Time to sit down with the kids and get your thinking caps on for LSMN’s first-ever interactive quiz. Read the rest of this entry »
Interactive Quiz: Busting Rio Tinto’s Mythmaking
April 27, 2011
1 Comment | 
Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Uncategorized | Tagged: bart stupak, deq, hardrock mining, Kennecott, michigan legislature, quiz, Rio Tinto, sulfide mining | 
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Michigan DEQ-Turned Rio Tinto Employee Talks About Clean Water
January 28, 2011Kristen Mariuzza, who worked for the Michigan DEQ, reviewed Rio Tinto’s wastewater treatment plans, and signed off on them, began working for the company shortly after approving their plan. Here, in this TV6 PR piece on Rio “right on schedule” Tinto, Mariuzza explains the plan she approved and now works on will protect water quality.
Leave a Comment » | Kennecott-Rio Tinto | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, water, Michigan, yellow dog plains, Eagle Mine, deq, dnr, dnre, lake superior, mining, wastewater, river, sulfide mining, hardrock mining | Permalink
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Kennecott Mine Not Done Deal
January 24, 2010Jack Parker - Baltic, Michigan
It seems that, in their haste to push the permits through in the absence of a director for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Kennecott conveniently forgot several factors which will eventually render the permits void.
1. Mining experts for the NWF and for the DEQ agreed that the February 2006 application was not acceptable.
If you have trouble believing that just read the one-page Executive Summary of Sainsbury’s report, which was suppressed by the DEQ, and has now been restored to their site, but has subsequently been ignored.
The application should have been rejected almost four years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | DEQ, economy, Law, Michigan, Native American, Rio Tinto | Tagged: deq, economy, Law, metallic sulfide mining, Michigan, native american, Rio Tinto | Permalink
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More Coverage: Controversial Kennecott mine permits OK’d at 11th hour
January 15, 2010Dept. rules that sacred rock is ‘not a place of worship’
by Eartha Melzer, Michigan Messenger
A member of the Summer Cloud drumming group performs during a 2008 ceremony at Eagle Rock
Two days before the DEQ ceases to exist and a week after its director stepped down, DEQ moved to wrap up a long standing fight over permits for a planned nickel sulfide mine by concluding that only buildings may be considered “places of worship.”
A rock that is sacred to Anishnabe people need not be considered when issuing a mining permit because state law only recognizes buildings as places of worship, the Department of Environmental Quality announced Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »
9 Comments | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, Michigan, indigenous, public land | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, Law, Michigan, native american, yellow dog plains, Eagle Mine, public land, deq | Permalink
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Rio Tinto’s Permits Should Be Revoked
December 19, 2009Jack Parker – Baltic, Michigan
Here are some comments on the Humboldt Mill permit.
First, we must thank Hal Fitch for his promise to respond to all written comments. We appreciate the gesture.
I read the newspapers and watched WLUC-TV6 coverage of the event, but didn’t learn much.
I saw a lot of empty seats and heard that the majority of those present were in favor of the project. I have heard nothing more in the past week. But two especially strong points were presented and not reported.
1. Speaker Teresa Bertossi, independent, quoted Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven Chester who has freely admitted that budget restraints and pressure to handle more projects have left the department underfunded and undermanned. We can understand that, and we commiserate. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | DEQ, Law, Michigan, Rio Tinto | Tagged: deq, Law, metallic sulfide mining, Michigan, Rio Tinto | Permalink
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Marquette City Commission Opposes Water-Mining Ballot; City Endorsed Ballot Provision In Past (with Video)
December 15, 2009After addressing pollution concerns at the former Cliffs-Dow site, the Marquette City Commission took public comment on a proposed anti-ballot initiative resolution [read Marquette City Resolution Opposing Water Mining Ballot Initiative]. The “MiWater” ballot initiative would place greater restrictions on metallic sulfide and uranium mining activities in Michigan. Despite offering unanimous support for the resolution, commissioners presented a fairly diverse argument in their opposition to the MiWater ballot initiative. The majority of citizens providing public comment outlined various arguments in support of the ballot effort.
