John Pepin      Marquette Mining Journal

His wife, Cynthia, has been very active in the opposition to this mine proposal on the Yellow Dog Plains.  She was, at the time of the attack, attending the contested case hearings in Lansing and not at home.  Her response to this attack?  “My husband has, by choice, not been a public part of this issue.  To have someone come to our home, attack my husband and leave him unconscious outside in the then freezing weather — is beyond appalling, shocking and distressing - in my mind it is attempted murder.  Bob is 60 years old, was attacked by three younger men and left to the elements. The DNR and DEQ have approved this mining venture as an “orderly development of state minerals”.  The fear and shock reverberating through our small community is something that should make everyone take note.  What are the stakes in this project that would lead to such violence against a citizen of this state - unprovoked and at their home?  The level of watchfulness of those of us living in the remote areas of the county has definitely ramped up.”

Anyone with any knowledge of this attack should contact the authorities.

The Sierra Club today chastised the US Fish and Wildlife Service for changing their
mind on holding hearings on the proposed listing of the Coaster brook trout as an
endangered species. The Sierra Club is one of two organizations petitioning the federal
agency to list the Coaster brook trout under the federal Endangered Species Act .
The Sierra Club and the Huron Mountain Club filed this petition with the USFWS in 2006
to declare the Coaster Brook Trout, a large, very rare trout which reproduces in only one
stream on the south shore of Lake Superior, as Endangered. March 20 of this year, the
USFWS published a notice in the Federal Register noting a positive preliminary finding
on the petition, asking for comments by May 19, and asking for requests for a public
hearing by May 5.
Dozens responded asking for a hearing. However, May 2, 2008, the USFWS released a
letter “To Interested Parties” claiming that the offer of a hearing was “in error”, and
stating that there would be no such hearing.
According to Marvin Roberson, Forest Ecologist with the Sierra Club, “We call on the
US Fish and Wildlife Service to make good on their offer of a hearing on this matter.
While it may have been made “in error”, whatever that means, it was in fact made, and
many groups and individuals responded in the manner and time specified in the Federal
Register Notice”.
Roberson further noted that there is no prohibition which would keep the USFWS from
holding the hearing they offered, and further noted that this letter claiming the offer had
been made “in error” came over 40 days after the original Notice, and only after
numerous written requests for a hearing.

John Pepin, Marquette Mining Journal

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Congress considers restoring safeguards on nation’s streams and wetlands

by Eric Kroh
Apr 24, 2008

WASHINGTON – Strong bipartisan support could restore federal environmental protection for small streams and wetlands that supply some water to more than 1.6 million people in Illinois alone.

The Clean Water Restoration Act is being examined by House and Senate committees but, though the bill has support from both sides of the aisle, similar bills have died in previous sessions of congress.

The bill would return the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act to where it was before the Supreme Court restricted it in decisions over the past several years. One case involved water in a gravel pit in northern Cook County that had become a wildlife habitat.

Support for the restoration act on Capitol Hill includes 175 co-sponsors of the bill, introduced in the House by James Oberstar, a Republican from Minnesota. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, spoke in support of the bill during a recent hearing.

”With an ever-expanding population and the potentially devastating impacts of global warming on our water supply, now is not the time to be weakening the Clean Water Act,” Boxer said.

Click here for the rest of the story

Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=87155
Story Retrieval Date: 4/29/2008 2:51:16 PM CST

Opponents of a planned nickel and copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula are trying to overturn a decision by the state Department of Environmental Quality to allow the project.

A hearing began Monday in Lansing on a challenge to the DEQ's approval of permit applications submitted by Kennecott Minerals Co. It is expected to last several weeks.

Read More >

Seven First Nation leaders sit in jail for peacefully protesting mining activities on their traditional lands in the boreal forests of Ontario, Canada.   For peacefully asserting their rights and preventing mining company officials from accessing their lands, these Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) leaders, – known as the KI Six — were sentenced to six months in prison. The KI Six were sentenced just weeks after Ardoch Algonquin First Nation spokesperson Robert Lovelace began serving a six-month sentence for similar charges.

The 1,200 strong KI community of hunters, fishers, and trappers is opposed to mining activities on their traditional lands in Northern Ontario., Canadian company Platinex Inc. believes their lands contain one of the world's largest platinum deposits.

