Letter: State of the Menominee River

One of many signs placed near the Menominee River by water protectors opposed to the proposed Back 40 mining project. (Photo courtesy Mary Hansen of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River)

By Dale Burie, President
Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River
Sent as Letter to Editor Dec. 27, 2021

As 2021 comes to a close, I would like to offer my "State of the River" address to the people of this Menominee River watershed and beyond.

This past year we have seen Great Lakes Exploration file an application for exclusive Mineral Rights in Holmes and Faithorn townships in Menominee County. The Coalition established a "Call to Action" button on our website for concerned citizens to submit their letters of opposition. There were over 600 letters filed with the Mineral Leases Division of the State of Michigan in opposition, and we are asking for denial of this application.*

Aquila Resources also filed an application for exclusive Mineral Rights in Lake and Holmes townships in Menominee County. Once again, the Coalition established a "Call to Action" button on our website to send a letter of opposition to the Mineral Lease Division of the State of Michigan. Well over 200 letters were submitted, asking the Division director to deny this lease application.**

In October, Aquila Resources announced the transfer of their interests to Gold Resources of Denver, Colorado. This is the same Aquila Resources that came to this area with promises of high paying jobs, helping local school systems, building better roads; and after spending over 100,000,000 dollars of money they obtained from our friends, relatives, and the good people of Marinette and Menominee Counties, they are all but bankrupt. My heart goes out to the investors for their losses.

As Gold Resources intends to spend 2022 filing for the necessary permits to continue the Back Forty project, we as the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc., stand ready with our staff of Environmental attorneys to STOP any forward progress for a sulfide mine on the Menominee River, with your help and support.

We have an opportunity to submit your letter of support to make the Anaem Omot (The Dog’s Belly, Anaem ah ka chiew, 60 Islands) Holmes and Lake Townships, Menominee County, Michigan, for consideration for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places by the State Historic Preservation Review Board at their meeting on January 28, 2022. You also can attend with ZOOM. This is the historical Menominee Indian burial grounds, dance rings and gardens.

A Menominee burial ground on the Michigan side of the Menominee River, not far from the proposed site for the Back 40 mining project. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

You may submit your support letter to Todd A. Walsh, National Register Coordinator by email at: WalshT@michigan.gov  or by letter to: Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, 300 North Washington Square, Lansing, Michigan 48913.

Protect the Menominee River for your children and grandchildren.

Dale Burie
Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc.
www.jointherivercoalition.org

Editor's Notes:

* See our Oct. 27, 2021, article, "DNR to hold Public Meeting, comment period, on Great Exploration metallic mineral lease request in Menominee County."

 ** See the Nov. 20, 2021, article, "UPDATED: PUBLIC NOTICE: DNR to hold virtual public meeting on Aquila mineral lease application Nov. 23."

Letter: Michigan voting bills not helping

By Valorie Troesch*

To the editor:

Thirty-nine bills were recently introduced in the Michigan Senate that will suppress voting rights, all done under the false premise -- aka "The Big Lie" -- of securing elections in a state where there has not been a single documented and verified instance of individual or voting machine fraud. Republicans created a phantom problem in order to pass legislation designed to curb voter turnout.

Michigan is not alone. These types of bills are being passed in Republican-controlled legislatures across the country and are targeted to make voting more difficult, especially for minority populations. However, if Senator McBroom -- who co-sponsored some of these bills -- wants to honestly represent the best interests of his constituents in Michigan’s rural western Upper Peninsula, he will exercise independent judgment and not follow in lock-step with Michigan Senate Republicans. The best interests of McBroom’s constituents are in direct opposition to what these bills will do.

For example, Senate Bill 285 will require that voters present an original or a copy of a specific type of photo ID to the clerk in order to request an absentee ballot. Think about what this means. An elderly person living in a rural area who cannot drive and who wants to vote by absentee ballot will now have to figure out how to get this ID and how to make a photocopy of it to submit with a mailed-in application for an absentee ballot. Alternatively, that voter will have to either mail in the original ID or go in person to apply for the absentee ballot. This all flies in the face of the rationale for absentee voting in the first place -- to help enfranchise voters who cannot easily leave their homes.

Senate Bill 287 will remove prepaid postage for absentee ballots and require voters to pay their own postage. On its face, this may seem fair, but this is a risky provision. In the November 2020 election, absentee ballots in their envelopes weighed slightly more than one ounce, greater than the allowed weight covered by a single first-class stamp. Voters who wrongly assume that one stamp will always cover the postage risk having their ballots not delivered by Postmaster General DeJoy’s USPS and, thus, not counted. Pre-paid postage negates this risk and is a common-sense solution.

