Tag Archives: Health

Rio Tinto drops Prospecting Permit in Ottawa National Forest

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IRON RIVER, MI

On November 6, Rio Tinto notified the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Ottawa National Forest (ONF) that it no longer wishes to pursue mineral exploration in a 395 acre parcel of the Ottawa National Forest in Iron County known as the “Bates Parcel.”

Read:     rio_tinto_letter_terminating_prospecting_permit_on_bates_parcel1

This is good news to concerned residents and landowners who have been monitoring Kennecott’s mineral interests within the Ottawa National Forest and Iron River area.  Bob Rivera, concerned citizen says,

“Having grown up in the “dead zone” on the Iron River, a third of a mile from the Buck Mine, I am relieved that yet another site of potential pollution will not afflict our county which suffers from a higher than normal incidence of cancer.  Both the Buck and Sherwood mine sites are known to contain uraninite, a uranium-like mineral, which leaches into the Iron River and, perhaps, the watershed.

In the case of the Buck Mine, which continues to leach sulfides and other contaminants after decades of remediation, the DEQ’s supposition that the source is tailing heaps and old settling ponds (which overflowed directly into the river in the day) is based on shaky, conjectural science.  This stretch of river is riddled with abandoned mining works.

Unhappily, the State does not test for the presence of uranium-like minerals.  The absence of rigorous testing and sampling standards and effective enforcement procedures should further alarm any community faced by the depredations of a corporation infamous for its disregard for human (and other) life.  Anyone who tells you “Michigan has the strongest mining laws in the world!” is either duped or lying to you.  Rio Tinto’s abandonment of exploration at the Perch Lake site, while a small success for our movement, will have to be repeated many times by aroused and informed citizens if we are to preserve a viable environment.”

Read more  http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/2009/11/19/rio-tinto-drops-michigan-exploration-proposal-on-public-forest-land/

Lawmakers downplay possibility of U.P. uranium mining

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But mining company spent more than $700,000 on U.P. uranium exploration in 2009

By Michigan Messenger’s: Eartha Jane Melzer 11/13/09 2:12 PM

http://michiganmessenger.com/30150/lawmakers-downplay-possibility-of-u-p-uranium-mining

Upper Peninsula lawmakers are railing against a ballot measure to create standards for uranium mining, claiming that no uranium ore has been discovered in Michigan. However, a Canadian uranium mining company says it’s found uranium in the U.P., scientists have warned that its uranium exploration could harm groundwater, and the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department is warning that residential wells in several counties already have elevated levels of the radioactive metal.

In a statement this week, 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.

“No ‘uranium mining’ activity has ever existed,” the lawmakers stated, “nor has any uranium ore been discovered, in our state.”

However, according to a July 2009 financial report from Bitterroot Resources Ltd., a 17-hole uranium exploration drilling program concluded last December “identified several areas which warrant additional exploration.” The company said it spent $717,403 on Michigan uranium exploration in the first nine months of 2009.

On the sections of the company website devoted to its Upper Peninsula uranium exploration Bitterroot states that early drilling “encountered a 0.6-metre interval containing 75 ppm U, including two 0.12-metre intervals containing more than 100 ppm U. These intervals are significant as they confirm that uranium-bearing fluids have been mobile within the Jacobsville Basin.”

The presence of uranium in this area is also known to local health officials. The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department has issued a uranium advisory.

“Scattered drinking water sources in the Western Upper Peninsula have been found to contain uranium in amounts that exceed the federal Maximum Contaminant Level,” the health department states. “The source of the uranium may be the shale deposits that run inconsistently through the Jacobsville Sandstone formation. Water supplies with radioactivity have been found in Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon Counties.”

The department states that uranium-laced water may be associated with kidney damage and cancer and that people with wells constructed in the Jacobsville Sandstone formation should have their water tested for uranium.

Last year the National Forest Service granted permits for uranium exploration in the Ottawa National Forest and spokeswoman Lee Ann Atkinson told Michigan Messenger at the time that 50 test wells were authorized.

During the public comment period on this uranium exploration proposal by Trans Superior Resources, a subsidiary of Bitterroot Resources Ltd., Todd Warner, natural resources director for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, noted that the company’s plan to bury drill cuttings on Forest Service land could result in radioactive compounds leaching into area groundwater.

“If a uranium ore body is disturbed in its natural geological setting, radium and polonium will inevitably be released into our environment,” Warner wrote in comments entered into the record. “The Forest Service has not noted that any additional or added precautions or testing is being required due to the potential or likely presence of uranium, radium, polonium and other radioactive elements.”

