A declaration of war: Tribes across country oppose sulfide "Acid Mine" - Northern Michigan tribes doesn’t want acid mine built near Marquette
In recent years, Indian tribes across the U.S. have bitterly opposed the creation of sulfide mines - one tribe called it a declaration of war.
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, numerous environment groups are standing together to stop the "acid mine" proposed near Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community President/CEO Susan LaFernier said the tribe continues to closely monitor the Kennecott Minerals Co. Eagle Project in the Yellow Dog Plains.
"Our tribal cultural committee has been very involved with it (Eagle Project) and we're going to continue to do what we can (to halt it)," Keweenaw Bay Indian Community President/CEO Susan LaFernier told the daily Mining Gazette of Houghton, MI.
The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) strongly opposes "acid mine" on the Yellow Dog Plains because sulfide mining tramples ceded territorial rights and the treaties of 1842 and 1856.
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Anatomy of a Murder 2008 Part Two: On the Eve of an Acid Mine Destruction
"Acid Mine" will open near original murder that sparked famous book and movie
Will visit by Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann and his environment message be the miracle needed to stop the sulfide mine near Lake Superior in Northern Michigan
Opponents of a proposed sulfide Mine near Lake Superior in northern Michigan need a miracle to stop the project - that will be built in the spring of 2008 if not stopped.
That miracle may be arriving in the form of one of America’s foremost Biblical scholars - Dr. Walter Brueggemann - who will be giving free talks in northern Michigan in early October on the "connection of Bible and environmental crisis" including a discussion of Upper Peninsula issues like the proposed sulfide mine.
"My presentation will consider the way in which the Bible empowers and calls us to care about our environment," Dr. Brueggemann said. "The connection of Bible and environmental crisis is an invitation to a new, responsible sanity - after too much economic insanity."
To read more about the dates and details of Dr. Bruggemann’s talks and more about the Acid Mine and those who are not speaking out against the mine like the nearby billionaire boys club and two famous people who say they love the U.P. - Please look at this article written for Urth-TV by Turtle Island Project volunteer media advisor Greg Peterson:
http://www.urth.tv/content/view/19545/397/
Famous actor Jeff Daniels, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm proclaim their love the U.P. but neither has forcefully opposed the mine - and the time is running out.
Please help me convince them - here are ways to contact the Mr. Daniels and Governor Granholm:
Actor/director/musician Jeff Daniels website:
http://jeffdaniels.com/contact.asp
MI Governor Jennifer Granholm:
http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995-65331--,00.html
http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995---,00.html
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Mr. Daniels and Governor Granhlom - please come off the sidelines and lead the fight - or - make no mistake - the mine will be built.
Public hearings are now over and the written comment period ends October 17, 2007.
Write or email:
DEQ/DNR Kennecott Comments
Office of Geological Survey
P.O. Box 30256
Lansing, Michigan
48909-7756
Add your voice to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality public input:
DEQ-Kennecott-comments@michigan.gov
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Save the Wild UP sample letter:
http://www.savethewildup.org/blog/take-action-write-to-the-deq-and-the-gov/
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The Acid Mine will be built near Big Bay, the site of the murder and later filming of the famous movie "Anatomy of a Murder." The opening of the mine would be Part Two: Anatomy of a Murder 2008":
The mine is commonly called the "Acid Mine" because the process that removes nickel and other minerals from the ground produces sulfuric acid.
The misguided proposal comes from the Kennecott Minerals Corporation - an international mining company with one of the worst environmental records
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On the eve of destruction: An acid mine looms on Marquette County’s horizon and your children’s future
Marquette County is heading down a dangerous road - from which there is no return.
The proposed nickle mine near Big Bay is nothing more than an acid mine.
Once sulfuric acid reaches the aquifer, the Yellow Dog and Salmon Trout rivers, and Lake Superior - those pristine areas will be forever polluted.
Make no mistake - the pollution will happen. That is a fact - pure and simple.
After acid mines pop up around the Upper Peninsula, uranium mining will follow.
Once the first acid mine opens - it makes opening additional metal mines easier and inevitable.
A 100-percent safe nickle mine has yet to be built.
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An Acid Mine Proving Ground: Guinea Pig Glory
The soil, water and air of Marquette County should not be the guinea pig for technology that’s far from perfect.
In fact, the entire Great Lakes system is threatened by the proposal because once Lake Superior is polluted by sulfuric acid - it will reach Lake Michigan. Plus, rivers near the acid mine feed both of those Great Lakes.
