WAVE Group ACTION: Phone the Governor!

APRIL 12 ACTION:

If you can spare a moment this week please make two phone calls for the following reasons:

WAVE wrote a letter to Governor Snyder on March 24 requesting a specific action. It reads,

“…we urge you to use your authority to issue an executive order calling for an immediate halt to activity at the Eagle Mine site until a complete impact study can be prepared by EPA mining experts.  This review should encompass all aspects of the Eagle Project, including mining, transport, and milling of ore, as well as other potential mining projects in the vicinity of the Yellow Dog Plains.”

The Governor has not responded to our letter of request, so it is time to call and email both the Governor’s office and the U.P. office!!!

On the call please ask, “Are you going to issue an executive order or not?? When can we expect a response from the Governor? Has the Governor received the 15,000 signed petitions from citizens across the state in opposition to this project?”

Thanks for taking action! Our U.P.Governor’s representative at the Northern Michigan Office is Greg Andrews, so ask for him specifically.

Read this letter from Jessica to Governor Snyder:  http://keweenawnow.blogspot.com/2011/04/letter-from-jessica-koski-gov-snyder.html

 

Governor Rick Snyder
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909PHONE: (517) 373-3400
PHONE: (517) 335-7858 – Constituent Services
FAX:(517) 335-6863
E-MAIL: Rick.Snyder@michigan.gov
Northern Michigan Office
1504 West Washington, Suite B
Marquette, MI 49855
(906) 228-2850   Greg Andrews
Washington D.C. Office
444 N. Capitol Street, Northwest
Hall of the States, Suite 411
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 624-5840

For Immediate Release: March 29, 2011

GOVERNOR ASKED TO HALT ALL ACTIVITY AT EAGLE MINE SITE

Marquette, MI — Representatives of WAVE, a new grassroots environmental coalition, met today with Greg Andrews, Governor Snyder’s Upper Peninsula representative.  They brought a letter to the governor, calling for an immediate halt to construction of the Eagle Mine on the Yellow Dog Plains.

WAVE asks that EPA mining experts prepare an impact study that encompasses all aspects of the Eagle Project, including mining, transport, and milling of ore. WAVE contends that the environmental impact statement funded and prepared by Kennecott Minerals did not meet the requirements of the new law regulating nonferrous metallic sulfide mining in Michigan.

Accompanying the letter were petitions signed by over 15,000 persons, including doctors and health care professionals who oppose development of the mine because of the risks posed to the region’s water resources and to the health of people dependent upon it.

London-based Rio Tinto, aggressively anti-union, is developing the mine under the subsidiary name Kennecott Minerals. Despite numerous pending lawsuits, Kennecott has acquired the necessary permits and may soon begin excavating the mine.  The portal is to be blasted through Migi zii wa sin (Eagle Rock), a Native American sacred site, an act akin to blowing up a church, synagogue or temple to the Ojibwe tribe.

According to WAVE spokesperson Catherine Parker, “The mine puts surface water, ground water and air quality at risk—along with the numerous and permanent jobs that come from the current recreation and tourism businesses.”  She adds that the flawed process demonstrated by the permitting of the Eagle Mine sets a dangerous precedent, especially with the recent increase in mining exploration in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Testimony from doctors and public health professionals makes it clear that health is a key concern, especially for our children, seniors and future generations. To date, the state has chosen to ignore the potential health impact on the region, and WAVE hopes that Governor Snyder will change that.

They are requesting an in-person meeting with Governor Snyder to discuss their concerns.

Parker explained that the choice facing the Governor—whether to halt the mine’s development or allow the portal to be blasted—will impact the health of people in the Upper Great Lakes Region. She continued, “This is Governor Snyder’s opportunity to take a long term view of what is best for Michigan’s citizens and not jump at the fast money and short term economic gain represented by the Eagle Mine’s development.”

WAVE is a new grassroots coalition of individuals and representatives of environmental, health, and citizen groups around the Great Lakes Region.  Its mission is to protect our water resources as part of a sustainable future.

