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Blue Whale Materials Selected for $55 Million DOE Award Negotiation to Expand Bartlesville, OK Lithium-ion Battery Recycling Facility

Investment Will Expand Operations to Process up to 50,000 Tons of Li-ion Feedstock Annually. Approximately $3M to Go Towards Workforce Development and Community Outreach

Bartlesville, OK – September 20, 2024 – Blue Whale Materials (BWM), a leader in advanced lithium-ion battery recycling, has been selected for negotiation of an award of over $55 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing Program.

The selection is part of BWM’s larger $110 million expansion initiative, which will enable BWM’s Bartlesville, Oklahoma state-of-the-art facility to process up to 50,000 tons of battery feedstock annually and produce enough valuable critical minerals to power over 100,000 electric vehicles annually.

The expanded operations will convert 3.5 times more end-of-life batteries and production scrap into Blacksand™, a high-purity, dry, mixed-metal precursor that stands apart from conventional black mass. This state-of-the-art process recovers up to 98% of the cobalt and nickel in lithium-ion batteries and production scrap and significantly reduces contaminants such as aluminum, copper, and fluorine – resulting in a high metal recovery rate and creating an optimized input for downstream metal refiners and battery material manufacturers.

BWM is a portfolio company of Ara Partners, a global private equity firm that is decarbonizing the industrial economy. By scaling up operations, BWM will further establish itself as a leading supplier of critical minerals for electric vehicle manufacturers, battery producers, and energy storage companies. The expansion is another meaningful step toward creating a closed loop and sustainable feedstock solutions for spent lithium-ion batteries.

The expansion is expected to create 150 permanent jobs and 180 construction jobs, boosting local employment in Bartlesville and will help contribute to the state’s sustainable growth.

Approximately $3M of the grant would go towards workforce development and community outreach through expanded partnership programs with The Delaware Tribe of Indians, Blue Star Recyclers, Tri County Tech, and James Emmett and Company.

“The DOE’s backing underscores the importance of building a sustainable and resilient supply chain for critical minerals right here in the U.S.,” said BWM CEO Robert Kang. “This expansion not only supports our mission but also fuels economic growth in Bartlesville, a historic energy community.”

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt expressed his support for the project: “The State of Oklahoma welcomes this additional investment to expand the Blue Whale Materials li-ion battery recycling plant in Bartlesville. This investment aligns with our state’s focus on self-sufficiency in critical materials production and will bring quality jobs and investment to Oklahoma.”

“This selection for award by DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains is further validation of BWM’s pioneering battery recycling process, and Ara Partners is proud to have partnered with Blue Whale Materials to submit the proposal for award. Government partnerships are essential to decarbonize the industrial economy and increase U.S. manufacturing capabilities,” said Reese Goldsmith, Head of Government Affairs for Ara Partners.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Elizabeth Norton

Brunswick Group

(202) 290-6408

enorton@brunswickgroup.com

For more information about Blue Whale Materials, please visit www.bluewhalematerials.com

UPDATE: Change in Criteria

Any veteran deceased or alive that served in Korea from 1950-55 in-country or in Naval operations supporting NATO are eligible for the award. Veterans or Family members may fill out the application with proof (DD214). Applications must be turned in to the Lenape Veterans Office by October 11. The Awardees will be notified of date and location of the awards ceremony. The next date will be November 2 in Tulsa. Please send all applications to:

Steven Donnell c/o Lenape Veterans Center
Delaware Tribe of Indians
5100 Tuxedo Blvd
Bartlesville OK 74006

Are You A Korean War Veteran?

If you’re a Korean War Veteran that served in Korea in 1950-53, the South Korean government would like to thank you for your service with the Ambassador for Peace Medal presented by the Emissary of the South Korean government.

Please contact American Legion Adjutant Kim Vincent at

(405) 282-2589 (Office) or (619) 807-8431 (Cell)

Or contact Steven Donnell, Service Officer, at (760) 401-2056 (Cell).

The Lenape Wellness & Fitness Center located at the Delaware Tribe of Indians Headquarters in Bartlesville Oklahoma is open daily Monday-Friday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Admission is free for Delaware or Cherokee members. Members of other tribes may purchase memberships for $10/month, while non-tribal members may purchase memberships for $20/month. There is also an option to use the Center without a monthly membership for a daily fee of $2/day. There is no running or playing in the gym, and no children under 12 are allowed on gym equipment.

