Congratulations to Daisy May on her wonderful recent reviews and mentions in the press! All of us here at SWUP want to send a big thank you to May and all of those people who help spread the word and educate folks about the beauty of the Upper Peninsula and our unique way of life! Take Action!
Jeff Daniel’s played last Saturday with Daisy and a group of other talented musicians at the Michigan Theater in
Listen to Daisy May’s “Letter from Downstream”
Support Save The Wild UP while Shopping
AUCTION & Special Presentation: Our Way Of Life: The Wild UP
Save The Wild UP is hosting an Auction and Special Presentation by Fred Rydholm and slide show from Jack Deo. We will have spectacular items and experiences availble for you to bid on!
Tickets are available at the Save The Wild UP Office.
Tickets include one free drink, hors d’oeuvres, and admission to Fred Rydholm and Jack Deo’s presentation, “Our Way of Life: The Wild UP”
Keep a look out for additional information in the coming weeks.
GiveLine.com
This holiday season you can help protect the wild UP by purchasing your Christmas gifts through Giveline. Every Giveline purchase results in a donation to Save the Wild UP.
Items we thought were interesting include:
Books:
Resource Rebels: Native Challenges to Mining and Oil Corporations. By
Videos:
Planet Earth: Complete Collection. Narrated By David Attenborough
Useful Items for the Wild UP:
HandCrank AM/FM/NOAA Weather radio with 12 LED Lights
Wireless Cell Phone Signal Booster
Eric Hansen, an award-winning outdoors-writer, has written a beautiful op-ed in The Capital Times, based in Madison, WI. Save The Wild UP would like to thank Eric for his positive contributions to this issue and the effort he puts into helping Michigan folks and organizatuions network with our Wisconsin neighbors. It really helps to have support from those who have dealt with similar situations and in the case of Crandon…those who have triumphed!
By Todd Sears
This whole donnybrook up in the U.P. regarding proposed sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains has me a bit bewildered. Working in the federal government for over 20 years I have a good feel for how bureaucracies work, or don’t. Granted, my experience has been with defense and defense-related organizations and not environmental ones, the lessons learned are applicable to any large organization.
I don’t buy into the commonly made assertion that organizations act or don’t act in a certain way. Organizations are made of people. Typically these peoples’ actions are bounded by mission and vision statements, and guided in their day to day activities by policies, regulations, standard operating procedures or other governance, and plain old common sense when required.
To read the rest of the article click here
To The Editor:
As a former Wisconsin resident, I found it interesting that Kennecott Mining Company points to their success with the Flambeau sulfide mine in Ladysmith, WI to promote their proposed sulfide mine in Marquette County. Your readers should be aware of these facts:
The total mining tax revenue to Ladysmith, the Town of Grant, and Rusk County from 1989 through 1999 was less than 1% of the profits garnered by the mining company from their exploitation of Rusk County’s mineral resources.
Much of the “investment as a result of mine-stimulated project” claimed by mining promoters was actually state and federal development money coming out of tax dollars.
In 1993, the year with the greatest local employment by the mining company, the annual unemployment rate for Rusk County shot up to an unprecedented 11.8%, over three times the statewide jobless rate of 3.1%. Even at peak operation, the Flambeau mine only employed about 40 “local” residents, some of whom were actually long-term Kennecott employees, brought into the area early enough to establish local residency according to the local agreement, and itinerant miners.
Rusk County ranked next to the bottom in western Wisconsin in both 1997 equalized property values and percent increase in property values since 1996. While most of western Wisconsin saw unprecedented growth between 1989 and 1997, the population of Ladysmith actually decreased during these years of mine operation.
In 1997, Rusk County received a grant from the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Commission because it had the lowest income per capita and ranked third in juvenile violent crime offenses in the state.
Ladysmith’s economic gains compared with other north central Wisconsin communities over the same period show that sulfide mining does not draw people to an area to recreate, relocate and spend money like communities with recreational assets. People don’t vacation at a sulfide mine.
If Ladysmith is an example, the claim of economic revival resulting from massive influx of capital into the region due to a sulfide mine is a myth. The profits and the jobs went out of the county, state, and country along with the gold, copper, and silver.
