After 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 »
Westwood High School, Ishpeming, Michigan – Perhaps reflective of a general lack of responsiveness at the state level on the metallic sulfide mining controversy in Michigan, few attended a hearing on Rio Tinto’s proposed Humboldt Township milling facility, located in western Marquette County. As with a previous hearing, in February, employment, water quality, worker safety and incompetence at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Rio Tinto were primary themes.
Baraga County Mine Inspector, Don Carlson, expressed concern that fugitive dust leaving the proposed mill site could affect worker’s health and the health of their families since he has not seen an adequate plan to both capture and dispose of the fine material. Carlson also highlighted Michigan’s poor economy – Baraga County has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates - and said that any mining jobs need to be performed by union workers, citing the closed White Pine Mine as a good example of how workers could be treated.
“When this company comes to the area are the area people going to be hired or are the companies going to bring the people from other areas,” questioned Carlson. “We have an influx in Michigan of no jobs, people being laid off every day, all these types of things and these workers aren’t being able to go and get a job, a union job, with these companies.”
Chris Mofatt, a Marquette County prison worker and lifelong Upper Peninsula resident said, “I don’t oppose mining, I don’t oppose jobs, but I do oppose liars and I think that Rio Tinto and the DEQ are not credible.”
“Rio Tinto’s track record is poor,” said Mofatt. “They want to come in here and do the same thing in the UP they’ve done in other countries. I oppose that. Michigan deserves better than that and we’re not getting it right now. Our corporate government wants to run an eighteenth century industry down the throat of twenty-first century enfranchised Americans. . . we deserve better and so does everybody in the world because we have twenty percent of the fresh water.”
In an excellent introduction to the New York Times’ series, “Toxic Waters,” Charles Duhigg notes that federal Clean Water Act violations have increased dramatically in recent years, with more than 506,000 violations from 2004 to 2007 with the number increasing by 16% over that short three-year period. Shockingly, only 3% of violations have resulted in fines or “significant” punishment.
State Representative Dan Scripps (Leland) has announced his intent to promote legislation in an effort to protect all of Michigan’s water from pollution while affirming that all water “including lakes, rivers, streams and groundwater. . . should be clearly defined as a public resource, giving them the same protections against privatization as the Great Lakes and all surface water.”
State Representative Dan Scripps
Speaking in Glen Arbor, on September 2, Scripps said, “We’re surrounded by 20 percent of the world’s fresh water, and with that blessing comes an incredible responsibility.
“We must act as responsible stewards of our waters and preserve our lakes, rivers and beaches for future generations. Read the rest of this entry »
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.” Read the rest of this entry »
This report covers many but not all of the issues raised during questions on the company’s Annual Report and in some of the other items of business. Where several questions were asked about one area, they are reported together. The report was put together with the help of many of the people who attended the AGM.
For an hour before the AGM, there was an inspiring protest outside the Conference Centre, organised by Friends of the Earth, the Free West Papua Campaign and Partizans (People Against Rio Tinto and its Subsidiaries), with help from War on Want. West Papuan flags, illegal in Indonesia and its occupied territories, flapped in the strong wind, and West Papuan musicians sang and played music for the whole time as others handed out information leaflets from London Mining Network. Read the rest of this entry »
Kennecott Mineral’s majority-owned and operated Greens Creek Mine has reported leaks totaling 2,095 gallons of diesel fuel from March 3, 1996 to June 16, 2005, an average of 233 gallons a year. Reported diesel spills, of course, do not include amounts for diesel exhausts. Diesel fuel contains cancer causing elements, such as benzene.[1] Read the rest of this entry »
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