Contact:  Catherine Parker

Phone:     (906) 662-9987

Email:   waveactions@gmail.com

3.29.11 Press Release-Governor

Governor Rick Snyder–FINAL 1 3-23-11-2

Save the Great Lakes Forever! A Community Gathering in Traverse City

May 6th and 7th, Traverse City, MI
A Great Lakes Community Gathering


SAVING THE GREAT LAKES FOREVER! OUR RESPONSIBILITY. OUR LEGACY

JOIN US this weekend for great movies, famous speakers, afterglows, breakout sessions, panels led by national and Great Lakes water experts.

May 6th (starting at 6:30pm)
FRIDAY NIGHT: The State Theater We are honored to present MAUDE BARLOW, well known international water advocate.* Hear her Call to Action “Our Great Lakes Commons: A People’s Plan to Protect the Great Lakes Forever.” We will also be showing the film “Tapped” add link to trailer and will honor our” Great Lakes Heroes,” with our Lighthouse Beacon Awards. JOIN US at the Park Place Hotel for an AFTERGLOW gathering to meet Maude, Wenonah Hunter and other great advocates from around the Great Lakes Basin. Enjoy music and lively afterglow conversation.

May 7th. (8:00 A.M. Registration)
SATURDAY MORNING: At Milliken Auditorium on the Campus of Northwestern Michigan College Today’s event is co-sponsored by NMC’s, Great Lakes Water Institute!

8:30 A.M. Welcome and Introductions
9:00 A.M. Opening Keynote address by Wenonah Hunter*, co-founder of Food and Water Watch, Washington, D .C.
9:40 A.M. Break out Sessions I and II lead by Great Lakes Experts

  • The Abuses Facing the Great Lakes.
  • See the Premier of “Crossing the Line”
  • Privatization and Diversion Issues Facing the Great Lakes
  • The Public Trust Doctrine.  How does it protect you, me, farmers, businesses, First Nations, and the Great Lakes themselves.

12:00 P. M. Expert’s Roundtable: Solutions to Save the Great Lakes Forever! 1:15 P. M. Q & A 1:30 P.M Press Interviews

* Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is also an executive member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of ten honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, and the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award. In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. She is also the best selling author or co-author of 16 books, including the international best seller Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and The Coming Battle for the Right to Water. Maude is also well known as a major force in passage of the 2010 United Nations Resolution recognizing the right of access to fresh water for all human beings!

* Wenonah Hunter is the Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. She has worked extensively on energy, food, water and environmental issues at the national, state and local level. Experienced in developing policy positions and legislative strategies, she is also a skilled and accomplished organizer, having lobbied and developed grassroots field strategy and action plans. From 1997 to 2005 she served as Director of Public Citizen‚ Energy and Environment Program, which focused on water, food, and energy policy. From 1996 to 1997, she was environmental policy director for Citizen Action, where she worked with the organization’s 30 state-based groups. From 1989 to 1995 she was at the Union of Concerned Scientists where as a senior organizer, she coordinated broad-based, grassroots sustainable energy campaigns in several states. She has an M.S. in Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland.

flow_poster_4-8-11

Lawsuit Withdrawn After Minnesota Legislature Exempts Iron Range Resources From Environmental Review

For Immediate Release, March 22, 2011

Contact: Marc Fink, Center for Biological Diversity, (218) 525-3884
Contact: Betsy Daub, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, (612) 332-9630

DULUTH, Minn.— A change in state law exempting Iron Range Resources from Minnesota’s environmental review requirements prompted conservationists today to dismiss their lawsuit against the agency. The lawsuit had been filed to challenge a premature and illegal loan by Iron Range Resources to PolyMet Mining Company, which is pursuing the state’s first open-pit sulfide mine but has not obtained the required environmental approvals. Instead of addressing the problems identified in the lawsuit, the state simply changed the longstanding rules to benefit the mining proposal.

“Passing new legislation that weakens environmental requirements in response to a lawsuit is public policy at its worst,” said Marc Fink, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Continue reading

A HOME-GROWN REMEDY FOR BUDGET WOES

Governor Snyder tells us that we are broke, that we are facing a two-billion dollar deficit – and that we must make dreadful cuts in spending.

There is, however, a potential remedy on our doorstep, in that the Michigan Legislature is giving away similar amounts of our natural resources (specifically, metal ores) which could instead be applied to the deficit.

For example:  The Eagle Deposit in the Upper Peninsula is to be mined by Rio Tinto, a London-based “mining giant” corporation, probably #3 in the world, depends on who is counting.

