Comments on: Expose Shows Water Pollution On the Rise; Great Lakes Enforcement Remains Lax http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/2009/09/14/expose-shows-water-pollution-increasing-in-great-lakes/ Thu, 23 Feb 2012 05:39:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Marquette County Approves Public Portion of Rio Tinto's Haul Road for Proposed Eagle Mine | Headwaters News http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/2009/09/14/expose-shows-water-pollution-increasing-in-great-lakes/#comment-676 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:37:24 +0000 http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/?p=700#comment-676 [...] According to an expose by the New York Times, Lindberg & Sons is one of few known violators of the federal Clean Water Act in Marquette County. [...]

]]> By: LSMN http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/2009/09/14/expose-shows-water-pollution-increasing-in-great-lakes/#comment-624 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:30:09 +0000 http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/?p=700#comment-624 Mr. Fyre,

Thank you for the posting. It is amazing that the State of Michigan (during DEQ tenure) utterly failed in regulating Cliffs’ mine and made no effort to require them to follow the law.

They had a number of tailings breaches over the past couple years and the selenium issue is pretty upsetting. Don’t know if you’ve seen the Journal Science article from January – a number of prominent scientists studied mountaintop coal mining and noted that the practice must be banned and can’t be regulated. They noted selenium levels dangerous to fish reproduction, etc. in Appalachia that are lower than levels at Cliffs.

But, according to the joint DEQ-Cliffs newsletter (really cute, by the way) selenium is found in Brazil nuts, so everything’s good, right!

]]> By: Forrest Fyre http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/2009/09/14/expose-shows-water-pollution-increasing-in-great-lakes/#comment-622 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:14:37 +0000 http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net/?p=700#comment-622 What I find to be very interesting is that with all the talk about acid mine drainage due to sulfide ores, no attention has been focused on Cliffs. Cliffs finally made a public admission in July that they were releasing unacceptable amounts of selenium (and also telling the public that selenium is good for us, just because in very small doses it has treated symptoms for certain types of cancer). Selenium is an element which always naturally occurs as a sulfide compound, with very few exceptions. Any selenium which is leaching off Cliffs’ property most likely is accompanied by H2SO4, contaminating all adjacent watersheds. Selenium, in elevated long-term dosages, leads to several fatal ailments including liver failure. Sulfuric acid contamination from Cliffs Michigan Operations is a realization of acid mine drainage in Marquette County. So why aren’t there any fish in Goose Lake, downstream from the Empire Mine’s Mary Charlotte Pond discharge? Anyone from Cliffs care to comment?

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