In their overzealousness to tamp down minority voting, Republican legislators -- especially in the Upper Peninsula -- will needlessly disenfranchise their own constituents.**

Editor's Notes:

* Valorie Troesch, author of this letter, is a Copper Country resident.

** Voters Not Politicians (VNP) of Michigan will hold a virtual Voter Suppression Resistance Update w/ Letter Writing Workshop at 7 p.m. EDT TONIGHT, Wednesday, March 31. You can join from anywhere by registering here. VNP will present a statewide volunteer update on Senate Bill package 273 - 309 and the Rescue Michigan plan. Immediately following is a letter-writing workshop with tips for messaging your representatives on this important issue.

Letter: Will mining in the Porkies ever be "safe"?

[Editor's Note: Keweenaw Now received the following letter in February in response to our Feb. 12, 2018, article on Highland Copper's mining exploration in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, aka, the Porkies. See this featured article by clicking on the link in our right-hand column or click here. We regret the delay in posting this letter and other articles. Keweenaw Now's editor is experiencing temporary vision issues, making it difficult to post in a timely manner.]

Dear Editor,

The fact that the Mining Action Group of UPEC (Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition) was consulted before the Feb. 6 press release by the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) is good news for the public and our environment. They and Highland Copper Co. representatives went to great lengths to assure us they would be on their best behavior this year. The company will have its engineer with the drilling subcontractor; the former, we were told, has the authority to stop drilling should weather conditions lead to thawing of the ground. The DNR said it would have its personnel regularly checking that no new harm comes to the Porkies.

However, I'm left wondering whether the recent press releases from the DNR have been carefully designed to prevent future blow back against the DNR, the state agency that manages the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. When these damages were first investigated and reported, the public responded with outrage -- drilling in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness!? Everyone assumed that the Porkies were safe from mining activities -- unfortunately, that isn't true. Folks are shocked.

The Porcupine Mountains are iconic in the minds of Michigan citizens, but the DNR suggests that copper mines and wilderness areas are compatible. The message from DNR seems to be "Don't worry, the Porkies will retain a pristine surface even if Highland Copper Co. is blasting copper underneath the Park."

Is the DNR trying to convince the public that they want this mine? Mining impacts will include light pollution, mine waste, water quality concerns, vibrations, noise, dust, ore trucks, mine waste permanently stored along the shoreline of Lake Superior, and more. The Copperwood Mine would be across the road from the Porkies -- maybe literally underneath our hiking boots. Who wants that?

Horst Schmidt, President, Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition

Letter: A toast to Roscoe Churchill, grassroots activist

"Just grass over a grave" is what the late Roscoe Churchill -- pictured here at the "reclaimed" Flambeau Mine site near Ladysmith, Wis. -- called the reclamation by the Flambeau Mining Co., a Rio Tinto / Kennecott subsidiary. Churchill would have been 100 years old today. (Keweenaw Now file photo © Linda Runstrom, Winona, Minn. Reprinted with permission.)

From Laura Gauger*

Today marks the 100th birthday of Roscoe Churchill of Ladysmith, Wisconsin. Let’s raise a toast to this environmental legend!

As described in a February 2007 tribute written by Al Gedicks at the time of Roscoe’s death:  "Roscoe was the grandfather of Wisconsin’s grassroots anti-mining movement. For more than 30 years, this retired school principal, part-time farmer, former Republican, and Rusk County supervisor, along with his late wife Evelyn, were the heart and soul of the efforts to stop some of the largest mining companies in the world -- including Kennecott, Noranda, Exxon, Rio Algom and BHP Billiton -- from destroying the land and clean waters of communities from Ladysmith to the Mole Lake Chippewa Reservation near Crandon and from La Crosse County to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan."

If Roscoe were still living today, you can bet he’d be helping the good people who are fighting PolyMet, Resolution Copper, Back Forty, Twin Metals, Copperwood, Pebble, Tamarack -- and the list goes on. And you can bet he would have been in the middle of the recent GTac battle and would be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those who to this day are trying to hold Rio Tinto/Kennecott accountable for their misdeeds at Flambeau and Eagle.

We can also thank Roscoe and Evelyn for how "their discussions around the kitchen table with friends and neighbors led to the drafting and successful passage of the 1998 Wisconsin Mining Moratorium Law, known as the Churchill Moratorium Law within the environmental community, in honor of Roscoe and Evelyn’s key role in drafting the original legislation."

