UPDATE: EPA TO HOLD “PUBLIC INFORMATION SESSION” IN L’ANSE
May 9th, 2016, 6:30-8:30pm
L’Anse High School Cafetorium

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will host a May 9 informational session to discuss the status of its air quality investigation at the L’Anse Warden Electric Company, L’Anse, Mich. EPA’s session will take place Monday, May 9, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., at L’Anse Area Schools, 201 N. 4th St. EPA will be joined by representatives from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Residents of L’Anse have reported odors and dust coming from the power plant. Under a state permit, L’Anse Warden Electric Company is allowed to burn tires and railroad ties treated with creosote and pentachlorophenol. EPA is working closely with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to investigate residents’ concerns, address potential health risks and determine compliance with environmental regulations.”

More information on the EPA’s Clean Air Act Investigation at L’Anse Warden Power Plant:
https://www.epa.gov/mi/lanse-warden-power-plant

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PRESS RELEASE via Friends of the Land Keweenaw (FOLK)
April 25, 2016

For more info, contact Catherine Andrews, FOLK: 906 ­524­-6863 or 906­ 231­-2063

Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK) asserts that the Traxys owned L’Anse Warden Electric Company (LWEC), located on the shore of Lake Superior in the Village of L’Anse, is not a biomass facility as classified by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). It is clearly a Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incinerator. The facility burns a non­-homogeneous mix of wood chips, wood processing waste, chemically treated railroad ties, tire chips and natural gas.

“We are demanding that the DEQ stop dragging its feet and respond to comments we and others submitted on September 9, 2015 as part of a public comment period on LWEC’s 2015 Renewable Operating Permit.”

A public meeting scheduled for October 29, 2015 was postponed indefinitely when LWEC reported a stack test failure to DEQ. The stack test revealed a hydrogen chloride level of 5.19 pounds per hour, more than double the 2.17 pounds per hour limit.

Citizen complaints regarding massive fugitive dust releases were finally addressed when the EPA ordered DEQ to collect its own samples 5 months after videos and samples of the dust releases were sent to DEQ. The test results proved elevated levels of pentachlorophenol, metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A separate snow sample taken at the BHK Child Development Center was chemically analyzed and found to contain tire particulates.

The fuel yard contains thousands of chemically treated railroad ties and non­permitted utility poles lying on bare ground. Tons of tire chips are left uncovered in a pile near the boiler.

A February 3, 2016 compliance meeting between DEQ and LWEC in Lansing is still being “negotiated” after citizens were told that there would be an agreement within a week. LWEC has been operating with at least two major unresolved violations and without an operating permit since December 30, 2015. LWEC continues to blanket the community and the Lake Superior Watershed with toxic pollution.

Many residents would like to see the facility converted back to natural gas which is a much cleaner burning fuel. However, Traxys CEO Steve Walsh, says that is not an option as he is locked into a 20 year contract with Detroit Edison to provide electricity for DTE’s renewable energy mandate. Hasn’t that contract already been broken by the many egregious violations and misdeeds at LWEC?

Contact these individuals with your concerns and complaints:
Molly Smith, EPA Region V: 312­353­8773
Ed Lancaster, DEQ: 906­250­5124
Steve Walsh, Traxys, LWEC CEO: 917­572­1956

Local media coverage of this developing story:
FOLK Holds Protest on Biomass Plant (Mining Journal story)
Citizens air concerns regarding L’Anse biomass facility (UpperMichiganSource.com)
Friends of the Land of Keweenaw meet with DEQ… (UPMatters.com)
Environmentalists say DEQ isn’t doing enough (ABC10.com)

MARQUETTE—In recognition of Earth Day 2016, volunteers from Save the Wild U.P. (SWUP) will collect litter along the Triple A in northern Marquette County.

“Until last year, there was no pavement on the Triple A,” said Kathleen Heideman, SWUP president. “Now it’s a paved haul road leading to the gate of Eagle Mine, with giant ditches, and those ditches are accumulating litter.”

According to Gaylord Nelson, the Wisconsin politician who organized the first Earth Day in 1970, “The American people finally had a forum to express their concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air – and they did so with spectacular exuberance.” Earth Day became recognized worldwide in 1990.

Save the Wild U.P. works to defend the U.P. from the environmental threats posed by sulfide mining. “Generally, we raise awareness about sulfide mining’s most serious dangers, like acid mine drainage require perpetual care, surface water contamination, subsidence risk, air pollution, and so forth,” said Heideman. “But sulfide mining has definitely brought litter, too – roadside litter from increased vehicle use by mining employees and contractors, trash left behind at remote mineral exploration sites, and trash blown from the mine site.”

“Littering is part of the ‘mining camp’ vibe, unfortunately.” said Alexandra Maxwell, Save the Wild U.P.’s executive director. “Following surface and seismic mineral exploration, Lundin Mining’s contractors leave PVC pipes abandoned in forests, ravines, and swamps, and plastic ribbons fluttering from trees. Trash blows out of trucks, or gets tossed out a vehicle window. Litter inspires more litter,” said Maxwell. “Obviously, we’d like to see the mining industry take full responsibility for their environmental impacts, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

“It’s still thawing on the Yellow Dog Plains, but the forecast for Saturday looks terrific!” said Heideman

Participants should meet Save the Wild U.P. leaders at the Big Bay Outfitters at 12:30pm on Saturday. The carpool caravan will be leaving promptly at 1pm.  Folks planning to attend should wear bright colors, closed-toe shoes or boots, and should bring gloves. Snacks will be provided at the end of the day, but participants are encouraged to bring water and any other essentials they may need. For more information please send an email to info@savethewildup.org or call 906-662-9987.

