Originally published in The North Woods Call (Feb 14, 2007)
Readers Who Care by Hugh McDiarmid Jr., Michigan Environmental Council

Michigan’s environmental community – which overwhelmingly backed Gov. Jennifer Granholm in her re-election bid – joined forces with grassroots groups and lashed out at the Governor for recklessly endangering the environment. In a show of strength, they went as far as placing a scathing, full-page newspaper advertisement taking her to task. View the ad (PDF).

We thought you might be interested in the reasons why. It’s part of an important story that is playing out in the Upper Peninsula with serious implications for all of Michigan.

The Granholm administration gave preliminary approval to a permit application to mine nickel by boring into sulfide ores in Marquette County. Citizen groups and environmentalists are gravely concerned about the possibility of this mine, proposed for the Yellow Dog Plains, a mere 9 miles from Lake Superior and would lie directly beneath one of its purest tributaries, the Salmon Trout River.

Considering the Upper Peninsula’s mining heritage, why is this mine wrong for Michigan?

Boring into sulfide ores creates huge potential for acid mine drainage. When sulfide ores are brought to the surface, they mix with water and oxygen to create something similar to battery acid. An acid-generating mine has the potential to do great harm in a water-rich region like the Upper Peninsula.

Every sulfide mine has contaminated nearby waters and the effect is long-lasting. Add to that the fact that acidic water also leaches heavy metals from soil and rock, effectively depositing them into the watershed, and you’ve got a whole host of water-related concerns.

The Governor of the “water wonderland” state needs to take a serious look at the research from unbiased scientists whose data directly contradict those of the mining company. Read the predictions from scientists at MineAid.org (PDF).

The Governor is headed down a dangerous path that leads directly from a U.P. sulfide mine to the Great Lakes.

The proposed mine is merely a test case within the mining industry. Extensive exploration is taking place throughout the U.P. and if this mine is approved, flawed application and all, others will line up behind it.

Is that the vision we have for our future? Is that the Next Michigan that Governor Granholm promises? It certainly isn’t the Pure Michigan from the state’s tourism campaign. As residents, we should expect regulators to set the bar as high as possible when it comes to proposals that endanger people and resources.

There are many reasons why residents throughout the state should be concerned about this proposal. The following list names just a few.

• Great Lakes water quality is Michigan’s strongest asset in tough economic times. We cannot afford to lose clean lakes, streams, and rivers.
• It sets a dangerous precedent for closing off acres and acres of publicly-owned lands for a period of decades for the benefit of a foreign-owned, for-profit company. The precedent reaches far beyond the Upper Peninsula.
• It jeopardizes the recreational economy that has been the U.P.’s mainstay for years. At times like these, can Michigan afford to put portions of our economy in a precarious position?
• Michigan residents value the Upper Peninsula. It is our escape from big cities and frenetic traffic. With nearly 4 million crossings of the Mackinac Bridge annually, it’s clear that the U.P. is an asset worth protecting.
• Short-term jobs at a mine that risks damaging valuable recreational resources are not the 21st century jobs this state needs and are inconsistent with the Governor’s pledge to recruit sustainable businesses that renew, not deplete, our precious natural resources.

Governor Granholm, in one of the first major decisions of her second term, has deeply disappointed long-standing supporters in the environmental community and they are prepared to raise awareness among supporters and others of the disastrous implications of this mine.