Yearly Archives: 2008

Save The Wild UP presentation in Menominee well attended

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Mining Seen as Serious Threat To U.P. Resources

By Kurt Steidl, Eagle Herald Staff Writer, ksteidl@eagleherald.com

STEPHENSON– A group based in Lake Township has long expressed its concerns about the effects of exploration for metallic sulfide mineral mine along the Menominee River in the township.

The group, known as Front 40, invited a speaker to its Wednesday meeting to lay out problems that have stricken other areas with mines.

The speaker, Alexis Raney of Save The Wild U.P., kept the audience of close to 40 spellbound for almost an hour with graphic photographs of landscape damaged by acid mine drainage.

“It was founded specifically in an effort to address some of the threats seen by acid mine drainage,” Raney said of her group.

For the full story: 2008-0221-eagle-herald-front-40-amd-presentation.pdf

2005 NY Times article may give glimpse into UP future

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Click here to read the whole article

When the Backyard Views Are of Wells and Drilling Rigs

By KATE MURPHY

WHEN Peggy and Bob Utesch bought a house five years ago on four acres in a town called Silt in rural Garfield County, Colo., they envisioned a quiet, pastoral life. What they got instead was the constant noise and exhaust of heavy trucks and natural gas drilling equipment, not to mention rig workers urinating on their lawn.

“It was quiet and peaceful when we moved in, but by the time we decided to move last March, there were 24 gas wells within a mile radius of our house,” Ms. Utesch said.

The couple was helpless to stop the encroachment because they did not own the mineral rights to their land. So-called split estates, where ownership of the land does not include whatever bounty (gas, oil, gold, uranium, etc.) lies beneath it, are common in the United States.

“Often the landowner doesn’t know that they don’t own the mineral rights until the oil company shows up to start drilling,” said John S. Lowe, professor of energy law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Real estate agents rarely address the matter, he said, “and most people anxious to close on a home don’t read the fine print of the deed.”

They should, because the law in most states allows whoever owns or leases mineral rights to do whatever is “reasonably necessary” to extract subterranean riches. As Ms. Utesch can attest, this includes not only digging wells but also running roads and pipelines across a yard as well as setting up housing for employees at the well site. Ms. Utesch said that she barely broke even on her house when she sold it and would probably have made money if the drillers hadn’t shown up, because nearby real estate prices were rising rapidly. The man who bought her house, she said, builds custom-made jeeps and trucks with large wheels, and saw the gas well workers as potential customers.

Click here for the rest of the story

Canadian city coucil takes a stand against Uranium mining

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The following excerpt is from a Feb. 28 CBC news story, click here for the whole story

“Ottawa city council is urging Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to temporarily ban uranium prospecting, exploration and mining in eastern Ontario and the Ottawa River watershed.

The council voted 18-1 Wednesday in favour of a motion calling on the province to impose the moratorium immediately and to keep it in effect until:

  • All environmental and health issues related to uranium mining are “resolved.”
  • There are settlement plans for all related aboriginal land claims.

The same motion calls on the province to do a public review of its 1990 Mining Act.”

I hope this will remind us that there are options and opportunities to say “no”.

This is NOT a DONE DEAL!

Here is some additional information on the people uniting against Uranium mining in Canada:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/02/15/ot-contempt-080215.html

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/02/13/ot-algonquin-080213.html

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/10/19/ot-sharbot-lake-071019.html

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/09/18/ot-algonquins-070918.html

The Seattle Times excellent article on Uranium mining

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The following is an excerpt from the Seattle Times article, click here for the whole story.

Sherman Alexie was a teenager when he first felt threatened by the uranium mines near his home on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

His grandmother had died from esophageal cancer in 1980. A few years later, his mother and some other tribal members took out a road map and began marking red dots on every home where someone had cancer.

The roads where the ore trucks rumbled by were pocked with red.

“I remember at that point knowing at some point in my life I’m certainly going to get sick,” recalls Alexie, the acclaimed author who now lives in Seattle and recently won the National Book Award. “I have very little doubt that I’m going to get cancer.”

Such is the legacy of the Northwest’s only uranium mines. At least for those who even know they exist.

Washington’s Hanford nuclear reservation, toxic birthplace of the bomb that set off the atomic age, routinely makes headlines. The Midnite Mine, just 100 miles to the north, is all but forgotten, a combination of denial, neglect and willful amnesia.

One of the world’s largest mining companies is trying to wash its hands of responsibility for a costly cleanup. The federal government is supposed to help sick uranium miners, but people on the reservation don’t even know the program exists.

Leadville, Colorado in Danger of a “Toxic Gusher”

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from a Feb. 28 NY Times article; click here for the whole story

“This month, Lake County commissioners declared a state of emergency over concerns that rising levels of contaminated water could burst from the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel and flood the town.

For years, the federal Bureau of Reclamation and the Environmental Protection Agency have bickered over what to do about the aging tunnel, which stretches 2.1 miles and has become dammed by debris. The debris is holding back more than a billion gallons of water, much of it tainted with toxic levels of cadmium, zinc and manganese.

The threat posed by the tunnel is the latest misfortune for the town, which is grappling with the wreckage of more than a century of mining.

“Everybody made a lot of money in Leadville,” said Ken Olsen, a county commissioner. “They left years ago, and we’ve had to clean up after them ever since.”

