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.”

Saint-Onge said that, since the resolution was introduced he could not, according to City guidelines, abstain from a vote. The seemingly reluctant St. Onge endorsed the resolution with a quiet “yes” vote.

According to November 30 City Commission meeting minutes, the anti-ballot resolution was introduced in order to support “State Senator Prusi’s efforts to defend mining in the Upper Peninsula.” In a November 11 news release, endorsed by four other Upper Peninsula politicians, Prusi claimed the MiWater ballot would “BAN any future mining,” and would create “economic devastation for the families that live and work in the Upper Peninsula.” Although the proposed MiWater ballot would act as an amendment to legislation governing only metallic sulfide mining (the ballot would also require similar legislation for uranium mining), Prusi’s claim was invoked by two City commissioners.

Mayor Pro-Tem John DePetro, who introduced the anti-ballot resolution, suggested that the ballot effort was a “guise” that “would affect and stop future mining in the Upper Peninsula the rest of our lives.”

Commissioner Frederick Stonehouse agreed, claiming the ballot would “have a very negative effect on all mining in the Upper Peninsula, be it iron, copper, nickel, even limestone.”

During public comment, building contractor, Jorma Lankinen and Marquette resident, Tony Retaskie used rhetoric similar to that in Senator Prusi’s statement.

“The Michigan water ballot proposal is really an anti-economic, anti-jobs, anti-mining and anti-Upper Peninsula proposal, and it’s disguised under a clean water initiative derived from Grosse Pointe,” said Retaskie.

Retired professor, Jon Saari disagreed, saying that Retaskie’s comments represent “the whole hammer blow of what we’re going to be seeing in this debate over the next year.”

“Our public discourse, these days, is abysmal,” said Saari. “This Michigan water initiative is being presented as anti-UP, anti-UP economy, culture and future, and a trick by a bunch of Grosse Pointe elitists.”

Gene Champagne, spokesperson for Concerned Citizens of Big Bay (CCBB), introduced himself as from “Big Bay up the road, not Big Bay below the bridge, at Grosse Pointe, as some of our officials like to point out in the media.”

Champagne explained that CCBB introduced a resolution in 2003 or 2004 calling for independent hydrology studies.

“That resolution called for a third party, independent hydrology study on the Yellow Dog Plains before any hardrock or sulfide mining takes place,” said Champagne. “The hydrology is not a guise; it’s been at the forefront of this issue since the beginning.”

In 2005, Marquette County Board Chairman Gerald Corkin wrote to express similar concerns to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality:

“The Marquette County Board of Commissioners supports…recent requests for a United States Geological Survey (USGS) Baseline and Hydrologic Survey of the Yellow Dog Plains region. This request has the support of Marquette County residents and local government officials, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, as well as State Senator Michael Prusi.”

The Marquette City Commission unanimously passed a resolution supporting independent hydrology studies and was supported by Marquette County and a number of townships.

In his support for the anti-ballot resolution, Commissioner Stonehouse noted that only three percent of Michigan’s voting population lived in the Upper Peninsula.

“We effectively have no functional voice on politics in this state – we are simply overwhelmed by the numbers,” said Stonehouse.

Commissioner Robert Niemi also took a practical view of the ballot initiative.

“The issue is too complex to do by initiative,” said Niemi. “The future of the mining industry is important to the UP and the vagaries of a political campaign are not the way to decide the question.”

Some comments in support of the resolution claimed disastrous economic consequences if the ballot proposal moved forward.

Amy Clickner, CEO of the Lake Superior Community Partnership (City commissioner and former Cleveland-Cliffs manager of public affairs, Don Ryan, helped form the group), along with some influential building contractors one of the main supporters of Rio Tinto’s Eagle Mine proposal, claimed that a water ballot proposal would threaten all other aspects of Michigan’s economy.

“Once we start this slippery slope, where does it end?” questioned Clickner. “Is the next ballot initiative what we can do in timber, is it what we can do in agriculture, is it what we can do in recreation?”

Jon LaSalle, chairman of Citizens to Protect Michigan Jobs, claimed that, if the proposed ballot were passed, “The economic consequences of all future mining would be horrendous.”

“There’s no proven contamination anywhere in this subject matter,” said LaSalle.

However, according to the US Forest Service, at least ten-thousand miles of rivers in the American West have been destroyed by metallic sulfide mining operations. In September 2008, one of Rio Tinto’s largest shareholders, the Norwegian government, divested and called the company “grossly unethical” for its operations at a controversial mine in West Papua, currently under Indonesian military control. In a statement, Norway’s Council on Ethics said that acid drainage from metallic sulfide mines is “considered one of the most serious mining-related environmental problems across the world.”

Promoted as a “citizen” campaign, the spokesperson for Citizens to Protect Michigan Jobs is Deb Muchmore. For years, Muchmore has been Rio Tinto’s lead spokesperson in efforts to open the proposed Eagle Mine.

LaSalle also said that claims of future uranium mining in Michigan were unfounded.

“Today, earth scientists agree that no one has found a commercially-viable uranium ore body in Michigan,” said LaSalle.

