Opinion: Elected officials ignore potential health threats, cleanup costs from mining

By Margaret Comfort*

Recently, I received a tear-off flyer from a Michigan legislator, requesting that I "check off the issues that interest you": a. Social Security, b. Tax Reform, c. Second Amendment, d. Medicare, e. Economy and Jobs, f. Border Security.

My number one choice, "Environment and Clean Water," was not on his list.

If we do not include "Environment and Clean Water" in the top six, we will make little progress on "Economy and Jobs," "Social Security," and "Medicare." I question the wisdom of our current elected public servants' hell-bent obsession to board the run-away train for another "mining boom." It'll be a boom alright -- a boom right in the 'ol noggin. Some will get jobs for a few years, maybe even 10 years. But then what? Of course, these so-called public servants will be long out of office by then (hopefully sooner).

But why should they worry? Let the working man deal with it -- just like when greedy corporate executives sold off our manufacturing base and auto industry to other nations, where items could be produced cheaper (i.e., more money in the pockets of the big-whigs) and we were left standing in the unemployment line.

Ready for another round? Ready to sign up to be the third-world "colony" yet again?

Mining is inherently unsustainable. Minerals are NOT renewable. Any temporary gain (in terms of jobs) will serve only as a temporary stop-gap measure. Although some fortunate folks will jump for joy with that good-paying job, what are we going to do when the pot is empty? Furthermore, the potential for damage to the environment and our "new gold" (water -- soon to be more precious than gold) far outweighs the temporary economic benefits such industry will bring.

This is NOT grandpa's type of mining. This is sulfide hard-rock acid-mine-drainage (AMD) polluting mining. This pollution is difficult, if not impossible, to clean up. Do you want to drink it? What, no health insurance after you lost that temporary job? Well -- now that you are sick -- prove it. Prove that you were poisoned.

Good luck.

When concern is voiced to a legislator or public official, the Chatty-Cathy answer is: "Michigan has the toughest mining laws in the nation" and "well, our regulatory agencies are on top of it." No, we don't and, no, they aren't.

In fact, Michigan's non-ferrous mining law, known as part 632, has plenty of loop-holes. Companies are only required to conduct an in-house EIA (environmental impact assessment). No independent study is required. If a company is able to by-pass (skirt around the Spirit of the Law) the Clean Water Act, then its waste water only has to meet "safe drinking-water standards," which may not support aquatic resources such as juvenile fish. Many existing waters in our beloved U.P. far exceed this "standard." Would not it behoove us to promote legislation to safeguard the purity with which we are blessed?

Furthermore, the DEQ itself has admitted that it doesn't have the staff, financial resources, or technical expertise to do the job. The EPA, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act are currently on the chopping block. Various entities are trying to decimate them.

It would also behoove us to inquire whether any of these multinational corporations (be it Kennecott, Orvana, HudBay, Aquila, others) intends to extract, if discovered, URANIUM. Let us recall the horrors suffered by thousands of Navajo -- genetic mutations, birth defects. The legacy goes on and on.

The western world's so-called magic bullet (our savior, technology) still hasn't cleaned up the water eminating from the Midnight Mine on the Spokane Tribe Reservation, the AMD from the Buck and Dober iron mines in Iron County, nor the dioxin-laced Tittabawassee River downstream from Midland. Our magnificent state already has plenty of Superfund sites and brownfields to go around. We do not need to create any more; nor do we need to try and mask or greenwash the ones we already have.

Disturbingly, there is increasing intelligence data indicating these multinationals may intend to do just that: find a way to extract economically viable quantities of uranium compound from these ore bodies. Has triuranium octoxide been discovered in your neighborhood? near your camp? near your favourite fishing hole? near our beloved Lake Superior or Lake Michigan?

Get smart. Get informed! What are the chemical compositions of a representative sample of the company's drilled cores? Does the DEQ know? Shouldn't the DEQ know? They are supposed to be the regulatory agency! Such information should NOT be deemed a "company secret."

Furthermore, if corporations stand to profit BILLIONS from these "projects," would not it behoove the state of Michigan to demand a fair share of the pie? Shouldn't we DEMAND adequate financial assurance from the parent corporations (not just from their subsidiaries)? They must have a very strong incentive to do their utmost to not leave us and future generations of Michiganders with a big mess and a big bill. We are so hopelessly desperate right now that we foolishly settle for a few measley ten-twenty million rather than hundreds of millions in assurance.

A messy clean-up could end up costing millions per day.

Who is going to insure US -- the citizens of Michigan? What is the legal liability to us, the taxpayer? Have you, citizen, considered this? Remember: hindsight is 20/20. Turn on your brain, open your mouth, ask questions and demand answers. Do NOT settle for mediocrity. The corporation is hoping you will. Fool them! Wake up and smell the coffee!

