Lake Superior Mining News

Over 200 concerned individuals from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario and Michigan attended Marquette County’s Protect the Earth Summit on the first weekend in August. Saturday events included workshops on treaty rights, successful grassroots opposition to metallic sulfide mining projects and a presentation on the polluted Flambeau Mine, in Wisconsin. A rally was held, at Marquette’s Presque Isle Park that featured musicians and speakers, including Fred Rydholm, Laura Furtman, Al Gedicks, Bobby Bullet, Victor McManemy and Jim St. Arnold, as well as traditional Anishinaabe shawl and hoop dancing, performed by Megan Tucker. On Sunday, over 120 people walked to

Eagle Rock from the Yellow Dog River and held a rally and sacred eagle feather ceremony at the site of the proposed Kennecott Eagle Mine. The event was sponsored by Yellow Dog Summer, Keepers of the Water and Students Against Sulfide Mining.

The event marked a turning point in the citizen movement to protect public land and valuable freshwater from metallic sulfide and uranium mining and was defined by its diversity of attendees and the unity and determination of those involved. Speakers affirmed that, by remaining active and asserting the power of community and sovereign rights, dangerous mining is not a done deal in the U.P and throughout the Great Lakes.

“A Permanent Victory” in Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin sociology professor, Al Gedicks, discussed the successful opposition to the proposed Crandon Mine, adjacent to the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa’s reservation. A nearly 30-year battle pitting a coalition of five tribal groups, sports fishermen, farmers, union workers and students against mining giants Exxon, BHP-Billiton and Rio Algom effectively ended, in 2003. The committed opposition had made the project so unattractive to investors that the mining giants were encouraged to leave the area for good. According to Gedicks, this represented the “first time anywhere in the world where not only a large corporation [had] been defeated but defeated in such a way that it is a permanent victory.”

Gedicks emphasized that this victory was accomplished when tribal and grassroots groups rejected a compromise stance taken by mainstream environmental groups. Describing what is commonly called a “consensus process,” Gedicks explained “the entire process is dominated by the mining company lawyers. For example, the whole process of permitting the metallic mining regulations in the state of Michigan were premised on the fact that there would be no consideration of a mining moratorium law. People that were in favor of the mining moratorium were excluded from participation in that process.”

Retired iron worker and summit speaker, Bob Tammen, commented that “the consensus process compromises what we stand for.”

Another Way

Gedicks asserted that alternatives exist to mining metals, such as copper, nickel and zinc. He stressed the importance of accessing recycled metals found in landfills. Currently, in the US, the amount of metal thrown in landfills, each year, equals the amount found in roughly 35 Kennecott Eagle Projects. Recycling opportunities abound also in the reuse of metals from abandoned military equipment. According to Gedicks, “Nickel is a war metal. You cannot wage war without nickel….all the equipment that has ever been used in any wars, from prehistoric times to now, that metal is still available. That metal is not now being recycled because it is more profitable to go after virgin sources of metal than there is to go after recycled metal.”

Gedicks warned attendees that “Everywhere you go, mining companies tell communities we’re going to have a mining project here. The first thing they say is that my state [e.g. Michigan] has the most strict environmental legislation . . . none of the state’s have strict environmental legislation. The strictest environmental legislation is in Ecuador.”

“There Will Be No Mine, As Long As I’m Alive”

The event culminated with a rally on the Yellow Dog Plains and took a focus on treaty rights and community rights. After a jubilant 2-mile walk from the Yellow Dog River, Mole Lake member, Jerry Burnett, performed a highly emotional eagle feather ceremony, prior to presenting the feather to members of U.P. opposition. The eagle feather was offered by Sandy Lyons, one of the founders, along with Walt Bresette and Jim Schlender, of the Protect the Earth Gatherings, in Wisconsin.

Burnett told attendees, “It’s an honor and it’s a privilege to be here with you people. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve said to Exxon, Rio Algom, BHP, including Kennecott. I told them there will be no mine as long as I’m alive. And you have to believe that in your heart. Keep coming back for this and keep doing it until they’re gone.”

Following the eagle feather ceremony KBIC member, Stan Spruce, raised the Mole Lake water staff and said, to applause, “Kennecott can only hope to have this much power.”

Recovering the Sacred

Susan LaFernier, vice-president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community urged attendees to remember that “Water is a gift of life and is sacred. Sulfide mining is not a done deal… Remember that we do have the power to effectively stop developments of unpopular mining plans and we must do so…I pray that our ancestors vision and our determination will be honored and that we allow our water to continue to purify itself as it knows how to best, since Creation.”

Fred Ackley, Mole Lake tribal judge and instrumental figure in stopping the Crandon Mine project, spoke with a sacred pipe in hand, “The Creator has given us all these things you see here…We have all these things he gave us. He also gave us a way how to live. So I pray for the nibi , the water; I pray for the fish in the water; I pray for all the human beings who drink water.”

Encapsulating the Summit’s theme, Al Hunter, poet and author from the Rainy River First Nation, in Ontario, told attendees that the mining companies “might have economic power, they might have political power, but they don’t have the spiritual power and that will trump everything, every single time. I want you to remember that.”

Organizers intend to hold a similar rally, next year, to address themes of treaty rights and the role citizens can play in actively stopping unpopular and dangerous metallic and uranium mining in the Great Lakes region.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 2:50 am and is filed under cameco, civil disobedience, Eagle Mine, human rights, indigenous, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, lake superior, Michigan, public land, water pollution. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.