Founded in 2004, Save the Wild U.P. is a grassroots environmental organization dedicated to defending wild places and clean water of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from the dangers of sulfide mining. For more information contact info@savethewildup.org or call (906) 662-9987. Get involved with SWUP’s work at savethewildup.org or follow SWUP on Facebook at facebook.com/savethewildup or Twitter @savethewildup.

MARQUETTE — Save the Wild U.P. (SWUP) invites the public to celebrate “Poets of the Wild U.P.” with a poetry reading featuring Milton Bates, Lynn M. Domina, Janeen Pergrin Rastall, Kathleen M. Heideman and Russell Thorburn. SWUP’s special literary event is scheduled for Friday, April 1 from 6-8 pm at the Marquette Federated Women’s Clubhouse.

“We’re lending a uniquely environmental vibe to National Poetry Month, balancing the celebration of beautiful, wild and protected places with a clear-eyed understanding of urgent environmental issues threatening the Upper Michigan. Poetry gives the wild a voice that can be heard above the din of progress. We have grown deaf to the natural world. Poetry opens our eyes and our ears to the beauty of wild places. All we have to do is stop and listen,” said Chip Truscon, SWUP board member.

“In sponsoring this reading, we’re highlighting the special connection between Yoopers and their environment, through the work of five local authors who draw inspiration from Lake Superior, U.P. environmental issues, and the natural beauty of Upper Michigan’s wild places,” said Alexandra Maxwell, SWUP’s director. SWUP’s poetry reading is free and open to the public.

The U.P.’s environment figures differently in the work of each poet: back-country trails, roadless areas, backyards, wild animals, shorelines, or winter cabin-fever. “There’s a strong spirit of place, an identification with wildness and struggle, at the heart of our stories,” said Jon Saari, emeritus professor of History at Northern Michigan University, and SWUP’s vice president.

“If you’re inspired by the wild lands of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, you’re also aware of the wounded places – tailing basins, mine pits, caving grounds, clearcuts. To some degree or another, we all struggle to remain optimistic in the face of serious environmental issues. But poetry is a fundamentally hopeful act,” said Kathleen Heideman, SWUP’s president.

“Poets of the Wild U.P.” will be the fourth literary event hosted by SWUP. Last year’s “Poets of the Wild U.P.” poetry reading attracted a standing-room-only audience. National Poetry Month, founded by the Academy of American Poets, is the world’s largest literary celebration, involving millions of readers, teachers, students, librarians and authors and celebrating the role of poetry in our lives every April.

POETS OF THE WILD U.P. – BIOS:

Milton Bates taught English literature for thirty-five years at Williams College and Marquette University. During that time he was a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright lecturer in China and Spain. He has published a half-dozen books on subjects such as the poet Wallace Stevens, the literature and film of the Vietnam War, and the Bark River Valley in Wisconsin. On retirement he and his wife moved to the Upper Peninsula, which serves as the setting for many of his poems.

Lynn Domina is the author of two collections of poetry, Corporal Works and Framed in Silence, and the editor of a collection of essays, Poets on the Psalms. Her work has appeared in The Southern Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Massachusetts Review, and many other periodicals. A Michigan native, she has also lived in Alabama, Illinois, and New York. She moved to the U.P. in 2015, where she lives in Marquette with her family and serves as Head of the English Department at Northern Michigan University.

Kathleen M. Heideman received the Marquette Arts and Culture Center’s 2015 Outstanding Writer Award. She’s completed artist residencies with watersheds, forests, the National Science Foundation, and the National Park Service — including Isle Royale and Sleeping Bear Dunes. Informed by environmental concerns, her work has been recognized by the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition, the Wurlitzer Foundation, the Bush Foundation, and others. She’s a curious woman.

Janeen Pergrin Rastall lives in Gordon, MI (population 2). She is the author of In the Yellowed House (dancing girl press 2014) and co-author of Heart Radicals (ELJ Publications, 2016). Her chapbook, Objects May Appear Closer won the 2015 Celery City Chapbook Contest. She is Managing Editor at ELJ Publications when she isn’t looking out at Lake Superior waves.

Russell Thorburn served as the U.P. Poet Laureate from 2013-2015. He lives in Marquette, Michigan, with his son and wife. A manuscript consultant for poets, he takes orphan poems that don’t fit together, and arranges the pieces in a way that not only makes sense, but makes beauty. He is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Salt and Blood, an experimental noir, is forthcoming from Marick Press who also published his third book of poetry, Father, Tell Me I Have Not Aged.

POETS OF THE WILD U.P. READING

Friday April 1, 6-8 pm
Federated Women’s Clubhouse
104 West Ridge Street, Marquette, Mich. 49855
Free and open to the public

Founded in 2004, Save the Wild U.P. is a grassroots organization dedicated to defending the Upper Peninsula of Michigan’s clean water and wild places from the threat of sulfide mining. For more information contact info@savethewildup.org or call (906) 662-9987. Get involved with SWUP’s work at savethewildup.org on Facebook at facebook.com/savethewildup or on Twitter @savethewildup.

POETS OF THE WILD U.P. POSTERS