Retired Northern Michigan University chemistry professor, Gail Griffith, disagrees. According to Griffith, since 2004 the price of uranium has dropped from $139 a pound to less than $50 a pound, making uranium operations that may be economically viable in the future not viable today.

“If well water in the Jacobsville Sandstone formation is already contaminated with uranium it seems reasonable to develop stringent rules for uranium mining to protect these waters and to do it now,” said Griffith.

According to Michigan Messenger a joint venture between uranium giant, Cameco, and Bitteroot Resources, has been actively exploring the Upper Peninsula since 2003, spending over $700 thousand on uranium exploration in the first nine months of 2009 alone.  In a report issued to shareholders in July, the company noted that it had “identified several areas which warrant additional exploration.”

Commissioner Stonehouse seemed to agree with Griffith.

“If it only prevented uranium mining I would likely support it and would be the first one to sign the petition,” said Stonehouse. “If the issue were only about mining on the Yellow Dog Plains and its sensitivity to Lake Superior, that’s a different story too.”

Stonehouse said that a number of issues are affecting the Great Lakes that are more significant that metallic sulfide mining and cited his belief that Asian carp “will decimate a seven billion dollar fishing industry.

“From an environmental perspective that is a disaster of biblical proportions,” said Stonehouse.

For additional video from the meeting, please go to YouTube.

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.”

Rio Tinto, a notorious anti-worker company has drawn the ire of union workers around the world and is currently attempting to bust Local 30 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, AFL-CIO, at the company’s large open pit Borax Mine, in California.

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.”

According to Keweenaw Bay Indian Community geologist, Chuck Brumleve, the DEQ’s approval of the Humboldt Project is currently opposed by both the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  Yet, in an interview with WLUC-TV6, the DEQ’s director of the Office of Geological Survey, Hal Fitch, claimed that approval of the Humboldt Mill project “hasn’t been a controversial issue.”

Reading from an EPA statement, Brumleve reported that the agency is “concerned the currently proposed project may have significant adverse impacts on the ecosystem.  We object to the issuance of a permit for this project.”

Brumleve said that the US Fish and Wildlife Service requested “that the MDEQ not issue a permit for the proposed work.”

Brumleve expressed concern if toxic materials enter into the Middle Branch of the Escanaba River, already contaminated by high selenium levels coming from Cliff’s Natural Resources’ Empire and Tilden iron ore mines.

“The Escanaba River watershed is one of the Upper Peninsula’s major watersheds,” said Brumleve.  Any discharge “will ultimately affect the Escanaba River and discharge into Lake Michigan.  The Escanaba River already has a number of fish advisories.”

At a previous Humboldt Mill hearing, in February, Ely Township resident and miner, Stephen Johnson, said that he lives along the Escanaba River and has seen fish die off.

“Since the thirty years I’ve lived here I’ve seen the Middle Branch of the Escanaba deteriorate as a quality watershed,” Johnson said.  “We used to have brook trout galore in it some thirty years ago and I’m not aware of anybody catching a brook trout down by my residency in the last fifteen years.”

Marquette County Commissioner, Deb Pellow, read a statement in support of Rio Tinto’s milling plans, saying that the “reuse of the abandoned industrial site is an outstanding opportunity for environmental clean-up with the cost borne by Kennecott.”

“At the end of the mine’s life the site and surrounding area will have to be reclaimed to establish a self-sustaining ecosystem that does not need ongoing care.” [to view Pellow's public comment, see video below]

Indirectly countering Pellow, Brumleve said that while “we’re all in favor of” reusing old industrial sites, “instead of creating news ones,” Rio Tinto’s application makes clear, in at least two sections, that they are not required to leave the site cleaner than it currently is, nor do they intend to do so.

Quoting from Rio Tinto’s application, Brumleve said “the final land use of the reclaimed area of the Humboldt Mill site will remain as restricted industrial uses consistent with [Rio Tinto's] acquisition of the site.”

“They apparently do not intend to remediate these conditions,” said Brumleve.

Cynthia Pryor, Big Bay resident and former executive director of the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, outlined other deficiencies.  Pryor said that contingency plans required under Michigan law for a ‘spill prevention control plan’, ‘pollution incident prevention plan’ and monitoring of surface water sediment and fish tissue, as well as designs for “liners, covers, leachate collection systems [and] tanks” were not included in the application.

“Those designs should have been a part of the application,” said Pryor.  “In order to demonstrate that you’re going to be capable of doing something, you should have the design available for people to look at, for you to evaluate and for us to comment on.”

Pryor said the DEQ failed to request additional information from the company regarding designs for a water treatment plant, as well as a containment wall to prevent toxic tailing waste from entering into area wetlands and the Middle Branch of the Escanaba River.

“If it is not done, if it is not there, then your job is not done and neither is theirs,” said Pryor.  “It is the law. . . the application, therefore, is not complete.”

The DEQ’s Hal Fitch maintained that Rio Tinto has met all requirements.

“We’ve looked at it, at every aspect of it,” Fitch said.  “The requirements, the statute, and our rules and we feel that it meets those requirements and with those revisions and provisions Kennecott has provided us.”