Please write to the Ontario government today and demand the immediate release of these political prisoners. The government needs to see an overwhelming outpouring of public support.Your voice can help convince Ontario that this heavy-handed approach is unacceptable—and that the free, prior and informed consent of local communities is an essential pre-requisite to mining.

Click her to find out more about the Canadian government's lack of consultation with the First Nations

Read a bio about Bob Lovelace 

Due to heavy traffic from Kennecott's vehicles some local landowners have been unable to access their camps.  Additionally,  the heavy traffic has led to  sedimentation in the nearby streams.  Road restrictions have been applied to all Marquette County Roads.

London, UK  -  Four citizens from  Michigan’s Upper Peninsula attended Rio Tinto’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center (QEII), in London, England.  Speakers included Susan LaFernier, vice-president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), Gabriel Caplett from Yellow Dog Summer and Northwoods Wilderness Recovery, and Cynthia Pryor, from the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve.  Fran Whitman, from Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK), attended but was unable to speak in front of the assembly.

To the crowd of roughly 300 shareholders and journalists, LaFernier addressed the threat to Native American ceded treaty rights with the US government, from 1842 and 1954 treaties.  Rio Tinto chairman, Paul Skinner, interrupted LaFernier’s introduction, instructing the tribal leader to ask only one question, although a shareholder had just previously been able to ask three questions.

Read More >

Crews are on the scene.

Posted: Monday, April 21, 2008 at 10:20 a.m.MARQUETTE — The Lower Harbor in Marquette is the site of an oil spill. The leak is coming from a tug boat that is moored in the harbor.

Around 9:30 a.m. Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified of the leak coming from the Dorothy Ann, which was pulling a barge.

The tug apparently touched bottom, which jarred a seal causing it to break.

The vessel then contacted the Coast Guard not knowing of the leak at the time.

Crews are on the scene inspecting the spill. The DEQ and Coast Guard will be teaming up to contain and clean up the leak. A Coast Guard chopper did fly-overs of the area to see how widespread the oil was.

Officials say the wind is not strong which is limiting the spread of the oil at this time.

There is no further leakage from the tug.

The Dorothy Ann is waiting for inspection before it can move.

Click here for more information.

Thursday April 17 2008

A wave of protests will hit the annual meetings of BP and Rio Tinto in London today as human rights and environmental campaigners voice their concerns at the activities of the extractive industries.

Shareholders at Anglo American on Tuesday were met with similar complaints, while Shell investors will also face protestors at its meeting next month.

Richard Solly, secretary of the London Mining Network, a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) coordinating the protests said: "The UK government must ensure that our businesses do not profit at the expense of the suffering and environmental destruction of communities around the world."

Campaigners dressed as pirates will greet investors going to the BP annual meeting. Their costumes symbolise the company's attempt to "rob" Iraq of its oil through pressing the Baghdad administration to sign a new oil law that could see BP negotiating to develop Rumaila, Iraq's largest producing field.

Activist shareholders plan to question new chief executive, Tony Hayward, on BP's plans in the face of what they claim is opposition from two in three Iraqis, according to a poll released earlier by NGOs in Britain and America.

Ruth Tanner, senior campaigns officer at charity War on Want, said: "Iraq needs control over its resources to improve living standards for millions of people hit by war and occupation. To most Iraqis the name BP will mean brazen pirates unless the company stops trying to plunder their country's oil."

The British government has been using its position as a military occupation power to push the interests of oil companies in Iraq, according to London research group Platform. It obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act which, it claims, reveal extensive efforts since 2004 to push for companies such as BP and Shell to receive long-term contracts, giving them exclusive rights to exploit Iraq's huge oil fields.

Tribal and community representatives from around the world will address Rio Tinto's annual meeting and argue that the mining group's claim that its operations are sustainable and fair is far from the truth. Benny Wenda, chairman of the Koteka Tribal Assembly and representative of the West Papuan independence movement, has been brought to London by the London Mining Network. "Rio Tinto promised they would bring wealth, health and education for my people, but they are paying the Indonesian military that kills my people. They have filled our rivers with pollution and they have destroyed our sacred mountain: their promises are worth nothing to West Papuans."

Oil companies have also been under fire from NGOs over biofuels. Forecourt suppliers have been under new legislative pressure from Tuesday to provide 2.5% of all diesel and petrol from crop-based sources to reduce carbon pollution.

Rachel Smolker, a campaigner with the Global Forest Coalition said: "The UK has chosen to ignore a vast mountain of evidence that biofuels are contributing to hunger, climate change, deforestation and human rights abuses."