In Marquette county, will jobs and businesses be at risk with loss of tourism dollars? If people don’t move here, will property values decline? Aside from the serious environmental and health risks associated with this mine, your readers along with city, county, and state leaders should ask if this community will be economically better off with a sulfide mine in its backyard.
Merrill Horswill
Marquette
Monday, July 30 2007
The DEQ is resuming the permit application process after a 5-month investigation into missing documents, possible malfeasance by a DEQ employee and serious safety issues with the Kennecott’s mine plan. We need anyone and everyone who is concerned about the proposed mine to step up and speak out at the public hearings or send in your letters urging the DEQ to deny this permit.
Public Hearing dates in Marquette and Lansing
We will post a driving directions & a map as the hearing date approaches.
-from the DEQ Eagle Project Update Page:
“The DEQ has resumed its review of the Eagle Project Mine permit application and reinstated its earlier proposed decision to approve a series of permits to the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company. This decision remains only a proposal and the public will continue to have an opportunity to provide their comments. Public hearings have been scheduled in Marquette at the NMU University Center on September 10, near Marquette at the West Branch Community Center in Forsyth Township from September 11-13, as well as in Lansing at the Lansing Center on September 19. The public comment period will remain open through October 17, and written comments can be sent to DEQ/DNR Kennecott Comments, Office of Geological Survey, P.O. Box 30256, Lansing, Michigan 48909-7756, or by e-mail at DEQ-Kennecott-comments@michigan.gov.”
Note the change in the mail and e-mail address for the comments. All electronic correspondence used to be sent to Steve Wilson (wilsonse@michigan.gov)
An update of current events and anticipated timelines 1. The DNR has asked Kennecott to donate 120 acres to the State of
The Rest of the Story about Kennecott’s Flambeau Mine and their request to the Wisconsin DNR for Certificate of Completion
Kennecott (AKA Flambeau Mining Company or FMC) has applied to the Wisconsin DNR for a Certificate of Completion (COC) for its reclamation activities at the Flambeau Mine site. What it boils down to is that FMC wants to get back its $11 million reclamation bond, based on the company’s claim that the site has been successfully reclaimed (If a COC is awarded, the State of Wisconsin can return up to 80% of the bond – the remaining 20% would be held for an additional 20 years).
This is not just a Wisconsin issue. The people in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Minnesota will be affected by the decision as well. You see, Kennecott is trying to gain approval to construct mines in both MI and MN at the present time and has been using the Flambeau Mine as its calling card, telling everyone what a wonderful job the company did at Ladysmith.
If you come across any stories that we missed, please add them as comments below!
NPR: Michigan Revokes Approval of Sulfide Mine
The story of the DEQ’s permit reached the national airwaves Friday, on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.
WLUC-TV: Another Sulfide Mine For Marquette County?
Within the next couple of weeks, a Canadian firm says it’s going to be exploring for possible future mining sites in sulfide bodies in northwest Marquette County.
Prime Meridian Resources Corporation says it will begin looking at sites in what’s known as the Baraga Basin, and in an Iron County region known as Kiernan Sill.
The Marquette County sites are located just a few miles from where Kennecott is proposing to drill its sulfide mine for nickel and copper.
As we have been saying, the Kennecott Eagle mine is just the tip of a very unpleasant iceberg looming square in the path of an unpolluted U.P. and Great Lakes.
Blogger Eric B says Kennecott mine documents are now online
A consultant’s study and technical memo at the center of the Kennecott mine controversy are now available online at the DEQ Web site. The crux of the report, according to the executive summary, is that additional study of the proposed mine’s stability and safety is necessary.
Photo credit: Mine waste at the abandoned Tom Valley Mine. Mac Pass, Canol Road, Yukon. by Lee Carruthers.
March 1, 2007
DEQ Reverses Kennecott Preliminary Decision!!!
Congratulations to everyone who has put their time and effort into this issue.
It is a wonderful step in a positive direction.
Let’s keep the momentum!
Click here to view the Press Release
UPDATE: AP reporter John Flesher has a thorough article on yesterday’s acknowledgement by the DEQ that they hadn’t adequately considered reports questioning whether the mine’s roof would hold up. Read DEQ withdraws tentative backing of Kennecott Mine.