Free Press article: "UP mine threatens sacred tribal rights"

DETROIT -- The Detroit Free Press published today, April 11, 2010, an opinion article by Jessica Koski of Baraga, a Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) member and graduate of Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College and Michigan Tech University. Koski, who spoke last August at the Protect the Earth walk to Eagle Rock -- the proposed portal for Kennecotto-Rio Tinto's Eagle Project sulfide mine -- says the former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) director's claim that Eagle Rock is not a place of worship, despite its sacred meaning for the Ojibwa people, is ethnic discrimination.

Jessica Koski of KBIC speaks about her research on sulfide mining and on Native American sacred sites during the Protect the Earth event on Aug. 2, 2009, at Eagle Rock, potential site for the entrance of Kennecott-Rio Tinto's proposed sulfide mine near Big Bay, Mich. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

Koski notes in her article, "UP mine threatens sacred tribal rights," that protection of Eagle Rock should be enforced under the U.S. Constitution's Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. She adds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has not yet approved permits for the mine under the Clean Water Act, "should be obligated to protect sensitive areas of national significance like the Great Lakes."

Read more of Koski's article on Freep.com or on page 25A of the Sunday, April 11, 2010, print edition of the Detroit Free Press. Jessica Koski is now studying for her master's degree at Yale University.

Read about Jessica Koski's research on Native American sacred sites in our Aug. 8, 2009, article, "Protect the Earth: Part 2, Walk to Eagle Rock."