Phone: 605.867.5236‍
Email: osteppbrt@gmail.com
Click Here for Dangers of Illegal Dumping

Health & Safety Risks Associated with Illegal Dumping

  • They contain broken glass, syringes, toxic chemicals, and other hazardous waste which may cause sickness, fires, environmental pollution, etc.
  • Decomposing garbage can attract mice, mosquitoes, rodents and insects which may cause spread of illnesses. For example, dumpsites with scrap tires provide an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, which can multiply 100 times faster than normal in the warm stagnant water standing in scrap tires.
  • They pollute our lakes, creeks and rivers which causes wide variety of issues to people, fish and wildlife. We should protect and not trash the environment we live in.
  • They attract more dumping and other illegal activities, which in return effects our communities.

Brownfields Program

There are 574 federally recognized tribes within the United States. Each tribe is an independent, sovereign nation, responsible for setting standards, making environmental policy, and managing environmental programs for its people. While each tribe faces unique challenges, many share similar environmental legacies.

Environmental issues and responses in Indian country range from:

  • developing basic administrative infrastructure to passing new ordinances and laws;
  • controlling illegal open dumping to developing emergency response plans;
  • abating and removing leaking underground storage tanks to addressing methamphetamine response and cleanup; and
  • addressing air pollution to the cleanup and reuse of contaminated land.

Tribes use Section 128(a) Tribal Response Program funding for a variety of activities. Tribal response programs conduct assessments and provide oversight at properties, create codes and ordinances, develop inventories of properties, and educate their communities about the value of protecting and restoring tribal natural resources and community health.

More on Brownfields Programs:

Brownfields Tribal Response Grant

The Oglala Sioux Tribe has a current Brownfields Tribal Response Grant under the 2018 Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development (BUILD) Act.

The OST Environmental Protection Program implements grant activities to assist with protecting and improving the health and quality of the Reservation’s environment for the health of Tribal members and their neighbors.

The OST Brownfields Program has a solid and hazardous waste management program and is responsible for the identification, assessment, and cleanup of sites that are suspected of being contaminated.

Sites that have been identified as contaminated enter the public record and will be available on our website soon.

We will be updating progress on these sites and stages of cleanup.

Let us know about possibly contaminated sites!

If you have seen an illegal dumpsite or other possible signs of contamination, please contact OST Brownfields Program in the OSTEPP office at (605) 867-5236 or by email at osteppbrt@gmail.com.

OR

Go to "Report Illegal Dumping!" page to Report →

Get INVOLVED -> See It! Report It! Stop It!

Contact Info

Oglala Sioux Tribe Environmental Protection Program

PO BOX 2008 PINE RIDGE, SD 57770

Phone: 605-867-5236
Fax: 605-867-1845

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Report Illegal Dumping

Report illegal dumping, dumpsites or other possible signs of contamination, please contact us at (605) 867-5236 or by email at osteppbrt@gmail.com or Go to Report Illegal Dumping! page to Report.