Leadville Herald: Leadville commision gets results at Capitol meeting

Denver Post: Flooding in tunnel is blamed on Feds 

EPA releases latest Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)

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The EPA released new data this month at http://www.epa.gov/tri/

Click here for the TRI report where the following info was obtained. Go to page 21 of the .pdf for the Top 50 Polluters

Top 7 Most Highly Polluting U.S. Facilities, by Weight in Pounds (2006)

1) Red Dog Operations: Kotzebue, Alaska, 615.3 million
2) Kennecott Utah Copper Mine & Power Plant: Utah 102.5 million
3) Phelps Dodge Miami Inc.: Claypool, Gila County, Ariz. 59.5 million
4) Newmont Mining Corp. Twin Creeks Mine: Golconda, Nev. 56.9 million
5) Envirosafe Service of Ohio: Lucas County, Ohio, 53.3 million
6) Barrick Goldstrike Mine Inc.: Elko, Nev., 48.6 million
7) Kennecott Greens Creek Mining Co.: Juneau, Alaska, 44.5 million

Congratulations Kennecott, you placed twice in the Top 10!!

Press Release: Lawsuit filed against the MDNR

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For Immediate Release

February 28, 2008

Also see the Mining Journal article

Click here for the AP article 

Contact:

Michelle Halley, National Wildlife Federation, (906) 361-0520

Peter Dykema, Huron Mountain Club, (202) 282-5773

Paul Townsend, Huron Mountain Club, (313) 886-3487

John Baker, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, (906) 353-4106

Cynthia Pryor, Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, (906) 360-2414

Suit challenges legality of DNR, Kennecott lease

A failure by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to follow state law will be challenged before the Ingham County Circuit Court as a result of a suit filed today by opponents seeking reversal of a land lease with Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company.

It has been three weeks since the MDNR granted approval to the unprecedented lease that grants KEMC, a for-profit company with no ties to Michigan, exclusive use of 120 acres of state-owned land for a period of decades. KEMC is planning to construct surface facilities for a sulfide mining operation on the Marquette County property. Those challenging the decision say it violates the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, the Michigan Revised Judicature Act, and Michigan’s public trust doctrine.

Acting as co-petitioners in the suit, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Huron Mountain Club and Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve are asking the court to declare the surface lease void, find that the conduct related to the surface lease would pollute, impair or destroy natural resources, and therefore instruct the MDNR and KEMC to halt any conduct related to the surface lease.

“The State of Michigan has never issued a lease of state lands similar in scope to this one in terms of the amount of land at issue, the period of years, the risky nature of the proposed activity and the long-term implications. This decision is a pivotal one for the future of Michigan’s public lands and this flawed decision cannot go unchallenged,” said Michelle Halley, attorney for NWF.

Halley and co-petitioners say that, by entering into the surface lease, MDNR violated its duty under state law to refrain from authorizing conduct that is likely to pollute, impair or destroy the air, water or other natural resources, or the public trust in those resources, if there is a feasible alternative. KEMC owns land in the vicinity that would meet the criteria of a feasible alternative.

The same petitioners have also filed suit challenging the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to grant mining, groundwater and air permits for the same project. The first of those challenges will be heard by an administrative law judge on April 28, 2008.


Coaster Brook Trout Update

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We’ve had some requests for updates on the Coaster Brook Trout:

The Sierra Club and the Huron Mountain Club filed a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin the investigative process of listing the Coaster Brook Trout as a Threatened and Endangered Species.  This petition filed in February 2007 was not addressed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a timely manner and the petitioners filed suit because of the delay.  The petitioners and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are currently in discussion about when USFWS would be prepared to issue a decision regarding the original listing petition.

The Gold Is In Our Green!!!

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A recent article from MLIVE.com

“West Michigan’s abundant natural resources — forests, sand dunes, wetlands and water — provide a variety of benefits that are worth at least $1.6 billion annually, according to a new study.

Putting a dollar figure on nature, also known as green infrastructure, is a tricky business, technically and philosophically. But officials at the West Michigan Strategic Alliance sought to demonstrate that nature is valuable and that damaging it comes at a price.”

Click here for the rest of the article

Also, refer back to the Brookings Institue Report on the economic benefits of clean, healthy Great Lakes

It seems that it is becoming easier to assign value to nature for nature’s sake!

Take Action, Share Your Knowledge!

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Save The Wild UP has introduced a new feature to the website, a bulletin board

We now have a bulletin board for citizens to share their knowledge and opinion with others who visit the site.

We are especially interested in:

  • News from other communities that are facing the same types of challenges
  • Reports of mining and exploration activity around the Upper Peninsula
  • Community events held by local, county and state governments as well as organizational meetings
  • Issues, events, ideas that involve the Great Lakes
  • Bright ideas for new projects or to help improve existing ones
  • Legal or legislative news that will have impact on our Wild UP
  • Resources that may be helpful in our efforts to protect, preserve or conserve the Wild Upper Peninsula.

All comments are subject to our moderation…we ask for respectful and discretionary behavior while writing your posts.

While most user know what that entails, here is a general code of ethics for using this bulletin board:

We reserve the right, but no responsibilty, to review, edit, move, or delete any content submitted by users, in our sole discretion, without notice, including but not limited to the following reasons:

  • Do not post obscene, hateful, offensive, abusive, harassing, threatening or profane material
  • Do not post junk mail, aka Spam
  • Do not engage in personal attacks, but we encourage respectful debate
  • Please consider using your own name for this forum, it keeps everybody honest
  • Nicknames attempting to impersonate other users will be removed
  • Do not post an e-mail address or other contact information belonging to another person.
  • Do not post information that encourages criminal activity of any kind
  • Do not attempt to impersonate others
  • Try to post your messages in the most appropriate category, if you believe that we do not have a category that fits your information, tell us and we may create a new one
  • Do not use multiple user names and do not answer your own posts using another user name
  • DO USE THIS FEATURE TO LEARN, TEACH, DISCUSS!