TAKE ACTION: Help Stop New Kennecott Exploration

Proposed Mineral LeaseRecently the DNRE announced a public comment period for leasing over 4000 acres of mineral rights to Kennecott for further exploration. The exploration would take place in Southern Marquette County, Northern Dickinson County, and Southern Houghton County.

New Sulfide Mining Exploration

Proposed Mineral Lease Will Affect

Marquette County:

  • T43n-R25w Sec. 18 & 19
  • T43n-R26w Sec. 1, 6-10, 14, & 18

Dickinson County:

  • T43n-R27w Sec. 1, 3, 4-6, 9, & 13

Houghton County:

  • T47n-R36w Sec. 16

Public Comment Should Be Sent To:

Tom Hoane
FMD DNRE
P.O. Box 30452
Lansing, MI
48909-7952

Rio Tinto Locks Out 500 Union Workers

The LA TIMES reports that over 540 miners have been locked out of a Rio Rinto Mine in southern California. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boron1-2010feb01,0,362036.story

Rio Tinto locks out over 540 Union Workers at the Borax Mine in California. Read More…
UPDATE Company Can’t Keep Story Straight After Lockout: tells union workers that they must sacrifice to keep company afloat, while company reports to investors that it is flush with cash. Read More…

Protesters Try to Slow Rio Tinto Busses

Protesters Try to Slow Rio Tinto Buses Loaded with Non-Union Substitute Workers

South Road – Projected Pollution Corridor

(Based on findings from the Red Dog Mine in Alaska)

A study done by the National Park Service in Alaska illustrates the dangers of the Kennecott South Haul Road. The Red Dog Mine in Alaska has a 51 mile haul road, and heavy metal pollution from Fugitive Dust flying off mining trucks has severely polluted the frozen tundra over a mile away from the road. Despite damning evidence of the pollution, nothing has been done, and plans for a second mine are currently being approved.

Below are maps from the NPS study, indicating the extent of pollution at the Red Dog Mine, as well as a projected pollution map for the proposed south road. In Alaska they were dealing with Lead and Zinc, and the problem of sulfuric acid drainage was non-existent because of very little precipitation and permafrost; in the U.P. we will be looking at Uranium dust, Sulfuric Acid, Zinc, Nickel, etc.

“Anchorage, Alaska – Today, Alaska Community Action on Toxics released newly discovered information concerning high levels of lead and zinc contamination at the Red Dog Mine port site. A monitoring program conducted at the Red Dog mine’s port site in the mid-1990s found lead levels in soils as high as 36,000 parts per million (“ppm”) and zinc levels as high as 180,000 ppm, far in excess of state cleanup standards of 1,000 ppm for lead and 8,100 ppm for zinc. Although the monitoring program was conducted at the request of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), this information was never released to the public.”
Read More

Pb Pollution Corridor

Pb Pollution Corridor

Projected Pollution if the U.P. were covered by permafrost. In actuality, the corridor of pollution would likely be much larger because the U.P. is covered with flowing water.

Southroad Projected Pollution

Southroad Projected Pollution

“The Red Dog Mine Haul Road traverses 24 miles of National Park Service (NPS) lands in Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR), Alaska. Ore trucks use the road to transport 1.1 million dry tons of lead-zinc concentrate annually from the mine to a port site on the Chukchi Sea. In the summer of 2000, moss and soil samples were collected from six transects perpendicular to the haul road in CAKR. Laboratory analyses were performed on the moss Hylocomium splendens, soil parent material, road dust, and substrate from materials sites. Analysis revealed a strong road-related gradient in heavy metal deposition. H. splendens was highly enriched in lead (Pb > 400 mg/kg), zinc (Zn > 1800 mg/kg), and cadmium (Cd > 12 mg/kg) near the haul road. Concentrations decreased rapidly with distance from the road, but remained elevated at transect endpoints 1000 m – 1600 m from the road (Pb >30 mg/kg, Zn >165 mg/kg, Cd >0.6 mg/kg). Samples collected on the downwind (north) side of the road had generally higher concentrations of heavy metals than those collected on the upwind (south) side.”
Read More

Read the NPS Full Report

Protect the Earth August 1st and 2nd

Protect the Earth Agenda
Saturday August 1st

Workshops, Dance and Music: Northern MI University, Whitman Building, Whitman Commons (Rooms 122 and 124), and West Science Building, Mead Auditorium, Marquette, MI, 12-4 pm and 6-8 pm (See Details Below)

Workshop Speakers Include, Saturday 12-4 pm, Whitman Building, Whitman  Commons,  Rooms 122 and 124:

Lorraine Rekmans: Serpent River First Nation (Uranium Mining)

Al Gedicks: University of LaCrosse WI, Wisconsin Resources Protection Council, Author and Filmmaker (WI Grassroots Multicultural Movements)

Laura Furtman: Author (Pollution at Kennecott’s Flambeau Mine, WI)

Stuart Kirsch: Anthropologist, University of MI (Indigenous Movements, Papua New Guinea)

Eric Hansen: Writer and Traveler (The Upper Peninsula, A Spiritual Homeland)

Lee Sprague: Sierra Club Clean Energy Campaign Manager and Former Ogemaw of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians

Mike Collins: Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition

Tim DeChristopher: University of Utah student, Oil and Gas Drilling

Music 12-4pm Throughout Workshops and 15 Minute Breaks, Whitman Building, Whitman Commons Room:

Victor McManemy: Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Musician

Skip Jones: Wisconsin Folksinger, Educator and Social Activist

Music and Dance:Whitman Commons,  6-7:30pm

Megan Tucker: Anishinaabe Fancy Shawl and Hoop Dancer

Bobby “Bullet” St. Germaine: Ojibwe Folksinger

Movie demo: Mead Auditorium, New Science Facility NMU: 7:40-8:00pm

“Yoopers vs. Giant Mining Corporation”, NMU Mead Auditorium, Right Across from the Whitman Building, 7:30-8 pm

Sunday August 2nd

Walk to Eagle Rock (2 miles): Meet and Park at the Clowry Trail, Follow the Signs from County Rd. 510, 10:30 am
Bring your blueberry pails! (Rides will be provided back to your vehicles, and if you cannot walk the two miles please meet at Eagle Rock for lunch and speakers at 12pm) (Also, see directions below)

Lunch,Speakers,Ceremony: Eagle Rock, 12-2pm

Fred Ackley, Fran Van Zile, Jerry Burnett: Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa

Jessica Koski: Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (Sacred Sites)

Lee Sprague: Little River Band of Ottawa Indians

Al Gedicks: WI Resources Protection Council

Eric Hansen: Traveler, Author

Lorraine Rekmans: Serpent River

Bobby “Bullet” St. Germaine: Lac du Flambeau

Kenn Pitawanakwat: Manitoulin Island

Tom Williams: Lac Vieux Desert

Visit yellowdogsummer.wordpress.com for more information or call 906.942.7325

smallweb

Cover Story: Granholm’s Disappointing Record

From the cover story of the Lansing City Pulse:

“…at the remote northern end of the state, where the feds are unlikely to send the cavalry, another environmental firestorm came to a head last year. Thanks to a green light from the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, the Upper Peninsula may soon be home to a controversial mining technique that has not yet failed to bleed sulfuric acid into the surrounding land and water. This time, the engineers say, it will be different, and the state is gambling some its most pristine waters and wilderness on the claim. The first such mine, and six more like it, are now poised to dig in.”

Click here for full article