So, yes, a toast to this dapper gentleman who, "for as long as there was breath in his lungs, used his voice to speak uncomfortable truths to power and to inspire hope and confidence in the grassroots."  (For Al’s entire tribute to Roscoe, please click HERE.)

* Editor's Note (updated): The author of this letter, Laura Gauger (former Wisconsin resident and now of Duluth, Minn.), along with the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council and the Center for Biological Diversity, sued the Flambeau Mining Co. in January 2011 over the pollution of a tributary of the Flambeau River that is now on the EPA's "impaired waters list" because of high copper levels linked to the Flambeau Mine. She won in U.S. District Court, but the decision was later overturned on a technicality. The Court of Appeals did not dispute the fact that the tributary was polluted. Rather, the mining company was pardoned because the Wisconsin DNR had erred by not requiring the company to secure a federally-mandated permit that would have put limits on the amount of copper discharged to the stream. The tributary remains polluted to this day. Gauger and Roscoe Churchill co-authored the book, The Buzzards Have Landed! -- the story of the Flambeau Mine and their efforts to protect the environment. (See ad for the book in our right-hand column.) Click here to read about the court's ruling.

Letter: Doubts concerning the wolf hunt regulations

The Pros have figured out how best to regulate the wolf hunt "to reduce predation on pets and livestock and to minimize wolf/human conflicts." The published regulations leave me puzzled. I wonder if I am alone in that category. Show me the predation and the conflicts.

1. 1200 licenses are to be sold beginning in August.
2.  The goal is to "Kill" 43 wolves, any age or sex.  That 4-letter word sets the stage -- get the kids used to killing for fun. That’s what guns are for, isn’t it?
3.  Bait and traps are allowed to hold the wild dog captive while mighty hunter shoots it. In no way are the contestants evenly matched. It’s an execution, not a sport.
4.  Licenses can be used in any or all of the three zones set up for hunting, beginning Nov 15th.
5.  Any "hunter" can set out bait if he sees wolf sign, and replenish it frequently, much like bones for bear bait.
6.  Three months hence he can bury traps around his baitpile, later to entrap those semi-domesticated wolves.
7.  On opening day he can sit in his blind and shoot his wolf, or all of them if he is truly anti-wolf.  Otherwise his buddies can shoot the rest.  3-2-1- Shoot together at designated targets.
8. That does not thin out the wolf population -- it wipes out the local pack.
9. Repeat that pattern with 1200 licensees in other territories and there is no way that the regulators will be able to stop the shooting when the so-called quota is filled.
10. Consider too the hundreds of deer hunters sitting in blinds waiting for something to move, to take a potshot and, if it be a wolf -- to hope that it will go away to hide and die.  Pray for snow.
11. Experts, Commission members, responsible officers at MDNR and Governor Snyder, please explain to us, your neighbors and in some cases your employers, how you plan to determine how many wolves have been killed and how you will ensure that the quota will not be exceeded? Anything beyond the quota can not be designated collateral, like humans in warfare.

With these ill-conceived "Regulations" I would expect around 100 wolves to be shot and would hold the regulators culpable and deserving of punishment. $1000 each/wolf, minimum. Or revoke the regulations.

Jack Parker

Baltic MI 49963

Letter: Voter "depression"

I voted Tuesday. I voted a mixed ballot. I voted for the local people who I felt were good people to hold office. After I slipped my ballot into the electronic counter and got my "I voted" sticker I realized I was depressed. But why? In grade school during the fifties we practiced voting on the same machines as those of our parents. Just as many Americans who now hold power also practiced voting in schools. We all learned what it meant to be an "American." Voting was a most important "right and duty." The right to vote was "sacred."

I feel good about voting procedures in my town, but what about other places like Ohio where they are trying to suppress the vote? There, the Republican Election Commissioner changed the pre-election voting in the predominately African American communities from four days to one day for four hours. He stated publicly that he wanted the Republicans to win there! Has he forgotten what he learned in grade school? Has he forgotten the right to vote is "sacred?" While waiting in that Ohio voting line with what was reported a thousand other people, one African American who was interviewed said, "That is just the way it is." He waited and waited but he voted! This is just one example of how the American voter’s vote has been marginalized. This has happened not just in Ohio but places like Pennsylvania and Florida.

