Since first announcing plans for its nickel-copper Eagle Project mine, Kennecott Minerals – a subsidiary of London-based Rio Tinto – and the State of Michigan have tried to portray the mine as “a done deal.” At each step in the approval process, new information has been presented to the public, thus breaking up the full effects of Kennecott’s mining plans into smaller, presumably easier to digest, segments.
At the same time, science not conducive to an honest approval of Kennecott’s plans has been suppressed while public comment has been nearly entirely disregarded. The Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Deputy Director, Skip Pruss, has gone so far as to refer to public comment as “chaff.”
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) treaty rights with the US government have been equally disregarded, as well as KBIC’s concerns with blasting into and fencing-off Eagle Rock, a culturally sensitive and sacred rock outcropping on the Yellow Dog Plains.
State legislators and officials have assisted Kennecott by presenting approval of their mine as simply a legal and legislative process, disregarding the power of ordinary citizens to effectively stop development of an unpopular mining plan. Read the rest of this entry »
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