Because of the risk of chemical reactions that can cause minerals to contaminate the water supply, metallic mining requires permits from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said Hal Fitch, director of the agency’s Office of Geological Survey. But due to what Fitch called “a weakness in the statute,” exploratory mineral wells in the rocky western half of the Upper Peninsula are exempt from permit requirements.

In the case of the uranium test wells in the national forests, the DEQ will visit and observe operations after being voluntarily contacted by the mining company, Fitch said.

The Michigan Save Our Water Committee says U.P. lawmakers are mischaracterizing their proposed ballot initiative.

“We are not talking about banning future uranium mining,” said spokesman Duncan Campbell. “We don’t have any regulations covering uranium, all we are asking that we have some regulations to cover uranium.”

Read more!

Houghton Mining Gazette writer, Kurt Hauglie covers the issue:

http://www.mininggazette.com/page/content.detail/id/507472.html

Gail Griffith responds to Shawn Carlson Letter to Mining Journal Editor:

No U.P Uranium?

In a recent letter to the Mining Journal titled “No U.P. Uranium”, there is a statement:  “There is no uranium ore anywhere in the state of Michigan.” The important word here is “ore”, which is defined as a naturally occurring material that can be profitably mined. This does not mean that there is no uranium in the state of Michigan. It means that no one has yet found of a profitable ore body.

The evidence for the presence  of uranium in the U.P. is strong.  The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department has issued an advisory for people with water wells in the Jacobsville sandstone formation in the Keweenaw Peninsula to have their water tested for uranium, because a 2003 study by a group at Michigan Tech found that about 25% of 300 wells tested in the area had levels of uranium  above what is considered safe by the national Environmental Protection Agency.

Since 2003, Bitterroot Resources has been exploring for uranium in the Ottawa State Forest in the Jacobsville sandstone.  In 2007, they found small amounts of uranium in drill cores.  Cameco, a Canadian company that is  one of the world’s biggest uranium suppliers, has given Bitterroot $1.7 million to do further exploration on the site.  New drilling was done in 2008, and the results are now being evaluated for follow-up.  Given that uranium prices have gone down from a peak of $140/lb. in 2004 to about $45/lb. today, even if this uranium body is large or rich, it may not be profitable now, but may well be later.

Mining for uranium is currently done by an process called in-situ leaching (ISL). This method does’t bring any ore to the surface, but rather pumps chemically-treated water into and through the ore body to dissolve the uranium and brings it to the surface, where it is extracted.  Treated water is pumped back in to dissolve more uranium.  The question is, where does the water come from, and where does it go?

Uranium deposits suitable for ISL are found  in permeable sand or sandstone that must be protected above and below by impermeable rock, and which are below the water table. This means that if there is any connection or leakage into any other water source, that water will be contaminated with uranium.   Further, the water used in the ISL process can’t be effectively restored to natural groundwater purity.

Michigan’s new Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining law.was written to deal with the threat of pollution by metallic sulfide ores and wastes that can create acidic, metal- laden water that must be carefully purified before being  released into the environment.  During the rule-making process, it was pointed out that uranium is a nonferrous metal, and could be mined under these rules, even though there were no provisions for the special precautions needed for radioactive materials.  The response by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality was that, yes, the “rules would apply to uranium mining, however, if uranium mining appears imminent, then the DEQ will review these rules for their adequacy to regulate such mining and determine revisions that may be needed”.

Part of the proposed  MIWater Ballot Initiative language speaks to this issue by  prohibiting uranium mining until new rules have been established.  It is clear that such rules are needed now, and a vote for the initiative would ensure this.  It’s all about our  water.

Gail Griffith
Retired Professor of Chemistry
Northern Michigan University

No U.P. uranium

To the Journal editor:
We’ve all heard the arguments. “Michigan must preserve its proud mining heritage.” Then the counter: “Our environment must be protected from sulfide and uranium mining.” And so the tired argument trudges on, the latest installment of which being known as the MiWater Ballot Initiative. An argument with no clear victors, perhaps for good reason – both sides have some fair points: mining is a valuable industry, but the environment is important, too. If only there were a tie-breaker, something to tip the scales and guide the undecided. Well perhaps there is – the issue of education.

One of the goals of the MiWater Ballot Initiative is to restrict “uranium mining” in Michigan, in response to local activists’ proclamations that “uranium ore” has already been found and that mining could be imminent; one popular calendar says uranium mining has already been proposed and another Web site calls it planned. The problem is, none of that is true.
As contributor to the “Mineralogy of Michigan” textbook and recipient of the Friends of Mineralogy award for a study of Michigan uranium, I present my knowledge as authoritative, so here are the scientific facts.