Another example of how our vote has been compromised has to do with computer voting machines, which many other countries have junked. They have gone back to paper ballots because they want fair and accurate accounting of the votes. It has been shown in the last three elections -- not just in Ohio but other states as well -- that voting totals have been changed to favor the Republican candidates. The main operative behind this has been Karl Rove. Who is Karl Rove? He is the fellow who orchestrated the George Bush elections and now his millionaire buddies are loading his super pac. Some think that he now has more political power at the national level than the Republican Party itself.

Why doesn’t Karl Rove remember what he learned about voting in his school class? Why doesn’t he defend the importance of every American’s right to vote instead of promoting what I suspect is really national Republican election fraud? Why does the Republican Party do so much to openly discourage Americans from their "sacred" right? Why hasn’t the FBI investigated? Have the rich elites so controlled the national scene that the FBI is not allowed to work toward returning this country to fair and honest elections? Where is the National Democratic Party on this question? Why are so many Americans complicit with this issue instead of demonstrating in the streets to make all votes count? Many feel that the election turned out well but how was the vote counted?

Allan Baker
Houghton

Letter: Comments on Keweenaw Now's Aug. 4 article, "Keweenaw Now tours Rio Tinto Eagle Mine water treatment plant"

[Editor's Note: Jack Parker, mining engineer, whom we quoted in our Aug. 4, 2012, article, "Keweenaw Now tours Rio Tinto Eagle Mine water treatment plant," recently sent the following comments on this article. We are printing them here as a letter to the editor.]

Dear Editor:

No comments to date, August 16th -- so somebody had better do it. I will.

It should be recognized that the water-treatment plant is Kennecott’s showpiece, and they have put a lot of work and money into it to show us how much they want to save Lake Superior from pollution. Give them five points for that but realize that they do not know how much water they will have to treat, how much will come from the mine and how much Mother Nature will send as rain and snow and floods, or what will be in the water.  Neither do they know where the treated water will go.

To get a fix on mine water they did test the permeability of the rock, as you were told, and found it to be low; but any thinking person would suspect that greater quantities could come from broken rock and fissures, not through intact rock. The diamond drill cores show plenty of both, and, contrary to standard practice, driller reports of water encountered or water lost were not in the application for permits.

Similarly we are told that the treated water will infiltrate the soil at the drainfield and flow gradually to the northeast. An impervious layer "C" of clay and silt "will" keep that water in the upper aquifer and prevent it going downward into the lower aquifer, maybe into bedrock above the mine, maybe back into the mine.

What they did not tell you, and perhaps nobody told your guides, is that there are big holes in that "impervious layer." One of them is at the infiltration site. When they presented their study to MDEQ (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality) for approval they "forgot" to include those test borings which showed the gaps. For their study they spaced their test holes hundreds or thousands of feet apart, which is entirely inadequate in the highly variable glacial geology at the site. Their interpretation of the data from those holes is, therefore, questionable, as a hasty effort which a freshman geology student might submit. (See the "North Jackson Hydrogeological Report."**)

But note that MDEQ did not object to or reject the report. That should raise your eyebrows.

Note that the mine will be under or near one of the several branches of the Salmon Trout River, not under the main stream.

The surface plant is impressive, exceptionally neat. Good housekeeping.

The tunnel is not being "drilled," as if by a boring machine, but drilled and blasted conventionally.

Most of the water they treat today comes from precipitation. That may not be the case if and when the mine goes into production. Neither should we expect to be able to predict amount of precipitation. Ask NOAA about 100-year floods.

The statement that the effluent from the plant will be sampled monthly should have been questioned. Would the 5 minutes of sampling be representative of the one month of operation, which is 43,200 minutes? No way! And a schoolboy would quickly learn that there are good times to take samples and times to be avoided. "Selective sampling" we call it. But MDEQ raises no objection.

In answer to Steve Garske’s question about possible lowering of the water table your guide told you about the "impermeable" layer preventing interaction of mine water and ground water, without considering the holes in layer "C." She even pointed out that there are other test wells, sampled quarterly, but that won’t help.

Then Dan brought the conversation back to the treatment plant.

I, JP,  don’t know enough about water treatment to comment on the process but believe that since they frequently promise water "too pure to drink" they will have to keep that promise.

Dan’s statement that "A coagulant creates bigger chunks so it settles solid metals" may or may not have been misquoted. The coagulant causes fine particles to clump together so that they are more easily settled and/or filtered. Metals may or may not be involved.

I am curious about the large amount of solids filtered out, shown in a bin. Are they mostly vegetable material, blown into the water?

