Chuck Glossenger, Big Bay
POSTED: December 5, 2009

To the Mining Journal editor:

In a recent statement, local politicians Sen. Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming, Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, Rep. Mike Lahti D-Hancock, Rep. Steve Lindberg, D-Marquette, and Rep. Judy Nerat, D-Wallace, accused sponsors of a proposed 2010 ballot measure on mining of talking about uranium mining in order to scare people and destroy the mining industry.
This irresponsible statement tells us more about politicians than the group, Save Our Water, and the ballot initiative. Everyone in Marquette County who has followed the mining controversy knows in 2003 local mining groups were telling anyone with ears that Michigan didn’t have regulations covering sulfide mining or underground mining.
Then Gov. Granholm created a mining work group to create new legislation. The playing field wasn’t even from the beginning, as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality told the group that a Wisconsin-type mining law wouldn’t even be discussed.
If Michigan’s new mining laws had a regulation that a sulfide mine had to be at least 2,000 feet from a body of water, we wouldn’t need a ballot initiative. If Michigan’s new mining laws had a regulation requiring an example of another sulfide mine that operated and closed without polluting, we wouldn’t need a ballot initiative.
Why do I as a homeowner have to be so many feet from water to build a house or put in a septic field and a mining corporation doesn’t have such a restriction?
When a group of politicians get together from supposedly different parties and recite the same mantra, it tells us there is only one party in America and that’s the Corporate Party. Both Republicans and Democrats are conduits for that party.
Have you ever wondered why the wealthiest 5 percent of our nation controls 95 percent of everything? By controlling politicians to secure the legislation they want with exemptions, loopholes and financial breaks. The top U.S. corporations know this and contribute equally to Democrats and Republicans. Currently there are 250 former congressman and senior government officials who are active lobbyists.
A recent report from the Center for Responsive Politics describing the wealth of members of Congress indicates that 237 members of Congress currently are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body – compared to about 1 percent of Americans over all.
The time for a legitimate second party is now, and without one we will never have anything resembling a green economy.