There is no uranium ore anywhere in the state of Michigan. And since there is no uranium ore, there are neither proposed uranium mines, nor planned uranium mines; statements to the contrary are absurd.

Yes, there has been uranium exploration throughout Michigan since about 1949, but this work has found squat; in the words of one geologist, “If you took all of Michigan’s uranium and threw in 50 cents, you’d have enough to buy a cup of coffee.” Michigan simply lacks mineable uranium deposits, and the finest mineralogists alive today (e.g., George Robinson, Michigan Tech University) do not believe any will be found – ever.

One of the concerns of environmental activism is the lack of credible scientific information within these groups, as exposed in a recent Newsweek article (April 2008). And that’s a problem. At a time when the greatest questions facing us globally (climate change), nationally (energy independence) and locally (mining) all involve science, we owe it to our children to teach real science – not pseudoscience.

I therefore ask readers to oppose this new ballot initiative. Supporting it isn’t necessarily a vote to protect Michigan water; that remains to be seen. But it is a vote against the integrity of science education. And that’s unacceptable because it damages us all.

Shawn M. Carlson
Adjunct Instructor
Northern Michigan University
Marquette

MIWater Speaker in Marquette, Thursday, November 12

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Save the Wild UP will host its Annual Fall Fundraiser Social on Thursday, November 12 at the Upfront & Company, downtown Marquette, from 6:30 – 11:00 pm. The evening will include a silent auction, appetizers, cash bar, guest speaker, Duncan Campbell, and live music by the Amnesians, a local classic rock band.

8:00 Rally for Water!!!    Speaker: Duncan Campbell

Highlighting the evening will be Duncan Campbell, member of the Save Our Water Committee speaking at 8:00 about the 2010 ballot initiative to protect Michigan’s fresh water resources. Campbell is treasurer for the  Committee and is directing its MiWater ballot initiative campaign. He states, “It is clear the only way to give voice to this threat (sulfide mining) and win the battle for pure water is to take the message to Michigan voters directly via a ballot initiative campaign. This is a powerful and effective tool and provides a grassroots political front to let people take action not only throughout the Lower Peninsula but across the Great Lakes Region and beyond.”

MiWater members will be on hand with information and handouts all evening.

South Road – Projected Pollution Corridor

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(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

Over 575,000 Pounds of Toxics Discharged into Michigan’s Waterways

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Industrial facilities dumped 575,930 pounds of toxic chemicals into Michigan’s waterways, according to a report released today by Environment Michigan: Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act. The report also finds that toxic chemicals were discharged in 1,900 waterways across all 50 states.

“While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in the U.S. are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, our report shows that polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals,” said Shelley Vinyard, Environmental Associate with Environment Michigan.

“The Detroit River has played an important role in the economic development of Southeast Michigan,” said Robert Burns, Detroit Riverkeeper. “From an early trade and transportation route, to its current role as the source of drinking water and recreational opportunities for millions of people. Protection of the river’s water quality and its natural resources is essential for maintaining the quality of life for the area’s residents.”

The Environment Michigan report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged in to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2007, the most recent data available.

Major findings of the report include:

• The JR Whiting Generating Plant and the Detroit Edison Monroe Power Plant released a combined 65,794.7 pounds of toxic chemical waste into Lake Erie. The Mead Johnson & Co. facility was the largest reported polluter of toxic chemicals in Michigan in 2007.
• The Detroit River had 70,290.9 pounds of chemicals dumped into it in 2007.
• The Escanaba Paper Company released 3,125.0 pounds of cancer-causing chemical waste into the Escanaba River in 2007.

With facilities dumping so much pollution, no one should be surprised that nearly half of our waterways are unsafe for swimming and fishing. But we should be outraged.

Environment Michigan’s report summarizes the discharge of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that persist in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Among the toxic chemicals discharged by facilities are lead, mercury, and dioxin. When dumped into waterways, these toxic chemicals contaminate drinking water and are absorbed by the fish that people eventually eat. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive disorders. In 2007, manufacturing facilities discharged approximately 1.5 million pounds of cancer-causing chemicals into American waters.

“There are common-sense steps that should be taken to turn the tide against toxic pollution of our waters,” added Vinyard. “We need clean water now, and we need the federal government to act to protect our health and our environment.”

In order to curb the toxic pollution threatening our Great Lakes and other waterways across the state, Environment Michigan recommends the following:

1. Pollution Prevention: Industrial facilities should reduce their toxic discharges in to waterways by switching from hazardous chemicals to safer alternatives.
2. Tough permitting and enforcement: EPA and state agencies should issue permits with tough, numeric limits for each type of toxic pollution discharged, ratchet down those limits over time, and enforce those limits with credible penalties, not just warning letters.
3. Protect all waters: The federal government should adopt policies to clarify that the Clean Water Act applies to all of our waterways.