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Before a gathering of thousands, Susan LaFernier, vice president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, was joined by Cynthia Pryor, Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve; Fran Whitman, Friends of the Land of Keweenaw; and Gabriel Caplett, Northwoods Wilderness Recovery. Each possesses either a share of stock or a proxy allowing them a voice at the meeting.

“We hope to bring an understanding to the Rio Tinto board of directors and shareholders that the citizens of our region and across the state of Michigan do not support their sulfide mining venture on the Yellow Dog Plains,” Pryor explained in an interview just days before the meeting. “We will present them with every citizen and group resolution or petition signed in opposition to this mine.”

In her presentation, LaFernier will explain the tribe’s sense of responsibility for human health, air, water, land and cultural resources, including Eagle Rock, a location of spiritual importance to Native Americans in the region.

“I will inform the Rio Tinto board about our rights as written in the 1842 and 1854 treaties with the United States. These are rights we have always had as first owners of the land,” the tribal official explained. KBIC has opposed the mine since 2004, when the Tribal Council adopted a resolution in opposition to the project.
“The Rio Tinto board should understand that the opposition is not a few radicals, as they have been led to believe, but a large and well-organized coalition involving thousands of people across the state,” Pryor said.

Caplett says the scope of Kennecott’s plans for the Upper Peninsula demands action. "Rio Tinto has multiple projects planned for our water-rich area.  These projects would affect the Great Lakes, which contains roughly one-fourth of the world's freshwater.  Other companies are planning metallic mineral projects, as well as uranium operations, and are encouraged by weak new mining laws that were heavily influenced by Rio Tinto's agenda."

The message of the Upper Peninsula foursome wasn’t the only one heard in opposition to Rio Tinto projects throughout the world. Activists from Argentina and West Papua also appealed to shareholders to take a closer look at projects in their respective countries.

Following the Rio Tinto annual meeting, LaFernier spoke on behalf of the group at a public meeting hosted by Amnesty International UK’s Human Rights Centre.

Freshwater Future builds effective community-based citizen action to protect and restore the water quality of the Great Lakes basin. They work towards this goal by providing financial assistance, communications and networking assistance, and technical assistance to citizens and grassroots watershed groups throughout the Great Lakes basin. Grassroots organizations and citizen initiatives in both the U.S. and Canada are eligible for funding in the two annual funding cycles.

“With so many great proposals for important work throughout the Great Lakes region, the decision making process was difficult as always,” said Jill Ryan, Executive Director of Freshwater Future. “The 20 applications we reviewed presented unique and thoughtful ways to engage local communities in protecting local rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Save the Wild UP was one of just 10 that received funding in this grant cycle,” said Ryan.

SWUP’s mission is to protect Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from unsustainable development, environmental degradation, and dangerous contamination through public awareness and education. The grant from Freshwater Future will help accomplish this mission by helping to protect headwaters habitats in the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan watersheds from the risks of alteration and contamination by nonferrous metallic mining, particularly sulfide mining processes.

If you would like more information on this project, contact Save the Wild UP, 906-228-4444.

Kennecott would use the facility to refine rock from its proposed Eagle Project mine on the Yellow Dog Plains.

While the county board has not gone on record specifically supporting the Eagle Project, it has officially given its backing to mining operations that comply with state and federal laws and regulations.

During its regular meeting Tuesday night, board Chairman Gerry Corkin read a letter addressed to Eagle Project Manager Jon Cherry stating the county’s support for the Humboldt project.

Read more 

Action: Comment on listing the Coaster Brook Trout on the Endangered Species List

Comments must be submitted by May 19, 2008

Directions: The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has made a finding that the petition to list the coaster brook trout as an endangered species does in fact present substantial information warranting consideration. Based on the finding, the USFWS is in the process of reviewing the status of the coasters. Please contact the USFWS to share your information on the coasters to ensure that the status review is complete. We strongly encourage you to write and mail your own letter. However, click here if you would like to submit comments electronically.

Please note: if you do submit comments, the USFWS will post the comments on their website, including your address.

Talking Points

~ Thank USFWS for the positive finding, and let them know we appreciate their work to restore coasters.

~ Coasters are an emblematic species for the Lake Superior community and we would like to see them return.

~States, tribes, and organizations have been engaged in activities to help restore the coaster brook trout for several years. The restoration activities have not been enough, as coaster populations remain small and unstable.