While well-greased, politically savvy, and slick multinational corporations wine and dine our public servants, become their good buddies, and are deemed "stakeholders" to our regulatory agencies and departments, we, the EVERLASTING TRUE STAKEHOLDERS of the land and water, can't even get an answer to our questions -- nor can we get our elected officials to think, probe, and examine!

Our elected officials owe it to the People of the great State of Michigan to examine the facts, point out and question deficiencies, demand appropriate a priori financial assurances, and promote the development of a sustainable future for all citizens.

Wake up Michiganders! Demand it!

*Margaret Comfort, author of this article, is a resident of Marquette County.

Letter: Judge Manderfield's edict on sacred site was incorrect

By Jack Parker*

1. Judge Patterson originally ruled that the portal at Eagle Rock should be moved from the proposed location at the base of the western face of Eagle Rock, far enough to allow activities of worship to take place. That was obviously NOT a casual comment but a decision.

Rio Tinto - Kennecott Eagle Minerals project at Eagle Rock on the Yellow Dog Plains: portal construction, east view. Click on photo for larger version. (Sept. 15, 2011, photo © Jeremiah Eagle Eye and courtesy Stand for the Land. Reprinted with permission.)

2. KEMC (Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co.) attorneys made another of their arrogant and presumptuous "determinations" and declared that the site was not a place of worship because there were no man-made buildings or structures on it. The DEQ went along with the KEMC determination and allowed the portal to stay where it was.

Both KEMC and DEQ had misinterpreted the definitions, deliberately. They had presented false statements into the permitting process. Check your dictionaries. Then check Part 632, page 14 (4).**

"Sacred" may refer to a religious context (with the word "religious" itself being open for discussion), but it can also refer to objects or subjects which are revered.

That definition can be applied to the Rock unquestionably. The requirement that there be a man-made structure or building on it may apply in some places; but a lot of people have "gone to the mountain" to communicate with a god, or gods, thus making it a place of worship, without question. Worship may well be defined as a practice which expresses to a person or an object or a deity adoration, reverence and love -- essentially great worth, i.e., worthship.

Surely I am conscious of that as I watch the sun go down over the Yellow Dog Plains. The great big world keeps turning. I witness it. Yet another day is done. I am so small …

Here I must interject a bit of geology: A few thousand years ago, when man first came to the Plains, Eagle Rock was an island rising some 50 ft above a proglacial lake (bordered in part by glacial ice). At that time there were no trees, so the view from the Rock, itself higher than Mount Bohemia, would include most of the Keweenaw Peninsula and great distances to the north, south and east, too. The travel agent might label it "Magnificent!" The ancients would be awe-struck -- a mixed emotion of respect, reverence, dread and wonder. Undoubtedly it was a very special place.

I submit that the Rock has always been a place of "worship."

Kennecott displays a condition of being unaware, uneducated, uninformed.

No doubt there were made-made shelters there then, initially made of snow and ice, later made of saplings covered with skins and bark and thatch, and, more recently -- tents. Nobody specified concrete blocks and tin roofs.

I once asked a Native American lady to tell me about her religion but she demurred, very gently, saying that they do not like to talk about it with the white folks, because we make fun of such things. So we changed the subject. Would that KEMC could respect their feelings.

3. A cyclone fence has been erected around the outcrop, close to the base of the west face, where the portal is planned to be. It defines a "Do not disturb" area. We appreciate that.

Suppose that we accept the fenceline as a token of acceptance by Kennecott that the Rock is a special place. Leaning on definitions, as Kennecott is wont to do, the word "Rock" refers not only to the outcrop but also to that volume defined by planes extending vertically downward from the limits of the outcrop to the center of the earth -- just as mineral rights are assumed to do. That would be halfway to Australia -- which means that the declined tunnel must not pass beneath the Rock at any depth.

4. "Do not disturb." Turning again to our trusty dictionary (mine is American Heritage, 4th Edition).

With pleasure I accept the #1 definition: "To disturb is to destroy or break up the tranquility." Again there can be no doubt that any mining-related activity will destroy the tranquility -- be it drilling, blasting, loading, trucking or any traffic. Activities making noises, dusts and odors would likewise be allowed only at a distance of several hundred feet from the Rock.

Judge Patterson’s ruling was correct -- the portal must be moved far from the Rock.

My opinion is that the Rock is not the best place from which to access and ventilate the ore body. Kennecott made a costly mistake and must pay for it.

Judge Manderfield was misled by their arrogant and overconfident propaganda and must now rescind her edict and issue the injunction specified in Part 632 for cases of doubt.

Thank you,

Jack Parker, Mining Engineer, Toivola, MI 49965

* Mining expert Jack Parker, semi-retired mining engineer/geologist, is well respected for his practical experience in more than 500 mines around the world. Parker -- who has degrees in mining engineering, geological engineering and geology from Michigan Technological University -- specializes in practical rock mechanics.

** Click here for Part 632, Michigan Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining Law.