Richmond Township supervisor William Luetzow joined supervisors in Humboldt, Republic and Michigamme townships in offering “one hundred percent” support of Rio Tinto’s proposed milling facility.  Luetzow, likely among the minority of American citizens that trust politicians, said that he resented public comments suggesting that Michigan politicians were corrupt and working on behalf of Rio Tinto’s interests.

“It was brought up twice here that politicians are corrupt or they’re part of this Kennecott thing.  I truly don’t understand that because politicians are voted by the people, for the people,” said Luetzow.

Some Rio Tinto supporters attacked local opponents as “anti-mining” and opposed to jobs.  James Sodergren claimed that, “many of the folks who make up the anti-mining group are not residents.  I’m certain that they have spent millions and continue to spend more in their effort to stop mining in the UP” and Deerton resident, John Hongisto, claimed that Rio Tinto opponents were “telling lies about mining and Kennecott.” [see video below]

Later public comments countered the claim that Rio Tinto opponents were opposed to mining or jobs.  Big Bay resident and schoolteacher, Gene Champagne, said, “You hear a lot of talk about jobs tonight.  Yes, we need jobs in this area.  Who in their right mind is against jobs?”

Champagne said that he does not belong to an environmental group and that Rio Tinto’s own actions led him to not trust their mining plans.

“In the time that I’ve been opposing I’ve never heard one person in the opposition, in so-called environmental groups, say one thing about being anti-mine or anti-jobs,” said Champagne.

Champagne called the approval process a “farce” and said that, while “we need the jobs here, nowhere in the law does it say that it has to provide jobs to get a permit.”

“The law says it does have to protect the safety of the workers and the safety of our environment,” said Champagne.  “The DEQ needs to follow the law.”

A couple comments in support of reopening the Humboldt Mill were seemingly heartfelt and compelling, especially considering that Michigan currently has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

Jay Mathews, with the local carpenters and millwrights union, said that his family has a long history of working in the mines and construction.

“It’s been our heritage for four or five generations,” said Mathews.  “All of my family has been supported by mines or by the jobs that came around with the mines.”

Mathews said that his sister worked for the Republic school system and lost her job when Cleveland Cliff’s eponymous mine closed.

“When they closed the schools, she was out of a job, said Mathews.  So it’s not just the mine workers that work, it’s everybody around.  It’s a big picture that we need now, as far as the economy goes.”

For other local coverage, read Johanna Boyle’s article, at the Marquette Mining Journal.

To view documents related to the proposed Humboldt Mill project, or to comment on the project by 5pm, Tuesday, December 29, 2009, visit the Michigan DEQ’s Web site.

Bob and Pat Tammen Canoe on Birch Lake; Photo courtesy Lori Andresen

On November 19, the White Iron Chain of Lakes Association (WICOLA) outlined plans before the Lake County Board for an extensive water testing effort of the Kawishiwi River watershed in order to locate pollution sources and prevent future pollution.  The project would be funded with $500,000 from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and could possibly attract matching funds.

WICOLA, which has not taken a stance on the metallic sulfide mining controversy, has been conducting water testing for years.  The $500,000 investment in remote Lake County would be much more comprehensive than previous efforts.

Franconia Minerals Exploration Barge on Birch Lake; Photo courtesy Lori Andresen

Although companies actively pursuing projects in northeastern Minnesota between the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Lake Superior claim that future mining operations would be “sustainable” and have few, if any negative affects on the surrounding environment, Duluth Metals seems concerned with an extensive testing regime that would establish baseline water conditions, allowing future pollution to be readily detected.  Duluth Metals and Franconia Minerals are both conducting extensive exploration at Birch Lake, which feeds into the White Iron Chain of Lakes and, ultimately, the Boundary Waters and Hudson’s Bay.  Franconia is exploring directly underneath Birch Lake.

Claiming to represent the mining industry, David Oliver, project manager for Duluth Metal’s Nokomis Project, expressed opposition to the proposal and warned WICOLA that they should only be affiliated with metallic sulfide mine supporters.

“The reputation you have is not based on loose associations or casual associations, it comes from newsletters written by Brad Sagen, Carla Arneson, Bob Tammen and we even have a new film star here tonight, Steve (Koschak) in a new anti-mining film,” said Oliver.

Bob Tammen is a retired iron worker from the Minnesota Iron Range and has worked in other area iron mines.  Steve Koschak owns a successful family resort on the edge of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

A paranoid Oliver claimed that “half of this crowd isn’t part of WICOLA… which leads me to believe the crew tonight was hand-picked. . . You have members who have written in their own newsletters very shortly after the last meeting… that they’re going to form a watershed plan to stop whatever they’re against.”

Duluth Metals has located what is called the Nokomis Project, in northeastern Minnesota.  The company was recently nominated by the Mining Journal for its success in locating the deposit, considered to be possibly one of the world’s largest copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and gold deposits.

Warning sign outside Cameco's Crow Butte uranium mine, in Nebraska; Photo courtesy of the Lakota Media Project of Owe Aku

“technically aniquated, sloppy and equivalent to high school level work,” Native Americans insist that it violates their internationally-recognized treaty rights, and 10,000 citizens in this sparsely-populated area signed a petition opposing it.  Yet, citizens of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula would be hard-pressed to name a single county or state elected official opposed to Rio Tinto’s proposed metallic sulfide Eagle Mine, in northern Marquette County.

