Chuck Glossenger’s letter to the editor of the Mining Journal on mineral exploration in the Ottawa Forest.
To the editor:
The Ottawa National Forest in Ironwood is accepting comments during the public input process on whether to grant Kennecott three permits to do exploratory drilling on federal land.
One of their permit requests is the Bates parcel, a 395 acre site right on the shore of Perch Lake. The immediate question is, do we want a sulfide mine on the shores of an inland lake? What about one of the Great Lakes?
Kennecott already has the controversial Eagle Project nickel mine beneath the headwaters of the Salmon Trout River, and now they want our lakes?
Trans Superior, Inc. wants to drill near the Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness, next to Pricket Lake and the Sturgeon River. Do you want a sulfide mine in this area?
My concern is that Kennecott will want to do sub-aqueous tailings disposal at these inland lakes, like they want to do at the Humboldt Mill facility. This is exactly what Coeur Alaska Inc. wants to do at their proposed Kensington Gold Mine in the Tongass National Forest at Lower Slate Lake.
They will kill off the fish and aquatic life and then replant fish when the mine life is over. This case has now been submitted for a ruling by the United States Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has signaled it is going to crack down on mountain top removal coal mining. Mountain streams are being used for deposit of overburden and entire valleys are being filled. So far, over 500 mountains in Appalachia have been decapitated with dangerous heavy metals being placed in aquifers.
The problem is that mining is the largest producer of solid waste in the world!
For example, the Kennecott Eagle Project ore body is 3.68 percent nickel, 3.06 percent copper and gold, palladium and platinum at one-tenth of an ounce per ton. This means that 92 percent of the mining is WASTE – such as arsenic, boron, mercury and other carcinogens.
Due to lax interpretation of the Clean Water Act during the Bush era, the subject of mining waste and its toxic legacy was ignored. Now President Obama wants science to trump politics at the EPA. I urge all to call the Ottawa National Forest at 906-932-1330 and urge them to halt their prospecting permit process until the Supreme Court and EPA decide their cases.
Chuck Glossenger
Big Bay