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 »
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 »
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.
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.
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 »
Twenty-nine people made it to Harlow Park, in Marquette, on a cold Valentine’s Day evening, last week, to show their appreciation for the Yellow Dog Plains and express dissatisfaction with the Michigan Department of Natural Resource’s (DNR) approval of Kennecott’s surface land use lease and mining reclamation plan. Simultaneous vigils were held in Big Bay and on Eagle Rock, on the Plains. The event was organized by Yellow Dog Summer and sponsored by Keepers of the Water, Northwoods Wilderness Recovery and Save the Wild UP. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
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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