This includes the thousands of headwaters and small streams for which jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been called into question, as a result of recent court decisions.

“We know these industrial toxins are harmful to both our health and our environment,” said State Representative Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor), Chair of the Michigan House of Representatives’ Great Lakes and Environment Committee. “As the Great Lakes state, we simply must work to preserve our inland lakes and streams, and send a strong message to manufacturers that it is unacceptable to continue to put Michigan’s citizens and natural resources at risk. By protecting the waters that define us, we are protecting our families, our jobs, our farms and the very features that make Michigan a special and unique place to live.”

“We urge Congress and the President to listen to the public’s demands for clean water. They should act to protect all of our lakes, rivers and streams from toxic pollution,” concluded Vinyard.

Environment Michigan is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization that works to protect Michigan’s air, water, and open spaces. For more information, visit www.EnvironmentMichigan.org.

Senate passes $400M Great Lakes bill

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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington — The Senate easily passed legislation tonight containing $400 million for Great Lakes restoration by deterring invasive species, cleaning up highly polluted sites and expanding wetlands.

The funding level for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative falls short of the $475 million passed by the House in June and supported by President Barack Obama.

Michigan Sens. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, voted for the bill.

Andy Buchsbaum, the Great Lakes project director at the National Wildlife Federation, said environmentalists will work with House-Senate conferees to try to ensure the final bill has the $475 million funding level.

“This is an unprecedented funding level for cleanup of the Great Lakes, and absolutely critical to bringing the lakes back to health,” Buchsbaum said.

Read entire article:   www.detnews.com/article/20090924/LIFESTYLE14/909240476/1409/METRO

Protect the Earth August 1st and 2nd

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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

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Medical Doctors, Physicians Address Public Health Threats in Upper Peninsula

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By Gabriel Caplett
March 20, 2009

Marquette, Michigan – Current pollution from past chemical, mining and military operations were addressed alongside the potential for continued public health threats posed by coal power generation and mining activities, Thursday, at the Women’s Federated Clubhouse, in Marquette. The event, organized by the Great Lakes Health and Environment Action League (HEAL), featured presentations by area health professionals, toxicologists and university professors.

Event moderator, Gene Champagne, said the event was significant for many because public health concerns are “universal.”

“No one wants to be ill,” said Champagne. “We’re talking about the health, our own health, our parents, our children. That matters to everyone.”

Heavy Metals a Concern in Water and Air
Dr. Lisa Long, a family practitioner in Negaunee, discussed various heavy metals and their potential to affect human health. According to Long, metals such as arsenic, lead, chromium, thallium and cadmium are commonly associated with mine-related pollution. Cadmium, which is also contained in sewage sludge fertilizers, as well as medical and household incinerated waste, is also commonly found in cigarettes.

“If you smoke, you’ve got twice the exposure as somebody who doesn’t,” said Long.

Although highly toxic, particularly to children and pregnant women, lead is also fairly common in everyday life. “The only metal with more commercial uses is iron,” said Long.

According to Long, lead has a “sweet” taste and was commonly used by ancient Romans to sweeten cheap wine. It is that sweetness that makes the metal attractive to young children exposed to the metal. Children absorb roughly fifty percent of lead they ingest, compared to only ten to fifteen percent for adults. The absorption rate is higher with airborne exposure to lead.

Dr. Alan Olson said that, for metals like lead, “zero tolerance should be the rule.”

Dr. Scott Emerson explaining how much lead the human body requires

Dr. Scott Emerson explaining how much lead the human body requires

Shawn Devlin, of Chocolay Township, disagreed. “When you argue for zero you lose credibility,” Devlin said. “There are natural levels of all these things.”

Dr. Scott Emerson, a toxicologist and emergency room physician at Marquette General Hospital, responded that lead has no positive function in the human body and is only found in unsafe amounts as a result of industrial activities.

“There is no safe level for lead, period,” Emerson said.

Emerson also discussed the role of mercury in affecting public health near mining operations. According to Emerson, high sulfate levels in water can assist in increasing concentrations of methyl mercury, a potential problem at Kennecott Mineral’s proposed Eagle Project mine and Humboldt milling facility, both in Marquette County.

Emerson describes methylated mercury as “the most dangerous neurotoxic form of mercury. You get a very aggressive toxin that can go right into the brain and is very readily absorbed.”