The acid mine is proposed for one of the remotest areas left in the U.P. - the Yellow Dog Plains.
When deciding whether the acid mine is safe - it boils down to common sense and trust.
It’s difficult to wager Marquette County’s environmental future on the promises of an international mining company.
It doesn’t make sense to trust a temporary business partner that’s undoubtedly planning its exit strategy before even opening the acid mine.
The environmental impact of the acid mine is staggering.
Our "canary in the coal mine," will be thousands of dead birds and floating brook trout, the oft celebrated fish that calls the Yellow Dog its ancestral home.
Experts fear the acid mine’s effect on the protected Kirtland’s Warbler and sensitive Coaster Brook Trout.
To open the acid mine, will close other obvious avenues of economic development.
Once polluted by an acid mine, Marquette County will be undesirable to "clean"companies seeking a beautiful low-crime area for employees.
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A Most "Unliveable" Community:
Marquette County is proud of recent national recognition as one of "America’s Most Liveable Communities" and an "All-America County."
Organizers of those awards said Marquette County was honored due to the area’s pristine natural beauty and a progressive program for those without medical insurance.
You can be sure that Marquette County would never have even made the short list for those awards if its claim to fame was an acid mine.
These organizations should strip Marquette County of those titles if the mine opens.
The future of the U.P. rests on its clean air, pure water, abundant wildlife and other positive quality of life attributes.
Many studies show that mining is not a good economic investment for today’s communities especially since Americans have become more educated on environmental issues.
Acid mines are far more dangerous to our environment than the iron ore mines that have provided long-term jobs and billions of dollars to our economy.
Once the iron mines close, Marquette County will rely on its beauty to attract tourism and high-paying jobs that don’t create pollution like the fast growing high tech industry.
As other areas of the United Sates become polluted and overcrowded, these companies will move to the U.P. to offer attractive environs for the techies they compete to hire.
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Don’t Be Fooled:
With Michigan’s poor economy it’s tempting to believe the owners of the proposed acid mine - as they dangle money and a handful of jobs in the faces of Marquette County’s business leaders.
Kennecott Minerals Corporation obviously thinks that Marquette County residents are a bunch of uneducated small town northern rednecks lead by a greedy business community - willing to trade our children’s future for a fast buck.
Be truthful. Do you think Marquette’s founding fathers would support this acid mine? Indeed not.
The owners of the proposed acid mine love to wave studies - they have bought and paid for - insisting the mine will be safe. A new safer process has been developed, they say.
Common sense dictates that there will never be a safe way to mine nickle from sulfide ore deposits because the process creates sulfuric acid.
Once uncovered by blasting, the volatile sulfide ore will be exposed to air and water - triggering a process that creates sulfuric acid.
Despite man’s best attempt to prevent the contamination, it’s impossible to stop all the acid from leaching into the aquifer.
Sure, some of the acid may be contained - but some (or even most) isn’t good enough. Would you drink or swim in water that even has a tiny amount of sulfuric acid?
The leaching of the acid could cause dangerous concentrations of heavy metals and arsenic in private wells.
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The Air That We Breathe:
Aquifer pollution is bad enough, but the acid mine will also contaminate the air that we breathe.
Former Michigan Governor William G. Milliken said it best in an eloquent column in the May 16, 2007 issue of the Detroit Free Press.
"The proposed mine also poses the threat of air pollution, with a system that would vent air through a 50-foot tall stack, releasing an estimated minimum of 20 tons per year of dust containing sulfides and metals only 300 feet from the Salmon Trout River."
Milliken wrote that past environmental mistakes in Michigan are a lesson that you can’t exploit nature without later paying the tab.
To open this acid mine, the former governor explained, would be the "modern-day equivalent of the biblical story of Esau selling his birthright for a ‘mess of pottage.’ "
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Not Worth a Plugged Nickle:
You can’t plug a nickel mine. The acid keeps leaking and leaking and leaking.
In fact - the proposal isn’t worth a nickle - the same mineral that will create millions of gallons of sulfuric acid.
Like a new nickle, the acid mine proposal may seem shiny to those who will profit but its pollution can’t be plugged
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The New Yellow Brick Road and Yellow Boy River:
Yellow Boy is the term used for the orangish-yellow runoff from metallic mining.
Many rivers worldwide have turned yellow due to the nasty highly acidic run-off from metallic mining.
If the acid mine opens, the Yellow Dog River will soon be nicknamed the "Yellow Boy" River.