The value of the metals therein is around 4.7 billion dollars, with much more to come.

To put 4.7 billion into terms which Joe Doakes can comprehend: $4,700,000,000 in dollar bills taped end-to-end would stretch this far :

4,700,000,000 divided by (5280 ft/mile x 2 bills/foot) = 445,000 miles.

Most of us simply cannot even grasp 445,000 miles in our mind.  Like deer in the headlights we are truly blinded by the numbers.  The accountants are not blinded by them and take advantage of our blindness.

Anyway – the State has no firm plans for taxing the profits on that income – which will go offshore.   King George lll, the villain in your Revolutionary War, is chuckling in his grave.

At the Flambeau Mine in Wisconsin Rio Tinto paid a miserly 2.5% to the state.

Considering the magnitude of the loot and the probability that more mines would follow – let it be known that we, the people, want/demand a fair share of the income from Michigan’s non-renewable resources.

Let us follow the lead of the Australian government which recently placed stiff taxes (initially 40%) on excessive income from resources.

Can we get a mining tax like that in Michigan? You bet! How? Call Sen. Goeff Hansen (517/373-1635) and State Representative Ray Franz (517/373-0825) to demand that they push for enactment of an Australian-type supertax on profits from your resources. And do it NOW!

Jack Parker, Mining Engineer              Laura Gauger

Baltic, MI 49963                                 Duluth, MN

tel. 906-482-0099                                       218-724-3004

ldn@Ludingtondailynews.com

Concerned Citizens of Big Bay File Contested Case

READ Updated Commentary, March 14, 2011 0313 Gene Editorial Power Amendment

Original Press Release  February 21, 2011

Big Bay, Michigan

A citizen group located in northern Marquette County of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, announces the filing of a Petition for Contested Case Hearing with the State Office of Administrative Hearings in Lansing, Michigan.  The Concerned Citizens of Big Bay, made up of citizens residing in and around the tiny community of Big Bay on the south shore of Lake Superior, contend regulatory failure of due process and enforcement by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE/DEQ) in their oversight and enforcement of Part 632 Non-Ferrous Metallic Mining Statute, which regulates the first metallic sulfide mine in the state of Michigan.

The group contends that the DNRE/DEQ failed to require a Part 632 Amendment in the construction and extension of electric service from Marquette, MI to the Rio Tinto Eagle Mine site, located 8 miles from Big Bay, as required by the Part 632 statute.

“No one is above the law. “ Gene Champagne, leader of the group stated.  “The people of Big Bay, whose community will be the most severely impacted community by Rio Tinto’s proposed mine and any other projects that follow it, demand the Rio Tinto follow the laws that they help craft in Part 632. We are tired of Rio Tinto’s ‘blame the victim’ strategy when decrying the delay of their project. Rio Tinto further delays their own project every time that they ignore the law by using their multitude of lawyers to figure out a way around the law. The law was written to protect Michigan citizens and their environment, not to cater to some self-imposed company deadline.”

The petition asserts: “The DNRE/DEQ repeatedly, in correspondence, assured citizens and groups that if the electric line was going to be extended from the main transmission line at CR 550 to the Eagle Mine site on the Yellow Dog Plains, Rio Tinto would be required to file an amendment.  This did not happen.”

The citizens also petitioned that any court action be conducted in Marquette County.  “We are representing ourselves in this petition and have not the resource to hire a lawyer that may travel at our will.  We would be further injured by this action if all of the citizens of this action and their witnesses were required to come to Lansing to bring this grievance forward.”

The petition asks that the DNRE/DEQ demand the mining company file a Part 632 Amendment for the construction of electric service from the city of Marquette to the Rio Tinto Eagle Mine site on the Yellow Dog Plains – fulfilling all parts of Part 632 including a two year Environmental Impact Assessment as required by the statute.  Levying of violations and fines; stoppage of all electric power grid work, and the demand for public hearing in Big Bay are all  part of the petitioner’s request.

Rio Tinto, the third largest mining company in the world, began construction of the Eagle Mine in the summer of 2010.  The mining company’s current mining permit calls for the use of a diesel generating plant at the mine site, as this remote region of the Yellow Dog Plains has never had any kind of utility infrastructure.

