Mining Madness, Water Wars: The Great Lakes in the Balance
A Documentary Film on Sulfide Mining
“Mining Madness, Water Wars: The Great Lakes in the Balance” is a timely, compelling documentary that lays bare a controversial proposal to blast a mine beneath a blue ribbon trout stream in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The 33-minute story is told through the passionate voices of scientists, community activists, tribal officials, and others who care about protecting our most precious asset water. Watch a short excerpt that focuses on one aspect of the controversy — the apparent disregard for Native American treaty rights.
Despite extensive scientific testimony that the project’s flaws could place workers in peril and jeopardize a Lake Superior tributary and its watershed, citizens and environmental organizations have found the state’s leadership unresponsive and now look to the justice system for resolution.
“Mining Madness, Water Wars: The Great Lakes in the Balance” was underwritten by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and produced by Brauer Productions, Inc. and Summit Public Relations Strategies, LLC.
Below are clips from the movie:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwFT1cuRyrY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t-TrOCibjk[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b3efzkGmZk[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gheTH8ktXb4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa2n3IfYsi8[/youtube]
Thanks for the informative videos!
It appears to me that if we get to the heart of the matter, it boils down to getting honest officials elected, who are accountable to the will of the people, to the law, and to the highest ideals of our nation.
Allowing those with the most money (and more often than not) the least interest in the general publics well-being to chip in heavily to campaigns, and then ultimately affect both agency staffing and decision making, is nothing short of a crime. The referee on our behalf, working for our best interest, is our government. What has happened by not correcting the undue influence of money in politics is a race to the bottom of behaviors, and a loss of genuine oversight by government agencies. To restore the role of government as the watchdog and referee requires that we focus not only on the immediate threats posed by inaction or inappropriate action, but also to demand real campaign finance reform – including the right to fair elections and the right to fair campaigns. Nobody should be able to “buy their Senator”, but everyone should be included equally as stakeholders in those to whom we grant the privilege of attaining public office.
Short of this, we will continue to see poor decision making in favor of those who value short-term profits for themselves over the long-term public good.