Even the prospect of uranium mining, well known for its toxic and radioactive legacy in areas not far from Michigan, in Ontario and Nebraska, are welcomed with open arms by eager officials.  Last year, the Gogebic County Commissioner expressed full support of uranium exploration and mining activities on public land.

A more informed understanding of uranium mining is taking place thirteen-hundred miles from Marquette County.  In Colorado, elected officials in a number of cities and towns are passing resolutions against a proposed in situ uranium mine that many fear could contaminate their water supply.

Colorado is also looking to pass rules that would implement a law requiring in situ uranium mines to return groundwater at the site to pre-mine quality.  To further protect public health and water, the law would require mining companies to cite at least five examples of similar uranium mines that did not harm groundwater.

The study shows that, out of a little over 600 regulated facilities in Michigan, nearly 60% have violated the Clean Water Act.  More disturbingly, only 11% of all known violations met with any kind of enforcement action from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) or other agencies charged with enforcement.

Minnesota doesn’t fare much better, with enforcement of only 12% of all violations, while Wisconsin has enforced 33% of its violations.

Some results of the Time’s study are displayed in an easy-to-use format that allows viewers to locate statistics on Clean Water Act violations and lack of enforcement, by state, as well as find Clean Water Act violators in each state.

In the Michigan county where a metallic sulfide mine, proposed by

Cliff's Natural Resources' Tilden Mine, in Marquette County; Photo courtesy Michigan State University

Kennecott/Rio Tinto, has been approved by the MDEQ, Clean Water Act violators include A. Lindberg & Sons, which has been hired by Rio Tinto to construct a road to haul ore to a proposed milling facility; Cliffs Natural Resources’ Tilden iron ore mine; the Ironwood Oil Company and Shopko, in Marquette, in addition to both of the community’s coal-fired power plants; as well as both Marquette and Richmond Township’s wastewater treatment plants.

According to the Times the Marquette Wastewater Treatment plant “has been out of regulatory compliance 11 of the past 12 quarters,” and has never faced enforcement for violations of the Clean Water Act, while Cliff’s Tilden Mine, last punished for violating the Clean Water Act in 2007, has violated in “8 of the past 12 quarters.”  According to the Times, both of Marquette’s power plants, while shown to be consistent violators, have never been enforced for failing to follow federal law.

On Minnesota’s Iron Range, iron miners are shown to be consistent polluters, alongside power plants.  The Northshore Mining Co./Cliffs MnMinerals Co. , in Babbitt, is shown to have violated the Clean Water Act during the entire duration of the study, while the Cliffs Erie facility, near Lake Superior, has been shown to be a consistent violator.

The information came as the result of an extensive survey of water law violations and widespread lack of enforcement that utilized hundreds of thousands of documents obtained through open records requests with every single state and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  With the information, the Times created

Steven Chester, Michigan DEQ Director; Photo courtesy State of Michigan

a national water pollution database “that is more comprehensive than those monitored by states or the E.P.A.”

The Time’s study shows that, while “powerful industries,” such as mining, have helped to “undermine effective regulation,” increased workloads and a lack of funding has contributed to many state’s lack of enforcement.

In September 2008, MDEQ Director Steven Chester acknowledged that his agency “simply [doesn't] have the kind of funding we need to adequately implement the laws we’re required to implement.”

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. Our waters are not only part of our heritage, but a key part of creating and protecting thousands of jobs across Northwest Michigan and a cornerstone of Michigan’s tourism industry.”

According to an article at Michigan Messenger, the proposed legislation would also “restore citizen standing under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act so that all citizens can sue to stop environmental damage.”

In a 2007 case, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation v. Nestle, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against a state law that affords citizens legal standing to sue over environmental threats.  Scripps’ bill intends to reaffirm every citizen’s right to protect public water.

“This legislation will erase any doubt that the waters of Michigan belong to the citizens of Michigan,” Scripps said, “and that Michigan citizens must continue to have a say in protecting this resource.”

“Our state relies on healthy waters to sustain jobs in our three largest industries,” Scripps said.

“We need to protect these jobs as we work to pull Michigan out of this economic slump. But this plan is about more than that. The Great Lakes are part of what makes us who we are here in Michigan. They’re a defining part of our state – Michigan’s crown jewels – and that’s a history and legacy we must fight to preserve.”

In an interview with the Marquette Mining Journal, Steve Casey, an official with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Bureau said, “This is the first time we’ve had a significant issue with selenium in Michigan.”

However, according to DEQ records, elevated selenium levels are also found near the old Humboldt Mine, in western Marquette County.  Kennecott-Rio Tinto is attempting to use the area to process metallic sulfide ore from the proposed Eagle Project Mine.

Selenium, like mercury, can bioaccumulate up the food chain, creating potential public health problems when people ingest contaminated fish or other animals.