The State of Michigan instituted a process within the Department of Environmental Quality, under Governor Jennifer Granholm, allowing “aggrieved” persons to file a petition for an Administrative hearing for action or non-actions of the DNRE/DEQ in their regulatory processes.   Contested cases are presided over by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) from the State Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules.

“We were not represented by due process in the full replacement of new transmission lines from Marquette to Big Bay, nor in the process of buried industrial service to the Rio Tinto Eagle Mine site.  There were no environmental assessments, no reclamation plans, no contingency plans, no review of financial insurances and absolutely no provision or opportunity for public comment by the DNRE/DEQ. We are aggrieved.”

The group seeks to highlight that the lack of regulatory oversight of Part 632, in this metallic sulfide mine or any other like mine, is unacceptable. “The Part 632 regulatory process is intended to protect not only the environment, but to ensure there is no harm to the safety of citizens or harm to the community and it’s ability to plan adequately around this new permitted activity. “

Contact: Gene Champagne, Concerned Citizens of Big Bay   906 345-9217

Waffle Breakfast Fundraiser April 9th

WAVE Hosts Waffle Breakfast

For more information call,  250-3284

WAVE – a new citizen-based group seeking to preserve Michigan’s pristine waters  invites you to their first fundraiser of the season, a WAFFLE BREAKFAST on Saturday, April 9th from 9 am to 2 pm at Messiah Lutheran Church (305 W. Magnetic St, between Presque Isle Dr. and N. 3rd St.) in Marquette.

Multi-grain organic waffles, UP sausage, UP wild blueberries, UP maple syrup, UP eggs, and UP coffee will be served.

All attendees will be entered in a drawing for a delicious door prize.  Best of all, the person who brings the biggest “brood” (of family or friends) in for breakfast will receive a gift basket of delectable goodies worth $60. Don’t miss this chance to help preserve what makes the UP so unique and special – our water!

Suggested donation is $7 (adults), $6 (students), $5 (seniors and children age 10 and under).  Call 250-3284 for more information.

The “Wafflettes” look forward to serving you!

Great Lakes Echo:Kennecott loses road decision; worries intensify over U.P. mine

http://greatlakesecho.org/2011/02/21/kennecott-loses-road-decision-environmental-worries-intensify-over-u-p-mine/

Feb 21, 2011

Locals oppose sulfide mining in Big Bay, near the mine site.

By Kari Lydersen

The winding, narrow road between Big Bay and Marquette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is usually plied by tourists, Northern Michigan University college students and locals – likely on their way to snowmobile, cross-country ski, fish or kayak in the cobalt blue waters of Lake Superior or the surrounding woods and wetlands.

But now residents, elected officials and business owners are worried and angry that these pleasant scenic roads – sometimes icy and treacherous in winter – could be widened and reinforced to support an endless stream of trucks carrying equipment and ore to and from the mine that Kennecott Minerals is in the process of opening on the Yellow Dog Plains near Big Bay.

In January Kennecott suffered a major blow when the US Environmental Protection Agency ruled, after a meeting with various government agencies, that Kennecott cannot construct the new Woodland Road it had proposed through wetlands and forest from the mine site to a reopened ore mill about 22 miles away. Kennecott had invested $8 million over five years in preparing to build the road. It had starting last spring cleared the mine entrance – at Eagle Rock, which local tribes consider sacred – on the presumption ore expelled from the mouth could be trucked conveniently to the mill where millions of dollars worth of nickel and other metals would be extracted.

Kennecott, a subsidiary of the London-based mining giant Rio Tinto, has also been considering greatly expanding a seasonal logging road, known as county road 595. In January it announced it had dropped that plan because the permitting process would take too long and locals were concerned about the environmental impacts on surrounding forest. The company announced it would seek to use the aforementioned existing road through Marquette.

Mayor: Routing trucks through city is deal breaker

But Marquette Mayor John Kivela said he has “zero intention of allowing trucks through Marquette.” Kivela strongly supports the Eagle Project in general, saying “the Upper Peninsula’s identity has always been about mining, and it still is.” He said Kennecott officials told him in a February meeting that they are still pursuing permits for county road 595. Much as he thinks the mine will create jobs and needed economic stimulus, if Kennecott tries to bring about 80 mining trucks a day through “the heart of Northern Michigan University campus” – where President Obama spoke on Feb. 13 – it will be a deal breaker.

