Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have asked the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company for a 30-day extension before making a final decision on whether to grant several permits for the company’s proposed nickel and copper mine on the Yellow Dog Plains.
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Rio Tinto has history of driving people off land
I couldn’t sleep last night.
The story of Bougainville kept sticking in my mind. “Bougainville”, you say? What the heck is that? Bougainville is an island in the Solomons, that was inhabited by Pacific Islanders for thousands of years. It used to have pristine water, air, rainforest that sustained the Bougainville’s people way of life.
Bougainville was about to be changed forever, in 1969, when the Australian Colonial Administration leased land to RIO TINTO/(parent of Kennecott) for the Panguna Copper Mine. Google it. Rio Tinto doesn’t have its damage control web pages up yet in an attempt to block this shocking human rights and environmental nightmare.
Follow me here. Panguna mine closed in 1989. A suit was filed in 2000 the U.S. Court of appeals against Rio Tinto regarding violation of international law. The U.S court sided with the people of Bougainville. Of course, Rio Tinto appealed. SEVEN years later, the US Court of Appeals in April 2007 sided with the islanders of Bougainville(again) that Rio Tinto conspired with the government of New Guinea and savagely quelled a civil resistance that lasted for 10 years, over an environmentally devastating mine, that lead to the DEATH of thousands of Bougainville residents.
See, what happened in 1960 was Rio Tinto and the government wanted the mine. The land owners did not. The land owners lost, their voices ignored, they were forced to either flee or were driven off their land. Three villages were relocated, then razed. Their rainforests were cut; the entire mountain hilltop was sluiced. All of this was done with foreign workers brought in who worked for pennies on the dollar. You can see the environmental damage yet as of 2001 here:
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jkjacka/panguna.htm
When the mine was in operation, Rio Tinto proceeded to improperly dispose of tailings, polluting the people’s source of food, the fish. This was going on in the 1970s-80s! Children began dying more frequently of upper respiratory ailments. 800 people were driven off their land directly from tailings contamination. A whole river system was turned a bright blue from dangerous chemicals coming from the mine including sulphur, arsenic, copper, zinc, cadmium and mercury, killing fish, rendering it biologically dead, taking away a food source of thousands.
In 1987, the landowners of Bougainville resisted, wanting their share of mine profits. Rio Tinto scoffed. The mine shut down with revolts from the people. The army was brought in. Rio Tinto provided funding for a military blockade, lasting 8 YEARS, that cut off essentials for the Bougainville people, now that they could no longer live off the land because of Rio’s environmental destruction. This blockade prevented anyone from coming or going off the island, even the media. It turned in to pretty much a civil war, thousands were killed as a direct result of resisting the mine and Rio Tinto.
The Red Cross states over 2000 children were directly KILLED as a result of this blockade. In two years, it is estimated 10% of Bougainville’s population, or 15,000 people had been killed. This WAR went on for 10 years, ending in 1999. The blockade was lifted after international negotiations; the blockade failed, the Bougainville people did not back down and in a sense finally won, but look at the cost in lives lost.
Now the people of Bougainville seek redress from Rio Tinto for lives lost, quality of life lost, and environmental devastation. This appeal as of the year 2007 will legally help their cause, although Rio Tinto can play the litigation game well, just as BP has done in the Valdez disaster. God forbid should anything related to “Eagle Project” end up in litigation because of some unforeseen accident that ends up either polluting the aquifer or causing our wells to run dry. We’d all be dead before we ever got our just compensation.
Rio is still trying to reopen the mine, playing upon the financial shortfalls of the government of New Guinea. Sorta sounds like Michigan’s situation, money problems, hey let’s stick a whole bunch of sulfide mine projects in the UP! Just a bunch of scraggly jack pines and wasteland up there anyway! Let’s give them pretty names too, like Eagle Project!
So, what does this matter to me here in Marquette MI?
First of all,ethics. Look at what Rio Tinto has done. They are going to say anything to make “Eagle Project” and it’s tiny “footprint”(ahhhh) sound good for the people of Michigan. But to get Rio’s true vibe and what they stand for, all you have to do is look at their human rights and environmental record, which is dismal.
I guess it all comes down to greed, in a way, for everyone.
I’m greedy. I moved to Marquette for a quality of life that values recreation, clean water, air, and untouched, unspoiled forests. I gave up big money in a city to live in Marquette County, MI. I spend my paycheck here, in Marquette County, MI. Many of the population here shares my values and spends their money here, too, because they want clean air, water, forests, the bikers, hikers, boaters, anglers, kayakers, vacation home owners, etc. I’m a working stiff, working many more hours than 40 a week, all because I choose to live here. Many others here have done the same. I found employment, not great paying, but I’m making it work. I can get by without Rio Tinto and what they would do for my “community”.
I’m about as far removed from an environmental wacko “Huron Mountain elitist” as you can get, and I don’t have any problems accessing the Salmon Trout River, btw. The pro mine defense that a few Huron Mountain elitists are the only ones anti mine here is about as absurd as it gets. I guess that’s what the Kennecott defense is being reduced to, geez. I would have never opined here, but the facts about RIO TINTO/Kennecott must be heard.
I wanted to live my life out here, in Marquette County. But with the way the Upper Peninsula is becoming a overloaded pincushion from the hundreds of test drill sites just waiting on this Kennecott decision, I may be planning to leave Michigan. If the mine goes in, I’m gone, grabbing my land value before any potential Rio Tinto/Kennecott accidents become reality. I’m not taking a chance on a Rio Tinto’s promises-just look what their human rights violations! You really think they care about the environment and they can do anything environmentally responsible? Oh, that’s just Rio Tinto overseas, you say. Kennecott? Greens Creek Alaska/ Admiralty Island National Monument? Bingham Canyon/Great Salt Lake? Utah? What happened there?
Guess what goes with me? All of the money I spend here. I venture to say I will not be the only one in this exodus. As goes the wild nature of Marquette County and the Upper Peninsula, so goes the recreation and tourism dollars, elsewhere, out of state to be sure.
No big deal? The economic, environmental loss long term will be much larger than what the State of Michigan will ever see from Rio Tinto. Wisconsin said no to sulfide mining for a reason. Flambeau is leaking….hellooooo? You know, the mine Kennecott is touting as their environmentally safe mine?The one that they need to monitor for another three years because they were only given a partial certificate of completion due to groundwater contamination concerns?
Rio Tinto could once again be successful in driving more people off their land.
The State of Michigan, currently trying to bail out their budget with a huge Michigan tourism campaign, will be making a huge economic mistake allowing this mine to go. Yeah, I can just see it now, “Michigan, Great Lakes, Great times, while your at it, visit the metallic sulfide mines of the Upper Peninsula”
S.E.M. Marquette county land owner.
Please, PLEASE close out this chapter of deceit, trickery, falsehoods, and ravaging of our lands for a buck. NOBODY wants this, and this wouldn’t even have snuck in without Bush administration behind the back ignoring laws in place… EVERYONE else decided their side of this issue long before 30 days had gone by.. a nobrainer! Do the right thing, restore faith to a country. Thank you, M.A.Greer