Casey says that water in a hypothetical new drinking water well at the site shouldn’t be affected by the discharges and wouldn’ t be likely to exceed drinking water standards for selenium.

“Cliffs has been working with DEQ to identify what the potential source of this element is,” Cliffs spokesman Dale Hemmila said. “Right now there is no source identified.  We believe additional studies have to be done.”

Hemmila says that there is “no known known impact on the drinking water.”

The DEQ has set selenium limits on process wastewater discharge from the Empire Mine that are due to take effect in December 2011.

Cliffs maintains other iron ore mines, as well as coal operations elsewhere in North America and abroad.

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.”

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.

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

“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" event

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.

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.

The AGM began with very long introductory presentations by Paul Skinner, the Chair, and Chief Executive Tom Albanese. These presentations are available on the company’s website at http://www.riotinto.com/investors 2008_annual_general_meetings.asp.

One shareholder then asked about the Panguna mine in Bougainville, referring to information contained in the London Mining Network leaflet which he had been given on the way in to the meeting. The mine had been closed down during a civil war triggered by massive pollution caused by the Rio Tinto-controlled operation. Company Chair Paul Skinner said that the mine had “not been active because of the problems evident in the region, which made it impossible to operate”. The company would “do everything practical”. Its “general stance is one that would seek positive and proactive engagement in the communities”.

Another shareholder, referring to the same leaflet, asked whether there was any substance to the concerns outlined. Were the concerns of local communities justified? Paul Skinner said that any concern of a local community is justified and we must listen to them. He said he was confident that company CEO Tom Albanese and the team do a good job on these issues. “There will always be isolated cases where people object to the progress of economic activity. I am not aware of where we are flying in the face of opposition.” There was a follow-up question about the importance of water, and Paul Skinner agreed that we all have to manage water better.

Marcelo Giraud, representing the Mendoza Popular Assembly in Argentina, asked about the Rio Colorado potash project. He said: “I come from Mendoza, Argentina. In the south of this province is located the Río Colorado Potash project, which would require an investment of 900 million dollars. How do you explain the fact that the Annual Report 2007 says nothing about the delays to begin the construction of that mine, and the reasons for that? The first production was expected for 2009, but now you say 2011. Despite the fact that the new governor of Mendoza is pro-mining, the environmental authority will probably not give a permit for the project, because the application is incomplete, has too many scientific and technical errors, and lack of co-ordination. It presents no alternatives, as the law requires, to a massive salt deposit of 100 million tons that the company intends to leave on the surface and which could pollute the nearby Colorado River, used downstream for irrigation and drinking water. There are no contingency plans in the project, and I was astonished when reading, for example, that the emission of 838,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year would produce a ‘local’ greenhouse effect, ‘confined to the areas associated to the project’, when everybody knows it is global. This project is not only a concern for Mendoza, but for the governments of four other provinces as well, and the Ombudsman of Argentina has begun a legal procedure.”

Marcelo began to speak about the project’s enormous use of natural gas in the context of climate change and annual winter gas supply restrictions in Argentina, but Paul Skinner cut him off.

Paul Skinner replied that it had not been brought forward for investment for a number of reasons including a shortage of energy. He was confident that the company could “satisfactorily answer the concerns of local people” but there were ”a number of uncertainties”. The project ”needs a lot of energy”. He thanked Marcelo for coming so far and invited him to meet the director responsible for the project after the AGM to discuss technical aspects.

An MP from Quebec next asked a question about Alcan. Paul Skinner said that Rio Tinto is “committed to maintaining a strong economic commitment to the region”. A second MP from Quebec asked about cheap energy and former Alcan projects. He said that the people of Quebec want a fair return for Rio Tinto’s use of cheap energy. He asked for assurances on down-sizing. Paul Skinner replied that Rio Tinto could not give any guarantees, but would not abandon an asset unless they had looked at all the alternatives. (This seemed a little different from his introductory address, where all the talk was of consolidation into a smaller number of world class deposits.)

When asked whether the five principal shareholders, including Barclays, were at the meeting, Paul Skinner said: “They are here in my pocket, so to speak”.

There was a question about uranium, which was seen as having a good future, with Rossing and ERA having world class deposits.

Susan LaFernier, representing the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the USA, introduced herself and said, “I too have travelled a long way and my Tribe and I thank you for the opportunity to ask these questions regarding the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company’s proposed nickel and copper sulphide mine to be located in the Yellow Dog Plains, in Marquette….in the Upper Peninsula, in the United States.”

Paul Skinner said, “I must ask you to frame this in terms of one question, given the number of others who want to ask questions.”

Susan LaFernier replied that she had many difficult questions and Paul Skinner asked her to put the most important one.

Roger Moody, of Partizans, called out, “Oh, give a bit of latitude, she has come a long way!” Paul Skinner said he was aware of that. Roger Moody pointed out that Paul Skinner had already allowed some other shareholders to ask three questions each.

Gabriel Caplett, of the Yellow Dog Summer campaign group in Michigan, called out that Susan LaFernier was a national representative.