“I was elected to support the residents of Marquette, not a foreign company,” he said. “It all comes down to money, there are other routes they could take. Of course they want to spend as little as possible, but that’s not my responsibility.”

Big Bay resident Cynthia Pryor thinks there will be devastating environmental and quality of life consequences from any road Kennecott builds or

Cynthia Pryor says “things will never be the same here” once the Kennecott mine is built. Photo: Kari Lydersen

expands, and from the project as a whole.

“This place will never be the same,” said Pryor, who has been organizing against the proposed mine for a decade.

Pryor said opposition to the mine has been increasing lately as people who were enticed by the promise of jobs and tax dollars are growing increasingly concerned about the road issue, increased electricity rates related to the mine and other impacts. She said the fact that Kennecott began clearing the mine site and developing electricity infrastructure before a road to the mill was in place is increasing residents’ skepticism of the company.

“People are starting to see how Kennecott is trying to push things through under the carpet without doing it the right way,” she said. “Now they are building a mine out there and they don’t have a transportation route to it – what kind of business plan is that?”

The mine would tap into sulfide ore which produces sulfuric acid when exposed to oxygen. Among the multiple environmental and quality-of-life impacts of the mine, opponents are furious that it could contaminate their beloved pure waters. Residents drink right out of the cold clear streams, the lush wetlands are alive with countless groundwater “seeps” and the area is the headwaters of the Salmon Trout, an acclaimed fishing river that flows into the nearby vast blue expanse of Lake Superior.

Critics say access to public water is corporate welfare

Even if copper and other metals or contaminants mobilized by the mining process remain within drinking water standards, notes Pryor, that still could mean levels exponentially higher than current content.

Kennecott has promised jobs and general economic stimulation, winning significant support from business leaders, local residents and elected officials in the economically-depressed area. The mine is predicted to produce 300 million pounds of nickel and 200 million pounds of copper along with some other metals over its 20-year lifetime, making it the country’s largest nickel mine. Company officials peg its economic impact at $350 million, with production slated to begin in late 2013. (Kennecott did not respond to a request for comment.)

Pryor and other opponents have sought to block the mine through lawsuits, public campaigns, lobbying elected officials, protests and even an occupation by members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community tribe. Pryor and tribal members have been arrested in the past year near the site. Tribal member and environmental activist Jessica Koski flew to London last summer to testify at Rio Tinto’s shareholder meeting.

Opponents hope the decision on the road signals government officials may otherwise intervene in the case. Previously, the U.S. EPA had decided Kennecott did not need a federal groundwater permit to proceed, a decision that disappointed opponents who felt like the federal government was giving a free pass to the mining company. Before that decision came down, documents published in 2009 by the National Wildlife Foundation revealed Kennecott had been ignoring the EPA’s requests for information for three years and proceeding with development as if no permit was needed.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources in 2008 granted Kennecott a 40-year lease on public land around Eagle Rock, a move National Wildlife Federation attorney Michelle Halley referred to as “corporate welfare,” closing off lands and waters “that are paid for and enjoyed by taxpayers to grant exclusive access to those lands to a company for private gain and with no permanent ties to the state.” The agreement called for only $4,000 annually spent on water quality monitoring, which Halley and other opponents say is nowhere near enough for meaningful testing for “acid mine drainage” – a common effect of mining in sulfide ore – or other contamination issues.

Can UP’s economic future be both mining and tourism?

In towns built on iron mining and gold mining, locals like those in the Iron Inn on a winter night look forward to the jobs promised by Kennecott. Photo: Kari Lydersen

Many local residents see the battle over the nickel mine as highly symbolic and indicative of the larger economic and environmental future of the Upper Peninsula – potentially characterized by either a resurgence of metal mining or increased tourism and outdoors recreation. Kennecott officials and mine supporters have said the two aren’t mutually exclusive, but mine opponents don’t buy it.

