Ninth-graders write bill against sulfide mining

MARQUETTE -- Ninth-graders Kenyon McFarlane and Sarah Jane Crimmins of Leland Public School recently introduced a bill to place a ban on metallic sulfide mining throughout the state of Michigan. According to an article posted on June 18, 2008, on Save the Wild UP, the students' project was presented at a Youth in Government Conference last April.

In a description of their Youth in Government experience, the students write, "Out of over 900 bills, our bill ended up being one of only 16 bills that were officially passed during the April Conference. We were very grateful that our bill was passed, but we realized that the journey wasn’t over yet. Because it was passed in the youth government, the bill will now be proposed to the real Michigan legislature, and it has the chance of being signed into law."*

More updates from Save the Wild UP

Save the Wild UP also posted on June 1, 2008, an Action Alert concerning violence against opponents of mining projects in the region.

The article recounts the incident of violence against Robert Pryor, husband of Cynthia Pryor, executive director of the Yellowdog Watershed Preserve and an active opponent of Kennecott Minerals' Eagle Project, the proposed sulfide mine near Marquette. While Cynthia was attending the contested case hearings in Lansing currently challenging the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's decision to permit the sulfide mine, her husband was attacked at their cabin, located near the proposed site of the mine.

According to the article, "He [Robert Pryor] was assaulted by three unknown males in the late hours of the evening at his cabin which is located in a remote area near Big Bay. The three identified themselves by asking if he 'was one of those anti-mining guys.' When he asked them to leave they knocked him to the ground and beat him, leaving him unconscious outside in the freezing rain."

This same article reports the visit to the shareholders' meeting for Rio Tinto, Kennecott's parent company, in London, England, by a Michigan delegation -- including Susan La Fernier, vice president of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community; Fran Whitman from Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK); Gabriel Caplett, from Northwoods Wilderness Recovery and Yellow Dog Summer; and Cynthia Pryor from the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve.

"Susan La Fernier tried to ask the Rio Tinto board how they planned to protect and guarantee the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community’s treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather on lands in the ceded territory of Michigan but was interrupted and cut off by Chairman of the Board Paul Skinner," the article notes.

At the meeting the Michigan delegation spoke about misinformation given by Kennecott to shareholders. After the meeting, they met with CEO Tom Albanese, and Cynthia Pryor presented him with group resolutions against the mine and 10,000 signatures from an on-line petition against it.**

* Read the full story about the students' bill on Save the Wild UP.
** Read the rest of this Action Alert article and other news items related to sulfide mining on Save the Wild UP.

Editor's Note: See also the June 21, 2008, article in Marquette's Mining Journal, "Kennecott air surveys seek more minerals." The Journal's John Pepin writes in the article that the Kennecott Eagle Project [if finally approved] "would be the country’s only nickel mine in operation."