Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Members Sue over Lake Oahe Dam Taking

Here is the complaint in LeBeau v. United States (D. S.D.):

LeBeau v US Complaint

Excerpts:

Plaintiffs Casimir L. LeBeau, Clarence Mortenson, Raymond Charles Handboy, Sr., and Freddie Lebeau (collectively “Plaintiffs”), on behalf of themselves and the putative classes set forth below, bring this Complaint against the United States of America (“Defendant”), and bring this claim based upon an unlawful taking without just compensation of thousands of acres of land owned by Plaintiffs and other individuals. Plaintiffs seek declaratory relief ordering Defendant to perform its fiduciary duties as trustee of the individual Plaintiffs’ trust monies pursuant to federal law and common law trust principles, including an accounting of the monies owed to Plaintiffs and the putative classes.

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1. Nearly seventy years ago, Congress enacted a law authorizing the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a number of water control projects. Among these projects was the Pick Sloan Missouri River Basin Project (the “Pick-Sloan Project”), which involved the construction of six hydroelectric dams in the upper Missouri river basin. One of these dams, the Oahe Dam, impounds Lake Oahe, an artificial reservoir stretching almost the entire distance from Pierre, South Dakota, to Bismarck, North Dakota.
2. In building the Oahe Dam and creating Lake Oahe, the United States flooded a vast area of North and South Dakota, including over 104,420 acres of land, some of which was owned by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (the “Tribe”) and some of which was owned in allotments or in fee by individual members of the Tribe (the “Individual Landowners”). The Individual Landowners were required to evacuate their homes and abandon their land and its valuable resources to make way for an energy project benefiting only those downriver.
3. The Oahe Dam destroyed more Indian land than any other United States public works project. Over 180 families – 30% of the tribal population – were forced to leave their homes and sever the profound cultural connection that they had to the land.

2 thoughts on “Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Members Sue over Lake Oahe Dam Taking

  1. Michael Jon Austin October 31, 2012 / 10:51 pm

    Members of My family were buried at the old Cheyenne Agency during the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Government assured us that the graves were properly removed and reburied up on the hill over looking 212 and the Missouri River. We tried to find our family members at the location the Government identified as the new burial location. We never did locate their graves, never received explanation.

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