Susan LaFernier continued: “I think these questions are very pertinent for you to hear and to answer. How will you protect and guarantee our treaty rights with the United States to hunt, fish and gather on this land? How will you protect our great Lake Superior, where the rivers flow, and how will you protect our Migi zii wa sin, Eagle Rock, which is a sacred place where traditional ceremonies take place and which will be blasted through and to which we will be denied access for thirty-four years? It will probably be destroyed, totally.

“I do agree with the comment in the quote, in your March 2008 Rio Tinto review booklet: ‘locals can continue to use the area for recreation and, after it is exhausted, nothing will remain on the surface.’ I’d like you please to consider that Kennecott withdraw any plans to mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan because of the many reasons that could be stated here today. I couldn’t go into many. Finally, if metallic sulphide mining is allowed to proceed on this land, not only will our territorial sovereignty be jeopardized, but also our survival as a people. I pray that our ancestors’ vision and our determination will continue to be honoured, and I pray that you, too, will protect our Great Lakes and our Mother Earth.”

Paul Skinner thanked Susan for her comments and questions and for coming so far to be at the AGM. He said that company wanted to hear and recognize the impacts on local communities. He asked Tom Albanese to respond to the generality of Susan’s comments and invited Susan to speak afterwards to the responsible executive, Brett Clayton.

Tom Albanese said that he was very proud not only of what the company was doing on the site but of the whole process. He said that the State of Michigan has some of the most stringent environmental regulations in the world. The company is very comfortable working with that. He said that the company had a very good dialogue with the local community and recognizes that, although the core community, in the company’s experience, was in favour of the project, there is a small group opposing it. He said that the site, itself, is private land. It has been clear-cut over the decades. He said he had been pleased that the company had improved many local logging roads. He said he was very, very, very confident that the team was doing this work with utmost respect for the environmental protection of the area. He added that the Flambeau copper mine, in nearby Wisconsin, had now become a park, and said that this was a good testimony to what the company could do in sensitive environments.

Gabriel Caplett, of the Yellow Dog Summer campaign group, said that he was from the same area as Susan LaFernier, the vice-president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. He went on:

“Rio Tinto has multiple projects planned for our water-rich area. These projects would affect the Great Lakes, which contain roughly one-fourth of the world’s fresh water. Other companies are planning metallic minerals projects, as well as uranium operations, and are encouraged by weak new mining laws that were heavily influenced by Rio Tinto’s agenda. Mr Albanese, I would counter your statement that we have the most stringent laws in the world. Our neighbour, Wisconsin, has laws that are much more stringent, that have, up to now, kept your company out of operations in that State for a decade. In Rio Tinto’s Review, on page 6 of the March 2008 Review, the Eagle Project manager, Jon Cherry, maintains that the Flambeau Mine operated for five years without a single environmental incident. Later, I will present you a book that contains State documentation, Kennecott/Rio Tinto documentation and Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife documentation that proves otherwise. Mr Cherry also states, in the Review, that ‘we’ve just received a Certificate of Completion, which means that we’ve fulfilled all our obligations.’ The company has not received a Certificate of Completion for the actual mine site, which is thirty-two acres. The company has planted grass on the site, but has not received a certificate for the actual mine, even though it states so in the March Review.

“My question concerns Rio Tinto and Kennecott’s accountability to communities and lack of forthrightness. This, as I’ve demonstrated, has happened with the Flambeau Mine. It is also currently happening, in Utah, with Kennecott’s copper operations. Since 1988, the company has covered up the potential for a deadly tailings disaster at its impoundment, outside of Magna, Utah. It was only recently, when the Salt Lake Tribune published an expose, last month, that Kennecott/Rio Tinto has come forth with more information. In 1992, Rio Tinto conducted a risk assessment, tallying the legal value of people’s lives that would be affected by the potential spill, and Rio Tinto decided against fully containing this impoundment and, rather, to proceed with business as usual. In 1991, the company began purchasing some homes in the affected area. In 1995, even under new management the company began selling these homes to unsuspecting buyers.….”

Paul Skinner tried to cut Gabriel off, asking him to sit down and let Tom Albanese respond to the points he had made. Gabriel said he was about to ask his question, and Roger Moody called on the Chair to allow him to do so.

Gabriel Caplett said that if Mr Cherry were not present, he would like to put his question to Mr Albanese. He said: “I’m curious why the project manager continues lying to our community and why the project manager, in the Review, has lied to the company’s own shareholders. And I’m wondering if Rio Tinto feels that it can ever get full community support from any of its projects if it continues to lie to the communities and its shareholders.”

Paul Skinner said that he thought this sufficient coverage of some important issues. Gabriel Caplett responded that he would wait to see whether the response was sufficient.

Paul Skinner said that Tom Albanese could also talk about the tailings containment at Kennecott Utah Copper, because he was, for a period of time, “instrumental in setting up a good regime for management of those tailings.”