At the same time state boosters are promoting the state’s water as a major asset, they note, state agencies are allowing a private company to take over public land and irreversibly alter its water and other natural resources. Local activists have for years been monitoring water on the Yellow Dog Plains, so they will have benchmarks for comparison if mining starts. Pryor said they are embarking on a year-long intensive water monitoring project that will adhere to the same standards as a bi-national Lake Superior monitoring program undertaken by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Chauncey Moran, who moved to a cabin nearby specifically to help protect the area’s water and ecology, spends long days trekking through the forests or snowmobiling down icy roads to collect water samples. He fears seeing an uptick in metals and pollutants, and he notes that all the samples he and students who help him have collected so far will compared to future results likely demonstrate the effects of sulfide mining – and he hopes inform other communities where mines are proposed.

“The future of clean water rests on prevention and establishing defensible, repeatable and irrefutable baseline data that demonstrates the fragility of our ground and surface waters,” Moran said. “These actions will validate what levels of prevention or remediation, if any, have been effective for maintaining high quality waters seven generations and beyond.”

“Our water is so pure, purer than you can find just about anywhere,” Pryor said. “What they want to do here is a travesty.”

© 2010, Great Lakes Echo, Michigan State University Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. Republish under these guidelines. Reporting supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

THE GOOD FIGHT

by Jon Magnuson

Last summer, driving north along County Rd #550, not far from Eagle Nest Road, a reflection of sunlight on eight high voltage electrical lines, erected to provide power for the proposed Kennecott mine, caught me by surprise, blinding, for a split second, the entire highway ahead.

At first startled, then saddened, I reminded myself that the most revered landscapes we cherish will always be in transition. Change inevitably comes, as does innovation and new business ventures. At the same time, citizens have a right (some believe obligation) to shape the particulars of our economic future.  Tea Party followers are teaching us that the best principles of American democratic process are reflected in cantankerous debates.

In that respect, our contentious ongoing community battle about Rio Tinto’s Kennecott sulfide mine, when it will be built and, if so, how the company will adhere to laws and regulations, remains an extraordinary drama.  The Mining Journal is to be commended for providing coverage of this important controversy, allowing different voices to be heard, trusting that challenge and public debate exposes the deepest values of our citizens.

It’s critically important to remember Kennecott’s mine is no done deal.  Permits are being consistently challenged, step-by-step, by sophisticated civil suits from the National Wildlife Federation, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, and the Huron Mountain Club.  In 2004, one hundred leaders of ten faith traditions across three counties signed a document protesting this mine.  In April of 2009 it was carried to London, England along with a petition against the mine containing signatures of 10,000 Michigan citizens.  Both were presented to Kennecott’s parent company Rio Tinto at their annual meeting.

Recently, Kennecott announced its intention of moving dozens of  trucks of toxic materials daily through the city of  Marquette because they’re legally blocked, by government regulations protecting wetlands, from using their financially-backed Woodland Road as a haul route.  Our city’s mayor publicly expressed his disgust at Kennecott’s proposal, voicing absolute opposition to such a plan. Numbers of citizens now are beginning to see another side of this international corporation that carries a worldwide reputation for violating human rights and poisoning local landscapes.

Initially, some remember Kennecott appearing in our community as a good-willed, generous business partner. Thanks to an alliance of citizens and nonprofit groups, the mining company’s slick ads were exposed, revealing deeper intentions to unabashedly, singularly, wring a profit. Recently, Kennecott’s Eagle Project manager John Cherry, after five years here, was transferred to do a similar softening up of yet another community at another proposed mine site in Arizona.

What about potential jobs being lost? If not the mine, then what? Look at the recognition our community has received for our pollution-free environment and healthy public life. Our Chamber of Commerce is working hard to promote Marquette County as a green and sustainable, environmentally friendly community.  We can work together to bring low-impact industry here.  We can all choose to cut back, just a bit, and commit ourselves to support our local schools, businesses, artists, churches and synagogues.

On Tuesday, February 15th, 7 P.M. at the Women’s Federated Club House, the viewing of a filmed presentation by Lois Gibbs, mother of two children who led New York citizens to protest toxic waste poisoning in 1978 at Love Canal, will be shown. Peter Sessa, attorney with The Center for Health, Environment and Justice, will be here to share stories about ordinary citizens across North America who are creatively rebuilding strong communities that protect jobs, environments, and health.

This is a good fight.  Come join us.

Jon Magnuson