Too much reading? Here’s a Video interview with SWUP’s Dick Huey.
There has never been a metallic sulfide mine that has failed to pollute its watershed. Once such a reaction starts it is difficult to keep this acid drainage out of the water. When water becomes acidic it leaches out and disperses heavy metals into lakes and streams. Heavy metals are dangerous to health, wildlife, and the environment.
There is more to be worried about here than “just” the coaster brook trout: when the insects and microscopic life in streams are affected it starts a chain of events that leads in unexpected and unpredictable directions affecting the fish, the birds, the predators and us.
This is NOT about people, and not about a company. It’s about a PROCESS.
Clean waters and wild lands define the Michigan lifestyle. It’s Great Lakes and the U.P. wilds that make Michigan the state we love. You can live in the city and in a few hours be on blue lakes or in forests of fragrant pine.
The legacy of sulfide mining is acid mine drainage. It poisons water forever. (2,500 – 10,000+ years.) The industrial development required to mine it on State land, in Michigan’s wildest area, will destroy that wildness forever.
Don’t let this type of mining change our Michigan lifestyle. Great Lakes and Michigan’s wilds are our legacy and our responsibility. Say NO to Sulfide Mining. Tell the Governor. Tell everyone.
I am from Minnesota, but love Lake Superior and Michigan’s upper peninsula as well as Isle Royale national park, located in Michigan. I am very concerned about sulfide mining proposals in the regions of Lake Superior watershed. This type of mining would be detrimental to jobs we already have which depend on pristine waters, forests, and fisheries and the wildlife that inhabit our area.