Tom Albanese said that he had covered a number of the points on the Eagle Mine and could talk further with Gabriel after the meeting. He went on: “Regarding your points on Kennecott Utah Copper – I could also personalize that one because I was responsible, in 1998, for the task force that looked at the seismic stability of the impoundment. As a matter of fact, the report I wrote is on the Salt Lake Tribune website, as we speak. After considerable technical study, and community studies, and surveys recognizing that Utah, like many other parts of the US, were undertaking earthquake regulations and preparedness regulations during the course of the 1990s, basically, we began to plan around, as referred to as an MCE, or Maximum Credible Event – in the case of Utah, a once every 1,300-year earthquake – and we had to ensure ourselves that we could protect life and limb, in the event of a once every 1,300-year event. We went through a long series of technical efforts, including dewatering, including community engagement, including warning signs and also some engineered berms that, basically, addressed all of the worst case scenarios in a once every 1,300-year event. I believe we did a very good job and I think that, as a result as of now, we’re agreed with the community to conduct an independent survey in an MCE-type of event. And we’ll pay for that independent survey.”

Gabriel Caplett pointed out that Tom Albanese had not answered his questions on the “Review.” He was ignored by the Chair.

There was a question about what would happen to the pension scheme if a merger takes place and there was criticism of the tactics Rio Tinto has used in fending off BHPBilliton.

Carmel Budiardjo of TAPOL, the human rights campaign for Indonesia, then asked about West Papua. She said:

“Rio Tinto has been involved in the Freeport copper-and-gold mine in West Papua since May 1995 which, thanks to the enormous profits it earns from the mine, is now Indonesia’s largest source of taxes and revenues. Rio Tinto won the right to 40 per cent of earnings from the company since December 1994, while the Grasberg mine reportedly contributed $159 million to Rio Tinto’s earnings in 2006.

“A 2006 report from Indonesia’s leading environmental agency, WALHI, strongly criticised Freeport for seriously polluting the nearby river system in breach of regulatory water quality standards, discharging acid rock drainage and failing to establish mandatory monitoring points.

“The Mimika Statistics Agency recently reported that 28,000 of the 45,000 families in the vicinity of the mine are living below the poverty line and lack access to basic health care. It said: ‘Mimika is one of the biggest mining areas in the world but its people are still categorised as poor.’

“HIV/AIDS is widespread in the area, largely because of the presence of workers at the mine. Papua now has the highest incidence of the disease in Indonesia.

“What has Rio Tinto done to 1) address the serious problem of pollution affecting local rivers and water sources, and 2) improve medical services to deal with grave health problems afflicting local communities?”

Paul Skinner started by saying that Rio Tinto is only a shareholder. There were shouts from shareholders that the Grasberg mine was in fact a Joint Venture. Paul Skinner said that the company would do all it could to make it as good a project as possible. (This appeared to some shareholders to be a retreat from much stronger statements that the company had made at previous AGMs about its respect for ecosystems and human rights in the area.) Tom Albanese asserted that in areas of high rainfall and seismic activity river deposition with re-vegetation is the best technology. He pointed out how successful it had been as there was now more agriculture in the area thanks to re-vegetation in the tailings deposition area. (He did not make the obvious observation that this followed the catastrophic collapse of agriculture as a result of the use of riverine tailings disposal in the first place.) Roger Moody interjected that the company’s revegetation programme was not very effective. Paul Skinner said that Freeport-Rio Tinto was the biggest taxpayer in Indonesia but that it could not control what happens to the tax money paid. He said that 1% of the company’s revenues from the mine – $296 million – had gone to a local community fund and that the company had done good work on malaria and HIV prevention.

West Papuan leader Benny Wenda told the meeting:

“My name is Benny Wenda.

I am a West Papua Independence Leader and Chair of the Koteka Tribal Assembly.

I am from the area where your Company has its mine.

You just care about your Company and your Business.

You only want our Cooper and our Gold.

You never care about us Papuans as Human Beings just like you.

Rio Tinto and Freeport Mac Moran just bring disaster and death in West Papua.

You destroy our Sacred Mountain.

You filled our rivers with rubbish.

You give millions of dollars to the Indonesian Military.

These are the people who are killing, raping and torturing us.You are dealing with a robber – Indonesia – who has stolen our Land.

When will you stop thinking only about money and what you can take for yourself from my Country?

When will you start thinking of us West Papuans as Human Beings?

We are Human Beings just like you!”

Paul Skinner said, “The picture you’ve presented is some way from the reality I’ve seen.” he said that the mine creates considerable value for Indonesia. Failing to comment on the West Papuan people’s rejection of Indonesian control over their land, he said, that the company is not in a position to ensure that money from the mine flows to the local community. “Is it a perfect situation?” he asked. “No it’s not,” he replied. “Does it require further attention – yes it does.”

Andy Whitmore of Partizans said:

“In your annual review you state, with regard to your share in the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, that the company ‘will not support the development unless it is conducted in a way that protects fish, wildlife and the environment’.

”However, Rio Tinto’s partner in the project, Northern Dynasty, has already admitted in its annual report that ‘unexpected environmental damage from spills, accidents and severe acts of nature, such as earthquakes, are risks which … could mean the total loss of shareholders’ equity.’

”Local communities are very aware of the potential problems with the proposed project. Over 40 local community organisations, native tribes and commercial fishing groups have passed resolutions in opposition to the mine. You will be aware that local groups are trying to block the project through recourse to legislation on ‘clean water’.

