Guest Article: Speak Up for Lake Superior’s Bad River Watershed: Work to Save What You Love!

Lake Superior. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative)

Posted Feb. 13, 2022, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative (WCMC)
Reprinted here with permission

A Zoom Webinar will be held from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. (CT) / 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. (ET) on Monday, February 14. This second Webinar in WCMC's Kairos-supported* events focuses on the following:

• What is included and what was omitted in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed re-routing of Enbridge Line 5
• What points to highlight in written responses to the WI DNR within the public response period (closing on March 18, 2022)
• Resources and toolkits for effective letters to the WI DNR and government leaders

Guest Speakers:

Marcia Bjornerud, professor of environmental studies and geosciences at Lawrence University, is a structural geologist. She has done field research in arctic and mainland Norway, arctic Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, Italy and the Lake Superior region, including the Gogebic Range/Penokee Hills. She has worked pro bono with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission in challenging two mining projects in the Lake Superior watershed. In 2008, she was an expert witness in an administrative court case against the Eagle copper-nickel sulfide mine northwest of Marquette, Michigan. In 2012, she prepared a report for GLIFWC on the potential environmental effects of a proposed mountaintop removal iron mining project in the Gogebic Range and testified about this at a hearing at the Wisconsin State Capitol. She is a mother of three sons, an avid cross-country skier, and a wild food forager -- and once bicycled around Lake Superior with two friends (it took 13 days).

Philomena Kebec belongs to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. She moved home 10 years ago to advocate for protection of watershed resources. Philomena is an elected Ashland County Supervisor and runs a small nonprofit, Badriverharmreduction.org, that provides services to prevent overdose and infection for people who use drugs. (She would welcome financial support for her nonprofit.) Philomena is deeply knowledgeable about the Bad River watershed and its residents.

Register in advance for this webinar at:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JiGj1oHTSLan_zNjBvq-hQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

*A Webinar sponsored by First Congregational UCC Appleton with support from the Wisconsin UCC Creation Care Team and a Wisconsin Conference UCC’s Kairos/Catalyst grant.

Editor's Note: See also this Feb. 9 guest article from WCMC: "Guest Article: Citizens expose gross inadequacies in Enbridge Line 5 draft EIS, tell DNR to do their job."