What chemical contents might not be acceptable to the County Landfill?

I remember the sodium zeolite ion exchange. One of my jobs as a kid was to replenish the sodium chloride every weekend, at home. After refilling we had to flush the system, down the drain.

At the reverse osmosis stop I would have asked how much electrical power is needed at full capacity. I know that it’s a lot, but wonder if that’s really why they switched from diesel gens to line power.

I would not dwell on the HCl spill too much. For them it was a welcome, easily-handled diversion.

Most important, I think, is the fact that "accidents" do happen. If an accident is defined as a happening which could not have been prevented -- then most accidents are not really accidents. My truck will never run into anybody if nobody drives it. If a mine collapse could have been prevented it will not be an accident.

"The treated water will be sampled." Here again I think that sampling should be continuous, not subject to deceptive selection. An example of selectivity: At the White Pine smelter rubber-coated copper cables generated thick black smoke -- so woe betide the operator who dumped some in the furnace on day shift!

Next we head for the underworld. "Development rock … does not contain nickel and copper ore." That is not necessarily true. Some of it will.

"All development rock will be returned underground as fill." Given the changes in ventilation system -- (Did anybody see an amendment for that, or participate in public comment?) -- that rock will have to be trucked in via the portal, right?

"Every 100 ft the tunnel drops 13 feet." A giant staircase. Hard on trucks and kidneys.

The close-up photo of the portal shows a vent pipe going into the tunnel structure. Will the air there be recycled? We’ll see, when we get some frosty mornings and condensation.

"The tunnel is to be a mile long." That does not include the spiral ramp down to the sump, does it?

Neither does it prepare for production, right?

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought that the area at Eagle Rock inside the outer fence "was not to be disturbed." It has been disturbed significantly. For example -- there is now an inner fence -- an open admission that the application statement that there was nothing of religious or historical interest was a false statement.

I see mention of "Partially treated waste water?" Is that correct?

There are quotes from my earlier trip report, and that’s OK. Missing is the most significant statement, I think, which is that I thought that the men on the job were earnestly striving to do good work and should be exonerated from all blame -- but that MDEQ and upper KEMC/Rio Tinto management should be prosecuted for submitting/accepting a substandard, deceptive and fraudulent application and a questionable mine plan. That has not changed.

Jack Parker, Mining Engineer

Toivola, Michigan

P.S. Surely there is something amiss about Dan's statement that Kennecott Exploration "Has found no mineralization."  Please explain ...  jp

Notes:

* Click here to read our Aug, 4, 2012, article, "Keweenaw Now tours Rio Tinto Eagle Mine water treatment plant."

** Click here for this this April 24, 2005, report: "Kennecott Minerals Company Eagle Project Environmental Baseline Study Bedrock Hydrogeologic Investigation, prepared by Golder Associates Ltd.

Letter: Industry, private matches -- not taxes -- support Natural Resources Trust Fund

The Brockway Mountain Summit west vista, showing Lake Superior and part of the Keweenaw Coastal Wildlife Corridor, is part of a Natural Resources Trust Fund recommendation for a $498,000 grant to acquire 320 acres in Eagle Harbor Township.  (Photo courtesy Eagle Harbor Township. Reprinted with permission.)

Dear editor,

People often believe that all government grants are from taxes, but this is not true. Grant money from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Trust Fund comes from oil and gas leases on state land -- money paid by industry to the state of Michigan for use of these lands. The Michigan Legislature determined that this money belongs to the people of Michigan and should be used for public recreation projects and public land throughout the state. Some federal programs are also funded from non-tax money, for example the Federal Duck Stamp program, which goes to purchase lands for wildlife habitat.

The summit of Brockway Mountain with the surrounding 320 acres is being purchased by Eagle Harbor Township with DNR Trust Fund money. Grants require a 25 percent cash match, which in this case was donated by private individuals and businesses.

This view from Brockway Mountain Drive, which provides access to the Brockway summit, along the Keweenaw Coastal Wildlife Corridor, shows Copper Harbor on Lake Superior, at left, and Lake Fanny Hooe, at right. (Photo courtesy Eagle Harbor Township. Reprinted with permission.)