New commissioner David Saint-Onge questioned why the City was considering the resolution.
“As a new guy on the commission, I’m not so sure why this issue comes before us, to be honest with you, why we’re taking the amount of time that we’ve taken to address this issue – not that it’s not important,” said Saint-Onge. “I do believe that there are some portions of the resolution that’s being offered this evening that are unnecessarily inflammatory.” Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, uranium, water, Michigan, workers, economy, lake superior, water pollution | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, water, pollution, yellow dog plains, Eagle Mine, water pollution, workers, uranium, cameco, humboldt, deq, politicians, economy | Permalink
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Michigan DEQ: Rotten to the Core
November 24, 2009Gabriel Caplett – LSMN Editor
Russ Harding, first director of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, recently attacked a bill, introduced by Representative Dan Scripps, to protect our water resources and economy from irresponsible corporate exploitation. Harding also wrote a letter to the Mining Journal, making the dishonest claim that a ballot proposal “effectively bans future mining in Michigan.” Harding’s background as a staunch defender of Dow Chemical has shown him to be an apologist for corporate interests , even when doing so threatens public health. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | DEQ, Michigan, Rio Tinto | Tagged: deq, Dow Chemical, Law, Michigan, water | Permalink
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Mining Laws Not Enforced in Michigan
November 9, 2009Teresa Bertossi - LSMN Writer
A Mining Journal editorial on an environmental ballot proposal (Oct. 21) claimed that Michigan has “significant regulations in place to insure that mining does not damage our environment.”
While I am not involved in the ballot campaign, I have to ask if those “significant” regulations are being followed.
In court, Joe Maki, the DEQ’s application review coordinator for Kennecott’s Eagle Project, said his agency did not consider a central tenet of Michigan’s current sulfide mining law requiring that a mine application has to establish that the proposed mining operation “reasonably minimize[s] actual or potential adverse impacts on air, water and other natural resources.” Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | DEQ, Law, Michigan, Rio Tinto | Tagged: deq, Law, metallic sulfide mining, Michigan | Permalink
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Michigan DEQ Wants Judge to Reconsider Recommendation Protecting Native American Sacred Site
November 7, 2009
Steven Chester, Michigan DEQ Director; Photo courtesy State of Michigan; Oddly enough, Chester makes the final decision on whether or not his own agency followed the law in approving Kennecott-Rio Tinto's Eagle Mine application
According to the Associated Press, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director, Steven Chester, wants further information from Judge Patterson on whether or not Eagle Rock is legally a place of worship and is asking Patterson to reverse legal advice that would somewhat protect the religious rights of Native Americans in Michigan.
In August, Patterson recommended nearly unconditional support of Kennecott-Rio Tinto’s proposed Eagle Mine, in the Huron Mountains of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The judge’s one stipulation was that Eagle Rock, a place of worship for indigenous peoples, be protected. During the contested case on the mine proposal, DEQ lawyers argued that Eagle Rock is not a place of worship because it is not a constructed building, such as a Christian church or a mosque. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, Michigan, indigenous | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, Law, Michigan, native american, Eagle Mine, deq | Permalink
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Water Pollution, Job Creation Concerns at DEQ Mill Hearing
March 6, 2009Humboldt, Michigan – While a blizzard raged in the eastern part of the county, about 100 citizens attended a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hearing on a mining application for Kennecott-Rio Tinto’s proposed Humboldt Mill project. Comments were starkly divided between those citing perceived job creation as motivation for their support of the project and those concerned about the proposed Eagle Project and potential for water pollution and fugitive dust problems at the site.
1 Comment | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto | Tagged: deq, Eagle Mine, humboldt, Kennecott, Michigan, politicians, Rio Tinto | Permalink
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