Kristen 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.
Michigan DEQ-Turned Rio Tinto Employee Talks About Clean Water
January 28, 2011
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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 »
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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 »
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Marquette County Approves Public Portion of Rio Tinto’s Haul Road for Proposed Eagle Mine
October 20, 2009
Sticker distributed before meeting by Rio Tinto's Senior Advisor for Government and Community Relations, Chantae Lessard
West Ishpeming, Michigan - Last week Rio Tinto’s head spokesperson for the proposed Eagle Mine, Deb Muchmore, informed AP that she is the new spokeswoman for a “citizen” campaign: Citizens to Protect Michigan Jobs. Today’s public meeting regarding Rio Tinto’s proposed haul road, for the mine, featured public comment from a number of current and potential Rio Tinto employees, many sporting pro-road stickers passed out by Chantae Lessard, Senior Advisor for Government and Community Relations for Rio Tinto.
The organizing effort paid off for the company with a large turnout in support of the project Read the rest of this entry »
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Protect the Earth 2009: Part 2, Walk to Eagle Rock
August 8, 2009by Michelle Bourdieu
Marquette County, Michigan - The Walk to Eagle Rock, a sacred Native American site on the Yellow Dog Plains, on Sunday, Aug.2, 2009, was a
Over 175 people walk to Eagle Rock, on the Yellow Dog Plains; Photo courtesy Michele Bourdieu
community event, bringing together people of at least three, if not more, generations — Native and non-Native — from Michigan, neighboring Great Lakes states and even from the far West.
To read the rest of this article, by Michele Bourdieu, please visit Keweenaw Now.
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Protect the Earth 2009: Part 1
August 5, 2009by Michele Bourdieu
Marquette, Michigan — Last weekend, Aug. 1-2, “Protect the Earth 2009,” the second annual Great Lakes Community Gathering of people opposed to metallic sulfide and uranium mining in the
Utah activist, Tim DeChristopher, presents at Northern Michigan University on August 1
Upper Peninsula and nearby Great Lakes states, offered workshops with expert speakers; musical entertainment; Native American dance, drumming and spiritual ceremonies; and a two-mile walk to Eagle Rock. This Native American sacred site is a proposed target of the “Eagle” Project, Kennecott-Rio Tinto’s potential metallic sulfide mine on the Yellow Dog Plains near Marquette.
For the complete article by Michele Bourdieu, please visit Keweenaw Now.
See below for an excellent speech given by Susan LaFernier, Vice Chair of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, at Eagle Rock on August 2.
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Feds: Coaster Brook Trout Not Endangered
May 18, 2009by Gabriel Caplett
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has declined a petition requesting that the rare coaster brook trout be listed on the federal endangered species list. The decision is in response to a petition, filed in 2006 by the Sierra Club and the privately-owned Huron Mountain Club, seeking federal protection of the trout in an effort to thwart mining giant, Rio Tinto’s (parent company of Kennecott Minerals) plans to open a metallic sulfide mine near coaster habitat, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Read the rest of this entry »
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Coaster Brook Trout Decision Delayed
December 9, 2008by Gabriel Caplett
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is postponing a decision on the listing of the coaster brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) as endangered, under the federal Endangered Species Act. The agency is expecting to reach a final decision by April 15, 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
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Marquette County Adopts “Hazard Mitigation Plan”
January 27, 2008by Gabriel Caplett
The Marquette County Resource Management/Development Department completed a “Hazard Mitigation Plan” for the Marquette County Sheriff’s Department, Emergency Management Division. The plan, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), outlines areas of concern to local and regional law enforcement.
The comprehensiveness of the plan is debatable as it lacks any published citations to support its numerous claims. Perhaps one of the more misplaced and wild claims is that “Terrorism and Sabotage…” represent a significant risk to the County. The plan also lacks consideration of metallic sulfide and uranium mining as potential risks to groundwater supplies and public health in the area. Read the rest of this entry »
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Coaster Brook Trout Update
April 2, 2007by Gabriel Caplett
Metallic sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains threatens the last remaining naturally reproducing population of the potamodromous Coaster Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) on the southern shore of Lake Superior. Because the trout is not located within the boundaries of the actual mine site, Kennecott Mineral’s Environmental Impact Assessment makes no mention of the trout that its operations would invariably impact.[1]
On April 10, 2007, Patrick Kochanny, Chairman of Michigan Trout Unlimited (MCTU) issued a press release stating that “Trout Unlimited and the Michigan Council strongly oppose this project, and believe that it is in the best interest of the State of Michigan and the Salmon Trout River to deny Kennecott’s application at this time.”[2
Kochanny continued: “We are seriously concerned that [the DEQ’s] analysis and review of the permit application may not have been conducted properly.” Read the rest of this entry »
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