Partners who helped raise the cash match for Brockway Mountain included the Michigan Nature Conservancy, Copper Country Audubon, Keweenaw Land Trust and Houghton Keweenaw Conservation District. No tax money was directly spent for this recreation property, which will serve Michigan's public in a multitude of ways.*

From 2001 to 2003, the approximately 6000 acres at the tip of the Keweenaw was also purchased with Trust Fund dollars and a large donation from The Nature Conservancy.**

The falls at the Mouth of the Montreal River were part of the Keweenaw Tip Natural Resources Trust Fund land acquisition for the public. On June 12, 2004, KPAC (Keweenaw Point Advisory Committee) members hiked to this spot with DNR staff to discuss how public access to the site should be managed. (Keweenaw Now file photo © Dana Richter. Reprinted with permission.)

During the KPAC tour on June 12, 2004, Dana Richter photographed this view of Manitou Island from High Rock Bay. Remains of a campfire can be seen in the foreground. (Keweenaw Now file photo © 2004 Dana Richter. Reprinted with permission.)*** 

A recreation plan must be in place in order to receive DNR Trust Funds. Recently, Calumet Lake Park on the north side of Calumet was established and improved with DNR Trust Fund money. The mouth of the Gratiot River, Hunters Point in Copper Harbor and Seneca Lake near Mohawk were also obtained by DNR Trust Fund grants.

Lake Superior and beach at the mouth of the Gratiot River. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

 All of these special places are open to the public to enjoy year round.

This DNR Trust Fund is the program our 110th District State Rep. Matt Huuki and our 38th District State Sen. Tom Casperson are trying to gut.

Dana Richter, Hancock Township
President, Copper Country Audubon

Editor's Notes: 

* See our Dec. 9, 2011, article, "Updated: Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board recommends funding for Brockway Mountain parcel in Eagle Harbor Township."

** See our September 2003 article "TNC completes Keweenaw Tip purchase for Michigan," which includes a map of the purchase.

*** Read about the KPAC tour in our 2004 article "Keweenaw Point Committee tour with DNR leads to recommendations."

A slightly different version of this letter appeared in The Daily Mining Gazette on April 21, 2012. Photos are included here with Dana Richter's permission.

Letter: CR 595 is a haul road for Kennecott's Mine

Dear Editor,

County Road 595 is being built because of the mine at Eagle Rock. If there were no mine, there would be no road. It is a road for the mine -- a haul road. Kennecott needs to step up to the plate and do what is right, and it is the DEQ’s job to make them follow the law. This is a mine road and the mining company needs to take responsibility for it. They need to amend their permit to include this road. They need to increase their financial assurance to include the road, do an Environmental Impact Assessment, provide contingency plans, and address possible reclamation. These are the responsibility of Kennecott -- not the citizens of Marquette County.

If this road is built, County Roads 550, 510, and AAA will continue to be used for the next two years or until 595 is completed. After that, those roads will still be used for supplies and employees. Who is going to take care of those roads? Who will be paying for the upkeep and repairs? We have been told for years that money for road repairs and maintenance is scarce. Now the DEQ/Kennecott are asking us to support and take care of a new road whose main purpose is to help a huge international extraction corporation move its ore from the mine to the mill.

I understand why people do not want all this mining traffic coming through their town, on the roads they travel every day. I don’t want them in my backyard either, but they are there and will continue to be there into the future. And again the DEQ has not made the mining company responsible.

This issue should have been properly addressed in the original permit. From the beginning, the DEQ has allowed Kennecott to "make up their plans as they go." This is not what the law says should be done.

It is a haul road and the DEQ needs to treat it as such.

Carla Champagne
Big Bay, Michigan

Letter: "Legislators needed foresight" on severance taxes

HOUGHTON -- In a letter to the editor of the Daily Mining Gazette, published on Dec. 5, 2011, Calumet resident Paul Campbell comments on the Nov. 28, 2011, Detroit Free Press article, "Will mines get state's riches for a paltry sum?" -- the second in a two-part series on the Rio Tinto-Kennecott Eagle Mine near Marquette.*

Campbell says, "I was surprised. In reading further, I find our Lansing legislators' lack of foresight either overlooking or ignoring "Mineral Severance Taxation" extremely disturbing. The long documented mining history of the Upper Peninsula shows a unique area full of mining minerals. Years ago, our legislators should have passed severance taxation laws to help boost the economy."

Campbell includes a link to a map showing how Michigan ranks among states that impose severance taxes on natural resources. Click here to see the map.

"We as citizens and taxpayers should demand to know why the State of Michigan has ignored severance taxation on our precious minerals, our natural resources," Campbell writes.

Click here to read the rest of this letter on MiningGazette.com.

* Click here to read the Detroit Free Press article "Will mines get state's riches for a paltry sum?"