For more information, contact Wellness Director Cody Blackmon by email at cblackmon@delawaretribe.org or by phone at (918) 337-6586.

The Delaware Tribe of Indians Housing Committee continues to hold Open Meetings on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 6:00 P.M. The July, September, and November meetings are to be held at the Chelsea Boys & Girls Club in Chelsea, OK, and the June, August, and October meetings are to be held at the main tribal campus in Bartlesville, OK. Please note: The Housing Committee has changed their meeting date from June 20 to June 27 at 6:00 P.M. This meeting will be held at Bartlesville Tribal Headquarters in the Tribal Council Chambers. Please see the flyer below for further details.

The Tribe on March 27 recognized the first recipients of the Warrior Medal of Freedom, the Tribe’s highest honor. The honor was presented to those who served in the military for their taking the oath to protect our Tribe and Nation against all enemies, and the civilian award is for the Warrior who fought to keep our sovereignty and culture alive and continues to fight for our rights. Below, Elder & Navy Veteran Steven Donnell presents the award to Chief Brad KillsCrow (US Navy), Sarah Boyd (US Army Combat Veteran-Iraq), and Annette Ketchum for her lifetime work keeping tribal sovereignty and cultural preservation alive. Other Awardees not photographed were Jim Baker (US Army) and Marcus Falleaf (US Marine Corps).

Notice: The Delaware Indian calendar for 2024 is now available on the tribal website https://delawaretribe.org/ or at this address:
https://delawaretribe.org/blog/2023/12/01/download-a-2024-lenape-calendar/
You can download your copy and print all the pages at once or print one month at a time as needed. For a wall calendar we suggest using 8.5 x 14 inch (legal size) paper.

Revived: The Lenape Word-a-Day calendar is a monthly calendar of Lenape names for different things. The downloadable calendar is also posted on the Tribal website https://delawaretribe.org/ and it will continue to be posted at the beginning of each month. There are sound files for each of these words which are in the Lenape Talking Dictionary: https://www.talk-lenape.org/.

What’s New – Going to the Moon

In the TV news recently they said that in the year 2024 America will once again send people to or around the moon. It might be of interest to readers of the Delaware Indian News to know that according to tribal legend there were two Lenape men who went to the moon many centuries ago. In the Lenape language the Sun and Moon have the same name, Kishux, and they are considered as Elder Brothers. There are also some special names for the Moon if you need to let people know you are talking about him exclusively. The two men had a purpose for going there and what follows is the basic story telling the reason. There are several variants of this story that had them going to the sun, or first to the sun who sent them to the moon. 

Tùkwsi Kishux òk Kitahikàn

Full Moon and Ocean

Here is a brief version of the story:

There was a monster that lived in a lake and he was killing Lenape children. Two young men said that they knew a way to kill the monster and they would have to go to the sun to get some of his ashes to put in the lake. (A version of this story can be heard in the Lenape Taking Dictionary at this address: https://www.talk-lenape.org/stories?id=41.

The two men found some sunbeams and they climbed on them to get to the sun. In one version of the story they got ashes from him and in another version the sun told them to go to the moon because his ashes would cause the Earth to burn up.

So they went to the moon and got some ashes and returned to Earth and threw them in the Lake and the water began to boil and the monster was killed. But before he died he told them, “You have killed me for nothing because there are many of my children in other large bodies of water.”

(In the tale told by Willie Longbone in 1939 a young woman gave birth to a male child that was half fish and she threw it into a lake. It grew large and began to kill children so two young men went to the sun for fire but the sun refused them saying the heat would burn the whole Earth. He told them to go to the ‘night sun’ (the moon) who gave them some ashes. They threw the ashes into the lake where the monster lived and the lake boiled and the monster was killed.)

Lenape names for the Sun and Moon and their phases:

The Sun

Kishux: Sun; Moon; Month
wipèkw / wipëko: Sunbeam / Sunbeams
Wsike: Sunset; The Sun is setting
Winkpèkw: The Sun is drawing water (What the sunbeams do)
Kwtai Kishux: Eclipse (Sun or Moon)

The Moon

Kishux: Sun; Moon; month
Piskewëni kishux: Moon
Nipahàm: Moon (an older word)
Nipaii kishux: Moon (an older word)
Mësëtchèsu kishux: Full Moon
Tùkwsi kishux: Full Moon
Wëski kishux: New Moon
Òxehëmu: Moonlight

Jacob Parks, Delaware Artist, about 1930

From the January 2024 issue of the Delaware Indian News. For more from this issue, as well as a full archive of past issues, click here.

