Category Archives: Legal

Woodland Road Hearing: Permit Analysis

To help prepare yourself to attend the MDEQ’s public hearing for Kennecott’s proposed 22-mile haul ‘highway’ on Wednesday, February 10 at the Westwood High School, 7:00 pm, Please Read the Permit Analysis written by Cynthia Pryor.

Rio Tinto Locks Out 500 Union Workers

The LA TIMES reports that over 540 miners have been locked out of a Rio Rinto Mine in southern California. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boron1-2010feb01,0,362036.story
Rio Tinto locks out over 540 Union Workers at the Borax Mine in California. Read More…
UPDATE Company Can’t Keep Story Straight After Lockout: tells union workers that they must sacrifice to keep company afloat, while company [...]

National Wildlife Federation to Challenge Michigan’s Approval of Dangerous Mine

MARQUETTE, MICH. (January 15)—The National Wildlife Federation today vowed to challenge a Thursday decision by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to allow a controversial mine to proceed–even though the decision by the agency contradicts opinions by internal experts who have warned that the mine is unsafe and could result in a mine collapse.
“The mining [...]

DEQ Grants Final Kennecott Permit - Ignores Native Rights

The DEQ has granted Kennecott the final permit for the Eagle Mine project on the Yellow Dog Plains, ignoring Judge Richard Patterson ruling that Eagle Rock be honored as a Native American sacred site.
Read The DEQ’s press release
Eartha Jane Melzer writes:    http://michiganmessenger.com/33340/controversial-kennecott-mine-permits-okd-at-11th-hour
For further information,  read article by Gabriel Caplett

Comments from Cynthia Pryor, YDWP [...]

South Road - Wetlands Destruction Permit (Public Hearing)

Please Attend Public Hearing: February 10th, 7:00pm, at the Westwood Auditorium, the DEQ will hold a public hearing to decide if they will approve Kennecott’s "Woodland south road". The Application calls for the destruction of 31 acres of wetlands, and the cut of a 22.3 mile industrial haul road through the undeveloped Michigamme Highlands area.

The [...]

Gov. Granholm Announces Interim Director for Department of Environmental Quality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2009
Contact: Liz Boyd
517-335-6397
LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that Jim Sygo will serve as interim director of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) beginning January 5, 2010, following Director Steven Chester’s announcement today that he will leave his post on January 4. Sygo currently serves as deputy [...]

Mining company surrenders claim to native land in $5-million settlement, opening Ontario’s far north

TORONTO — From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009
The Ontario government is signaling that the province’s far north is open to business with the settlement of a lawsuit pitting a tiny exploration company against a native band.
The government announced yesterday that it will pay Platinex Inc. $5-million to surrender its [...]

Western Shoshone Prevail at Ninth Circuit Court on Mining Sacred Land

Posted by Ahni on December 6, 2009
In a major ruling last week, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked construction of the largest open pit gold mine in the United States, Barrick Gold’s Cortez Hills gold mine.
Reversing a January 2009 ruling by the U.S. District Court, the Ninth Circuit concluded that enjoining the [...]

Ballot Initiative Needed

Chuck Glossenger, Big Bay
POSTED: December 5, 2009
To the Mining Journal editor:
In a recent statement, local politicians Sen. Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming, Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, Rep. Mike Lahti D-Hancock, Rep. Steve Lindberg, D-Marquette, and Rep. Judy Nerat, D-Wallace, accused sponsors of a proposed 2010 ballot measure on mining of talking about uranium mining in [...]

EPA: Uranium From Polluted British Petroleum Mine Found In Nevada Water Wells

SCOTT SONNER | 11/21/09 06:31 PM  Huffington Post

YERINGTON, Nev. — Peggy Pauly lives in a robin-egg blue, two-story house not far from acres of onion fields that make the northern Nevada air smell sweet at harvest time.
But she can look through the window from her kitchen table, just past her backyard with its [...]