According to Dr. Gail Griffith, professor emeritus of Northern Michigan University’s (NMU) chemistry department, coal-fired power plants are another source of mercury, which bio-accumulates in fish tissue and can cause serious human health problems, particularly in young children.

Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Clayton Peimer cautioned that exposure to “micro-particulates” can be hazardous even if the substance does not contain toxic elements like lead.

“If someone says to you “micro-particles,” go get a mask,” warned Peimer.

Dr. Emerson agreed, maintaining that air pollution “is much more dangerous and has much more impact on health than even the water pollution does”

This surprised Negaunee resident Laura Royea.

“The environmental concerns, the airborne pollutants were very important, the particulate matter,” said Royea. “I had not considered that. I always thought of runoff into the streams and, you know, I didn’t think of the things that become airborne and travel much farther.”

Audience Members at Your Water Your Health

Audience Members at Your Water Your Health

Public Health Threats in the UP
Dr. Griffith discussed ongoing contamination at a number of sites throughout the Upper Peninsula, including the former Cliffs-Dow site that produced charcoal and wood distillate chemicals in the City of Marquette. The company’s dumps closed in the 1960s and eventually became federally-listed Superfund sites.

“You could always tell when they were cleaning out the stills because you could smell it,” said Griffith

For over fifty years, Cleveland Cliffs International (now Cliffs Natural Resources) released mercury from it’s Ishpeming laboratories into the city’s wastewater. That mercury found its way to Deer Lake.

“Some fish of some types from some bodies of water you should never ever eat and that is Deer Lake, for example,” said Griffith.

Griffith explained current public health threats posed by other sites, such as Torch Lake, near Houghton, and the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, northeast of Gwinn. Although the air force complex was closed in the early 1990s, underground storage tanks, landfills, munitions testing areas and fuel spills continue to threaten groundwater quality.

“As we speak there is still a plume of jet fuel headed for Silver Lead Creek,” Griffith said.

Griffith also discussed problems associated with radioactive materials. Republic is considered a “hotspot” for radon, the second major cause of lung cancer, after smoking. In the 1990s, a survey of Republic homes showed that eighty-four percent exceeded maximum exposure levels for the dangerous gas.

A different radioactive element, uranium, has been found in residential wells along the Keweenaw Peninsula, prompting exploration companies to explore for the substance near Lake Gogebic.

“So far they’ve found a little sniff of it but not very much,” said Griffith.

According to NMU sociology professor, Dr. Patricia Cianciolo, new uranium and metallic mining proposals have received some support due to the potential for increased job creation.

“People leave this area when they are young because there is a lack of jobs,” said Cianciolo.

Cianciolo said the lack of regional mine employment pales when compared to the potential threat to residential wells and aquifers from metallic sulfide and uranium mining projects in the western UP.

“It’s just profound to see how close the potential mine sites would be to our major water supplies,” said Cianciolo.

Flambeau Mine Still Polluting
Mining was also a strong theme in Dr. Emerson’s presentation. Emerson explained that Kennecott Mineral’s closed Flambeau copper mine, in Wisconsin, polluted the nearby Flambeau River and continues to discharge high levels of unregulated heavy metals.

“The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior,” Emerson explained. “Kennecott, in general, has not left a good footprint when they have had past mining.”

Emerson said that high levels of manganese have been of particular concern at the Flambeau site. Chronic exposure “basically causes a schizophrenic type psychotic illness which can progress to motor abnormalities and Parkinson’s-type disease,” Emerson said.

“Although they did test the Flambeau River all the testing was done above where the most contaminated stream was in confluence with the Flambeau River,” said Emerson.

“There seems to be some real regulatory failure on the part of the State of Wisconsin on this.”

Marquette resident Brenda Hershey said that the information on Flambeau made her “more concerned.”

“When the research showed they were above levels they just stopped the research,” said Hershey. “How can we base decisions about Marquette [County] on information that is not complete?”

According to Emerson, despite high levels of “indicator” metals, such as copper and zinc, studies for lead and other heavy metal contamination at the Flambeau mine site were not presented to the public. Studies conducted by Colorado-based Stratus Consulting showed that, based on Flambeau results, Kennecott’s proposed Eagle mine could have lead levels nine times what is allowed in the mining permit issued by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality as well as high levels of cadmium, which can cause kidney damage.

“This is at best regulatory incompetence and, at worst, highly unethical shenanigans on the part of the DEQ,” said Emerson.
According to HEAL’s website, the group “is an information warehouse focused on water and air quality and related environmental health topics in the Great Lakes Basin” and sees it’s role as a facilitator of “user-friendly” information between the citizens and science and health professionals.