suitable route for the pipeline near the site.
“I have a lot of special memories in Pipestone,” Hartman said.
Jack Sharp, whose Blackfeet name is “Sits with the Sun with Voice of Thunder,” drove from St. Cloud to attend Tuesday’s hearing. Sharp is a survivor of the Flandreau Indian Boarding School in South Dakota, near Pipestone. He regularly stops at the monument to get pipestone for relatives in Colorado and Montana.
Sharp and his son, Jason Chauska Sharp, said they were encouraged by Tuesday’s vote, but will continue to closely follow the process. The Sharps pay attention to issues of land and natural resources valued by Native Americans, and say companies like Magellan often follow the same playbook.
“We’ve already lost so much as tribal people,” Jason Chauska Sharp said.
Jack Sharp says he takes satisfaction in participating in the process, but wishes the way companies and regulators went about dealing with Native Americans was different.
“Instead of telling us, ask us,” he said.
