OneOk Magellan of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has proposed rebuilding its petroleum pipeline in Pipestone County near the Pipestone National Monument, a sacred site for Tribal Nations across the continent. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) rescinded its construction permit in January of 2025 - thanks to the public outcry from people like you - and ordered Magellan to collaborate with the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council in choosing a culturally informed contractor for the required cultural survey.

Almost immediately, OneOK Magellan violated that order and chose its own contractor unilaterally. Tribal governments say the process has been plagued by inconsistency, departure from standard cultural surveying procedures, and failure to meet historical society guidelines. The current process appears designed to ignore known cultural sites within the project area.

We are asking Minnesotans to tell the PUC to reject Magellan's proposal for this pipeline. Here's why:

Pipestone is central to Indian religious freedom:

Pipestone quarry is a sacred place central to Indigenous spiritual life and cultural continuity. For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples from Tribal Nations have traveled from across the Plains and beyond to this land to pray, walk in peace, and quarry red pipestone for sacred ceremonial use. As the US National Park Service states at the Pipestone National Monument: "Archaeological evidence shows that quarrying here has extended over 3,000 years, and this practice continues today under Tribal and federal protections that recognize the site's spiritual importance."

The red pipestone (catlinite) quarried here is used to carve the sacred peace pipe, a prayer instrument that carries prayers to the Creator and is integral to Indigenous ceremony and spiritual life. These pipes are used in healing, agreement-making, mourning, and to give thanks, and remain central to ceremony among many Indigenous peoples.

The threat to this sacred site is a threat to Indigenous religious and spiritual freedom.

Tribal Nations have not consented to this proposal:

OneOK Magellan not only hasn't received the consent of Tribal Nations as required by this Resolution of the National Congress of American Indians - they haven't even complied with the PUC's specific order to work with the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MAIC) to hire a culturally informed contractor for this particular project.

Allowing OneOK Magellan to build this pipeline without the informed consent of the Tribal Nations that use the quarry for their spiritual and cultural practices perpetuates the continued harm that extraction and greed have caused Indigenous people here and across North America.

This pipeline is not needed:

The Magellan Pipeline ran through and under Pipestone National Monument until the pipeline was shut down in 2022. Since that time, our state has continued to function without it, demonstrating clearly that this pipeline is not necessary. Now is not the time to invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure or to permit the expansion or rerouting of pipelines that carry inherent risks and perpetuate harm. All pipelines leak eventually, and the risk of a leak or catastrophic failure here threatens the waters, groundwater, and ecosystems of our state, and risks damaging this sacred site forever.

Pipestone was the site of a boarding school, which created historical and generational trauma:

This land was the site of the Pipestone Indian Training School, a federal boarding school that operated from 1894 until 1953 and was part of a broader system of forced assimilation that removed Indigenous children from their families and cultures. Historians and community advocates have documented that children died while attending this school, and there are longstanding concerns that unmarked burial sites may remain in the landscape.

The fact that this sacred area has been used by the government to inflict trauma on innocent children is heartbreaking, and the fact that there are children whom maybe resting there should be reason enough for the state to reject this permit and idea. The trauma inflicted on Indigenous people throughout history continues to this day, as projects like these are brought forward that do not respect the culture or traditions of Indigenous peoples.

For Indigenous communities, Pipestone is both a place of profound living spirituality and a place of remembrance and intergenerational trauma. Its continued use for prayer and ceremony, and the memory of children who did not survive the boarding school system, all underscore the urgent need to protect and honor this land for past, current, and future generations. Pipestone is sacred to Tribal Nations, as documented by the establishment of the Pipestone National Monument in 1937, a federal designation to protect this site and allow Tribal Nations to quarry the sacred stone for generations to come.

We are asking you to submit a comment to the PUC asking them to be on the right side of history and stand with the first people of this land. OneOK Magellan has failed to comply with the PUC's own orders and the PUC needs to honor their responsibility to safeguard sacred land, public safety, and our collective futures.