”Therefore will the company commit to meet with as many of the groups as possible to listen to, and take on board, their concerns?”

Tom Albanese responded that Rio Tinto only had a 10% stake in the project. He made a vague commitment to listen to groups. He had already been in public meetings and made on-the-record statements that he thought it should be a deeper mine with more a limited foot-print. Andy Whitmore asked if that was a commitment to meet opposition groups and Tom Albanese said that there would be a long consultation on this. He said that the company had “already met with many NGOs who have expressed concerns in Alaska and Washington DC”.

Owen Espley of Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said:

“We have been concerned for some time with the ilmenite mine in Port Dauphin in Madagascar. In the annual report, on page one, you make the promise to “work as closely as possible with host countries and communities”. On page 34 you claim: “Extensive engagement and consultation with the Government of Madagascar and local people and leaders has taken place over many years”. However, just last week, a community leader told an independent researcher – I quote a translation of their words: ‘Our main concern is the lack of communication with the mining company because we don’t know the reality of the situation.’ Clearly your efforts at communication have so far failed to match your promise. Communication around Port Dauphin has not allowed communities to form their own view independently and without fear. We believe that there needs to be an independent stakeholder forum set up, including communities near the mine, which would improve transparency and provide an opportunity for individuals to safely voice their concerns. Will you honour your promise around communication with local communities and allow such a forum to be set up and take measures to ensure that Rio Tinto employees do not interfere with its independent functioning?”

Paul Skinner started by asking if Owen had been to the project, which Owen had not, and then said he had been two or three times. He said that the project provides a “completely transformational opportunity for a very poor part of the world”. He said that ”however well you do, you will never reach a point of full communication” and that it would be unwise to commit to anything without talking to the local management. He finished by rather patronisingly saying, “Try to get there.”

There were other questions, but the Chair closed off the general questions without too much objection because of the time. The meeting moved on to questions on the election of directors.

Albert Beale, of Partizans, started by pointing out the ridiculous lack of diversity in the board.

Geoff Nettleton, of Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links, asked of one of the new Canadian directors from Alcan, Yves Fortier, who had government experience, what his position was on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, given the Canadian government’s blocking of it. Paul Skinner responded how good Rio Tinto’s relationship with Canadian aboriginal people was and that the rights of aboriginal people in Canada are well respected. There was an argument about whether Geoff could ask the director directly, or talk about it later (after the vote). In the end we moved on to the next director, Paul Tellier, who had similar experience, which set the whole discussion off again. Eventually Yves Fortier was allowed to respond, and said it was a controversial issue in Canada and was not an anti-aboriginal stance, as it had to do with the constitution. Canada was probably more progressive in its treatment of aboriginal people than this implied, he said, but he personally was not involved in it. Paul Tellier agreed, and said he was head of department of Aboriginal Affairs and his record speaks for itself.

On the election of Tom Albanese, Cynthia Prior, from environment group Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve in Michigan, criticized his poor response on issues of concern in Michigan and urged him to think about them. She said he was woefully misinformed and indicated that he needed to visit the area again and meet with community without Jon Cherry. Gabriel Caplett urged people to vote against him because of his role in the potentially deadly tailings disaster.

On the election of Vivienne Cox, who is an executive vice president of BP, Richard Samuelson of Free West Papua Campaign raised issues to do with BP in West Papua. Vivienne Cox said she was not directly involved but understood the concerns.

On the appointment of auditors, there was a debate about increased fees, involving the audit of Alcoa. Albert Beale of Partizans asked how long PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP had been sole auditors. Paul Skinner noted that there is a major concentration of audit firms in size and not much choice in finding non-conflicted auditors. Albert pointed out how in the introduction there had been a basic error in showing a straight line for compound interest growth promised. The response was that any forward looking statement must be validated. Albert asked whether the people doing the validation had ‘O’ level maths (a basic British secondary school qualification).

After the meeting, members of the Eagle coalition from Michigan were able to meet privately with Tom Albanese, to whom Cynthia Pryor presented group resolutions and the 10,000, 550 Road, Big Bay and on-line petitions with signatures. Gabriel Caplett presented the Roscoe Churchill and Laura Furtman book on Flambeau, The Buzzards Have Landed. They also met with Brett Clayton, Chief Executive of Copper and Diamonds and Jon Cherry’s boss. They clearly indicated to him the lack of transparency; the lack of community involvement; the lack of technical expertise/submission in the applications; and the lack of best management practices on the plains involving road crossings, mineral well drilling and waste management; and the resolve of the community opposed to the mine. He indicated that he would commit to coming to the region to meet with the opposition and Cynthia said no – to meet with the affected communities. Cynthia also said to him that he needed to discuss Paul Skinner’s inappropriate behaviour to Susan LaFernier and their offence at his actions. Fran Whitman, from Michigan, was unable to be recognized during public comment at the AGM, but was able to pass on to him the strength and resolve of the community who opposed the Eagle mine and to alert him that the community would not just sit down and accept it. Brett Clayton told Fran Whitman and Susan LaFernier that a survey had been conducted and the majority of the people want the mine. Susan asked him if the public received the results and she requested a copy. He said he would look into it.