Sacred Rocks (Roches Sacrées) -- Sixty Years Old -- August 22, 2019

I debated how to post this, but then, in the end, decided to simply post it with minimal editing. This is from a reader who has followed the DAPL legalese story very, very closely from the very beginning:

I was prowling around for any tea leaves to read - Judge Boasberg's decision on DAPL items is due this month ...

... the US Army Corps of Engineers had to consider hunting and fishing and a few other things that seemed to me to be easily remedied...

I found this motion for summary judgement - filed last week.

https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/SRST-Remand-brief.pdf

The tribe wants the DAPL permit revoked and a full EIS ordered.

I just skimmed through it ... 

On page 13, the Corps said they'd meet with the tribe only after the tribe produced requested documents.

On page 43, while listing cultural items that might be destroyed by the black snake, the suit mentions that on the shoreline there are rocks used to heat sweat lodges.

Later: a reader noted that the "original" sacred rocks are now hundreds of feet deeper because of the Oahe Dam downstream. The "current" sacred rocks are not more than 60 years old, unless, of course, sacred rocks rise to the surface. From wiki:

In September and October 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through what is now Lake Oahe while exploring the Missouri River.

Oahe Dam was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, and construction by the United States Army Corps of Engineers began in 1948.

The world’s first rock tunnel boring machine (TBM) was invented in 1952 by Elon Musk James S. Robbins for the Oahe Dam project, which marked the beginning of machines replacing human tunnelers.

The earth main dam reached its full height in October 1959. It was officially dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on August 17, 1962, the year in which it began generating power. The original project cost was $340 million.

Roches sacrées: if anything, French was probably the language that connected Lewis and Clark's Jeffersonian English to Ms Sakakwea's Hidatsu (a Siouan dialect). Think: Mr. Charbonneau.
  

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Lump Charcoal Grilling

Speaking of sacred rocks, my next step in grilling -- "grilling" steak directly on coal.

From Barbecue Outfitters: Rockwood Lump Charcoal.

Video.



Note: do not use "regular" charcoal. Poisonous. Must use natural lump charcoal.