The 59th Annual Delaware Pow Wow will be held at Fall Leaf Family Memorial Pow Wow Grounds May 24-26, 2024. Please see the flyer below for details.

The Veterans Committee is calling all veterans to come and register for the new Lenape Warriors Medal of Freedom. The Medal will be presented at the monthly Tribal Council meetings. Those that want to receive the honor before the Tribal Council can attend the appointed Tribal Council meeting to receive it. Those that cannot or that want to wait for the Pow Wow or General Council meeting, please indicate your choice on the application. Please download the application and complete the application below and send it to the Veterans Service Center at the address below, or email it to Steve Donnell at 1lenapeila@gmail.com.

Delaware Tribe of Indians
Attn: Veterans Service Center
5100 Tuxedo Blvd
Bartlesville, Ok 74006

>>>Application

The Lenape Veterans Committee has opened a new Veterans Service Center in the Lenape Wellness Center. The center will be run by tribal member Steven Donnell (Navy Veteran and American Legion Service Officer). We will perform VA claim filing through the American Legion. We will provide services for all veterans, tribal and non-tribal alike. We will have emergency services for veterans and families of veterans in distress. The center is connected to several programs and groups within the state of Oklahoma, ranging from financial and housing to women’s and men’s counseling and sobriety, along with intimate partner violence services.

Organizations we are connected with include: OKDVA-Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs, Tulsa Vets Center for counseling, OK developmental disabilities council, OK DHS, Delaware prevention support services (sobriety service).

The center will be open on Tuesdays from 10-5. The center is located at the Tribal Complex at 170 Barbara St. Bartlesville, OK in the Tribal Wellness Center.

To contact us:

Email: 1lenapeila@gmail.com

Phone: (918) 337-6590 ext. Steve.

Emergency phone: (760) 401-2056 cell

Please come by and check out the center and visit. Wanishi!

Steve Donnell, head of the Veterans Service Center

kìkayàk (elders) 
òkànkwèphatuwàk (group in a circle)
Wëli Newiyal! (Happy New Year!) 
 
Welcome to The Elders Circle, a new forum of the Elders Committee for sharing information with our fellow tribal members.
 
If you are a senior citizen (55+) and a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, we invite you to join our monthly meetings at Tribal Headquarters or on Zoom. 
 

Elders Committee

Meetings
The Elders Committee meets monthly on the first Tuesday at 1:00 P.M. in the Family & Children’s Services building, located at Tribal Headquarters, 5100 Tuxedo Blvd, Bartlesville, OK. 

If you can’t make it in person, please join us on Zoom! To attend the meeting by Zoom, email your request to delawareeldercouncil2023@gmail.com and you will receive instructions on how to connect.
 

Elder Committee Activities 

Donations
We appreciate donations to the Elders Committee. Donations benefit our elder community by providing opportunities to participate in activities as well as providing programs that help our elders. In January, be on the lookout to purchase raffle tickets to win a beautiful comforter set donated by Delaware Elder Beverly Chafin. In addition, Sondra Boone donated $500 for the elder community and Billie Jean Sheshey, another Delaware Elder, donated 48 sets of hat and gloves to distribute to Delaware Elders at the Christmas party.

Wanìshi ta (thank you very much) to everyone who donated! 

Raffle
In January, don’t forget to buy raffle tickets to win this beautiful king size comforter set (pictured below)! Tickets can be purchased by contacting Elder Committee members or by emailing the Elder Committee at delawareeldercouncil2023@gmail.com

Trips
In December we explored the Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserves’ Wonderland of Lights followed by a trip to Braums. 

Interested in joining us on the next trip? Then join the Elders Committee! If you’re 55+ and a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, you’re eligible to attend our Elders Committee. 
 
Contact Us
Senior (55+) Delaware tribal members can contact our committee by email at delawareeldercouncil2023@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook at dtieldercommittee. 
 
We look forward to growing our elder community! Join us at our 2024 monthly meetings on Tuesdays: January 2, February 6, March 5, and April 9 at 1:00 P.M.
 
Elders Committee Officers:
Chair Beverly Hicks
Vice Chair Kay Anderson
Secretary Connie Falleaf
Treasurer Susan Cade