From the March 23, 2008 story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Stephenson, Mich. – Deb Skubal looks out her living room window and sees a pristine forest, an occasional eagle or bear, and the Menominee River meandering through the woods on its way to Green Bay.
Geologist Tom Quigley looks at the same scene and sees the same beauty. But he also envisions the riches beneath the ground: gold, silver and zinc, all trapped in rock nearly 2 billion years old.
Their viewpoints appear to be on a collision course that illustrates a conflict between the needs of an increasingly global economy and the environmental disruption that can result from meeting those needs.”
I thought a truck hauling away toxic material spilled on the parking lot at Flambeau. To me this is pollution.
Much has been said and understood concerning the fate of mineral deposits in the UP, but I believe I should provide another perspective for those who are debating this issue.
Our civilization depends upon the minerals that will be extracted from these rich mines. The metals are essential to life as we know it. This is not hyperbole, but instead reflects reality. Cars, computers, dishwashers and big-screen TV’s demand the qualities these metals supply. Civilization has relied on metals for thousands of years and will not stop consuming them because there is risk inherent in their recovery. Further, recycled metals are not of sufficient quantities, even with 100% reclamation, to fill the demand. This is logical, because if there are 10% more TV’s made every year, then there is no way, even with 100% reclaimed metals from every discarded TV, that recycling can keep up.
Since metals are necessary and recycling cannot possibly keep up with production demands, we must find fresh sources to merely sustain our metal inventories. This is done through mining. Thats where metals come from.
Mines are dug where metals exist and metals exist in great concentrations at very few locations in the entire world. The UP has a few very rich sites and they must be mined.
Mining must proceed with a safe, secure plan. The agencies with mining oversite are going to allow mining that conforms to the safest, most secure plans possible. This is an ideal situation, very unlike unregulated mining seen elsewhere in the world.
If you are a NIMBY, so be it. But at least be honest enough to admit you are putting the burden on someone else. Admit also that you are imperialistic, because many of the metal producing mines are currently in someone elses backyard, ie developing nation’s, third-world countries where the people’s welfare is, presumably, easier to dismiss. Be sure to ask yourself this; Does the threat you believe that exists with mining diminish if it is done in, say, Bolivia? How about Zimbabwe? It really begins to sound like people who object to local mining projects are limousine-set liberals, exercising elitist attitudes, merely grasping after power.
We all want and need a clean, beautiful environment. Mining is essential and so must be done to preserve the environment to the utmost. So, let’s be courageous enough to pick up the tab for our lifestyle and not push it off on third world countries.