Even when trucked away - that blasted material will spill onto our roads - and turned to acid by air or rain.
We’ve all seen the iron ore pellets along Marquette County roads and railways - imagine what 80 daily truckloads of acid mining debris will look like along County Road 550.
Up to 200 times per day, these trucks will rumble through the streets of Marquette skirting Northern Michigan University on Wright street.
These trucks will become part of the daily lives of residents who live along county roads 550 and 510. Kennecott hasn’t addressed transportation issues in permit applications for the Marquette County mine.
Imagine getting into an accident with a truck carrying debris that can turn into sulfuric acid - it’s not like spilling a load of iron ore pellets.
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Acid Reigns: Playing Dirty Pool With Our Water:
A now infamous consultant’s report that questions the mine’s safety was withheld from the public until uncovered by environmentalists.
Claiming it wasn’t a coverup merely bad training and poor judgement, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality temporarily suspended the mine’s permit applications.
An "independent" investigation cleared the MDEQ and a careless employee of intentionally covering up the report. The popular phrase "yeah right" comes to mind.
That geologist’s report questions if the nearby Yellow Dog River will collapse into the gigantic hole created by mine blasting.
Talk about a disaster. If the Yellow Dog merges with that mine hole - a terrible environmental situation will turn into the horrific nightmare. It’s Love Canal meets Lake Erie all over again.
Kennecott’s groundwater discharge application remains incomplete.
Don’t be lulled by the temporary permit delays, soon the opening of the mine will be back on the fast track.
Without your concern, the acid mine could be open this time next year.
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6-6-6: The Devil is in the Details:
After six short years, Kennecott Minerals will gladly bid adieu to Marquette County leaving a legacy of pollution, lawsuits, unemployment, and an open door for uranium mining and numerous similar mines.
The acid mine will create about 70 jobs but the best case scenario is 100.
That’s measly even by mining standards.
Again, Kennecott says they could be open for eight years in Marquette County but actions speak louder than words.
Kennecott closed their Wisconsin mine one year early and it’s environmental effects are still being litigated because up to 20 percent of the property is unsafe for humans.
The closed Flambeau Mine in Ladysmith, WI continues to pollute nearby streams.
Kennecott has removed tons of top soil (4 inches deep) but that still hasn’t fixed the ongoing pollution problem.
Federal environment officials annually list two Kennecott mines (Utah, Alaska) among the top six polluting mines in America.
When all is said and done - lawsuits over Kennecott’s Wisconsin and Michigan mines could drag through the courts for much longer than the mines were operating.
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She’s No CCI:
Marquette County’s iron ore mines have not been perfect but at least they created thousands of high-paying long-term union jobs.
The owners of the iron ore mines have given hundreds of millions of dollars to local charities and organizations.
Cleveland Cliffs Inc. (CCI) has also built thousands of acres of wetlands and other natural areas to make up for property ruined by iron ore tailings.
In contrast, Kennecott has agreed to donate 120 acres around the mine to the state of Michigan for about 30 years of public use.
Who will want to take an afternoon stroll so close to an acid mine that has belched tons of noxious exhaust and spewed lakes of sulfuric acid.
And forget hunting and fishing in that area. Which brings up the topic of the new "yellow-tailed" deer.
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First They Muddy the Water:
Kennecott counts on complicated studies, reports and language to baffle the public and media.
Reporters must quote reports and studies by name, title and other background that saps the limited space they have to write about this decidedly complicated issue. It’s not malice, it’s just part of the journalistic trade.
That’s why we’ve put this story in plain language and why we’ve brought this vital analysis to your doorstep.
For those interested in a wide variety of government and Kennecott documents or a more in depth story, please visit the Save the Wild U.P. website for links to a lot of information about the acid mine.
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Like a Thief In The Night:
Once our virgin ground has been raped and soiled - it can’t be healed.
You can’t unring that environment bell.
That’s why the Save the Wild U.P. and other environmental groups are working so hard to sound an alarm before it’s too late.
Please make it clear you oppose the acid mine in Marquette County by contacting your state, local and national lawmakers, the MDEQ, Kennecott Minerals Corporation, the news media, and friends, family and neighbors.
There is still limited time to stop this mine.
The acid mine will open without the collective loud voices of Marquette County residents who say "we’re mad as hell" and we’re not going to allow this acid factory to open.
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Group that opposes mine:
http://www.northwoodswild.org/
(906) 226-6649
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