Wednesday, January 25th, 5:00p, – 7:00pm
BURY THE MINING BILL PROTEST RALLY: at Lady Forward, to of State Street / Capitol Square, Madison, WI — Protest AB-426 aka “The Mining Bill,” and Wetlands Deregulation Bill AB-463. These Bills will deregulate environmental protections and give immunity to mining operations. The bills are also in direct violation of the treaty rights of the tribes whose resources they affect. The bills are themselves illegal.
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Morse town hall overflows for county mining resolution debate by Tom Coombe & Nick Wognum After several hours of testimony Tuesday in a jam-packed Morse Town Hall, the St. Louis County Board went on record in support of copper-nickel mining in northeastern Minnesota. But the resolution ultimately approved on a 4-3 vote wasn’t as forceful as a measure originally presented the week before by Ely commissioner Mike Forsman. Commissioners instead resolved to support “the existing open, transparent and comprehensive environmental review and permitting process in place” for various copper-nickel mining projects proposed for the region and supports “the success of these projects,” contingent upon the approval of all federal and state environmental permits. A more strongly-worded resolution of support stalled at a Dec. 13 meeting in Duluth, and other county business was put aside for more than seven hours Tuesday, when both supporters and opponents of the measure turned out in full force. As many as 90 people crammed into the Morse Town Hall at times, and dozens more waited outside for a chance to speak or take in the proceedings. After hearing from more than 50 speakers, most from outside the Ely area, commissioners adopted a resolution that Forsman said was tweaked in part to gain the support of commissioner Steve Raukar of Hibbing. Raukar joined Forsman, Virginia area commissioner Steve Nelson and Chris Dalberg of Duluth to form a four-member majority. Continue reading |
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By C.A. Arneson | Monday, Aug. 29, 2011
It was bad enough when the U.S. Supreme Court bestowed corporations with personhood – but under the guise of the title Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota now has its own corporative dictator. And Minnesota’s dictator wants sulfide mining at all costs – including the permanent degradation of Minnesota waters.
By: Bob Tammen, Duluth Budgeteer News
We care about our watershed. The Lake Superior Watershed Festival brought out hundreds of visitors to Lake Superior College Saturday to learn about threats to Lake Superior. One of the biggest future threats will be copper mining in the Duluth Complex of minerals. Mining promoters have an impressive array of talking points. Unfortunately, they don’t have a scientifically acceptable mining plan.
Polymet’s draft environmental impact statement got the lowest possible rating from the EPA, which issued a letter detailing the Continue reading
WaterLegacy is collaborating with Friends of the Boundary Waters to promote Sulfide Mining Awareness Day on June 22.
Talk with your friends, family, and neighbors about the dangers of sulfide mining and help them send a comment on the Hardrock Draft EIS if they haven’t already.
Help make sure our prized northern Minnesota lake district and Lake Superior are protected from toxic pollution and noise caused by prospecting and sulfide mining.
Check WaterLegacy.org or Friends-Bwca.org soon for more details!
For Immediate Release, March 22, 2011
Contact: Marc Fink, Center for Biological Diversity, (218) 525-3884
Contact: Betsy Daub, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, (612) 332-9630
DULUTH, Minn.— A change in state law exempting Iron Range Resources from Minnesota’s environmental review requirements prompted conservationists today to dismiss their lawsuit against the agency. The lawsuit had been filed to challenge a premature and illegal loan by Iron Range Resources to PolyMet Mining Company, which is pursuing the state’s first open-pit sulfide mine but has not obtained the required environmental approvals. Instead of addressing the problems identified in the lawsuit, the state simply changed the longstanding rules to benefit the mining proposal.
“Passing new legislation that weakens environmental requirements in response to a lawsuit is public policy at its worst,” said Marc Fink, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Do you want to know the TRUTH about copper-sulfide mining?
Do you want to know what will be left for your children and your grandchildren?
How important is it really?
How is it going to benefit Minnesota?
“With the entire Great Lakes region under threat, we have to band together to protect our beautiful homeland, and keep our precious water safe for the generations to come.”
For more information about potential sulfide mining projects in Minnesota, go to sosbluewaters.org and waterlegacy.org
Published December 20, 2009
Dissenting view: Creating our own Appalachia means giving up too much
By: Marc Fink, For the News Tribune
Over the years we’ve seen, in the Appalachia region of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, what happens when a single industry becomes a sacred cow, supported by politicians across the spectrum for their own self interest and political survival. The end result has been tops literally blown off mountains, vanishing streams and continued poverty in local communities.
This scene, unfortunately, now seems to be playing out in Northeastern Minnesota as our local, state, and national politicians compete with each other to see who can offer the loudest support for corporations entering our state to strip-mine copper, nickel, and other metals from the Iron Range.
Lost in the politicians’ rush to support this new type of mining in Minnesota is not only the horrid record of similar projects across the country, but facts disclosed in the just-released draft environmental review for the PolyMet proposal.
Please join us for a special film premiere!
Precious Waters: Minnesota’s sulfide mining controversy
7 – 9 p.m. – Wednesday, November 11
FREE and open to the public!
John B. Davis Lecture Hall, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center
Macalester College, 1600 Grand Ave, St. Paul
“Precious Waters” is a new short film produced by the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and award-winning Fretless Films. The film takes a hard look at the sulfide mining industry’s history of failed Continue reading