~ Kennecott's proposed Eagle Project is likely to destroy, modify, or curtail the habitat of the coasters.

~ Siltation from road crossings, traffic, logging, etc. is one of the primary causes of habitat degradation. If you have personally observed washouts or other siltation problems in UP streams, please describe this in your comments.

Note: you must include your address for your comments to be considered

Please submit written comments to the address below or Click here to submit comments electronically and to read more about the listing of the coasters

ATTN: FWS–R3–ES–2008–0030
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222
Arlington, VA 22203

For Lobbying purposes in the State of Michigan,
KENNECOTT MINERALS COMPANY has hired:

Click here for more information

Financial Information for KENNECOTT MINERALS COMPANY
is available from the following financial reports:

The 54th Annual Institute of Lake Superior Geology is sponsored by MTU (Ted Bornhorst) and the Seamans Museum. May 6-10 in Marquette at the Ramada Inn. Featured speaker for the Thursday night banquet: Jon Cherry - Eagle Project. Jon will also be hosting a field trip to the Plains on one of those days. Heads up to any who wish to attend or wish to be aware.

Register here 

What types of strategies/types of actions that the movement actors use?
What are their networks, what are their contacts?
How the actors frame or define the issues, problems, what are their concerns?
Did the movement reach its ultimate goal?  How and why or why not?

Dr. Nahide Konak, Sociology Candidate Presentation

Monday, April 7^th, 4:00pm, Brule Room UC

April 3, 2008

For Immediate Release

Great Lakes Author, Historian: Michigan’s Hypocrisy May Kill Great Lakes

Compact

Analysis shows Michigan must act swiftly, aggressively to protect water from withdrawal and

establish conservation practices

Great Lakes historian and author Peter Annin, in an article in today’s Detroit Free Press, warns that the eight-state Great Lakes Compact water protection pact may fail – partly due to Michigan’s historical hypocrisy in blocking withdrawals while failing to respect or conserve its own water resources.

The analysis painfully illustrates the need for Michigan legislators to enact strong state water protection laws along with their approval of the Great Lakes Compact.

The urgency was elevated this week when Ohio’s Lt. Governor, Lee Fisher, suggested that Great Lakes water might be sold to buyers in other parts of the nation.

“If the Compact fails, federal protection against Great Lakes diversions hangs by a tenuous legal thread,” said Hugh McDiarmid Jr. of the Michigan Environmental Council. “There are plenty of people and entities outside the Great Lakes waiting for that legal thread to snap.

“If Michigan’s legislature approves strong laws to keep our water where it belongs, it will be their everlasting legacy that they established a firewall against future abuse of our water resources whether the Compact becomes law or not.”

Annin gives the Compact a 50 percent chance of passage. Four states have passed it. Michigan and Pennsylvania are expected to approve it, while it has run into roadblocks in Wisconsin and Ohio. If approved, it would need Congressional approval and the President’s signature to become law.

Annin said suspicion over Michigan’s historical double-talk has helped fuel opposition in Ohio and Wisconsin. Michigan has strenuously opposed – and even legally blocked – proposed diversions outside the Great Lakes. The hypocrisy became apparent, however, when our state then failed to establish meaningful water conservation practices and flaunted its lack of water regulations.

Proposed state legislation would change that image by establishing conservation rules within the state, protecting Michigan’s streams and inland lakes from excessive withdrawals.

The Great Lakes, Great Michigan coalition – numbering more than 60 organizations and businesses – supports House legislation that comes closer to achieving the stringent protections that Michigan needs.

Competing legislation introduced in the Senate is far less protective, failing to designate groundwater as a public resource, foregoing public input into large-scale water withdrawal plans and allowing up to 25 percent of some stretches of Michigan streams to be drained with minimal or no oversight.

“Because Michigan is the only state entirely within the Great Lakes drainage basin, we have the most to gain from the Great Lakes Compact, and the most to lose if we do not establish our own standards,” said Dr. Grenetta Thomassey, Policy Director at Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council. “We are hopeful our legislators act to ensure that water users within Michigan do not drain rivers and dry up wetlands.”

The Free Press’ article with Annin’s analysis can be found at:

Click here to read more

Contact:

Hugh McDiarmid Jr., Michigan Environmental Council: 248-660-4300

Grenetta Thomassey, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council: 231-838-5193

                                                                                            Brian Beauchamp, Michigan League of Conservation Voters: 734-904-9915

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