For more information, please click here:  http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/575588/Club-files-legal-challenge-against-Eagle-Mine-project.html?nav=5006

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/575543/Last-chance-beckons.html?nav=5067

On May 2, members of the Bad River Band Council attended  a consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur in Mission, South Dakota.  Representatives from Keweenaw Bay Indian Community plan to attend another consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur later this month.

The undersigned individuals and organizations are writing to urge you to close two loopholes in the Clean Water Act (CWA) that allow sulfide (hardrock) mines to discharge untreated tailings and other wastes directly into the nation’s rivers, lakes, and wetlands.

A mineral rush is underway across the upper Great Lakes region.  The waters, forests, and wildlife of the Lake Superior basin share their homelands with deposits of copper, nickel, gold, uranium, and other metals.  One mine is already under contruction less than eight miles from Lake Superior beneath one of its tributaries.  A second new mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has been permitted less than one mile from Lake Superior.  A large sulfide mine is proposed a short distance from the renowned Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  Exploration is spreading like wildfire, fueled by worldwide demand and increasing metals prices.

Please click here for the complete letter:  Protect the Great Lakes from CWA loopholes & mining

Sign on by leaving your name and organization, city and state, in the comment section below.  Thank you!

The Delich Exchange is slated to trade away wooded parcels within 10 miles of Watersmeet, Michigan, which are defined by features such as Wildcat Falls and old growth hemlock, hardwood and cedar, as well as unique geological features with rock outcrops and Scott and Howe creek. In return, the Ottawa gains a heavily cut-over parcel located south of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.  The appraised value on the Delich parcel to be acquired in the trade is $316,000, and the value of the public land to be traded is $290,000. The Forest Service will make the $26,000 difference in cash payment to Delich. Just the economic timber value alone of the currently-held public parcels exceeds the compensatory value the Forest Service will achieve.*

A spokesperson for the conservation interests, Joe Hovel of Conover, Wisconsin, minced no words in his stark refute of this exchange. “This project demonstrates a tragic loss to the public and is a disgrace to the Ottawa National Forest. The loss of the intrinsic values of these unique features, as well as the lands, for less than the economic timber value represents an ill-conceived decision by the Forest Supervisor.  It is very disappointing that the Regional Forester affirmed the decision and ignored the public outcry.”

While Regional Forester Chuck Meyers did affirm Supervisor Scardina’s decision, he did not go so far as to say it was a wise decision, and only stated that the process followed the law. Plaintiff and PIF board member Rod Sharka disagreed, questioning how the public involvement could be ignored. “The public spoke out in unison against this poorly thought-out project, which it appears was decided by officials without the normal ‘due diligence’ necessary in real estate transactions,” said Sharka. “The more the public learned about this proposal, the less acceptable it appeared, and yet Forest Service officials continue to defend the indefensible,” added Sharka.

The Citizens’ primary objection is the loss of Wildcat Falls and its surrounding features to a private party who has stated development plans for the area. The citizens also have raised concern that the Delich parcel, which the public would acquire, was not sustainably managed, but was severely over-harvested in recent years.

Totaling nine, other plaintiffs in this suit are the Northwood Alliance Inc., a local conservation group, Upper Peninsula residents from Watersmeet, Iron River, Marenisco and Marquette, as well as a land conservation advocate from the Adirondacks.

*page 15 appraisal report of federal parcels by Compass Land Consulting, LLC

Thanks to everyone who signed the Petition.  Your support was critical at just the right moment.  Although the Forest Service denied the Appeal of the land exchange, the petitioners in the pending lawsuit are hopeful the court will intervene and recognize the incredible value of this natural resource.

Susan Sommer

                                    ———————————————————

A partnership of conservation interests has engaged an attorney who specializes in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to file a complaint in Federal District Court to halt this exchange. A local conservation group, Northwood Alliance, has agreed to handle the fundraising and expenses involved in this endeavor. Northwood Alliance is a 501c(3) charitable organization whose mission is the conservation of unique lands and public values. Your gift is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the Northwood Alliance.

Contributions may be sent to: Northwood Alliance Inc. 6063 Baker Lake Rd. Conover, WI 54519. Make the check out to Northwood Alliance and write on the memo line “Wild Cat Falls fund.”

If you prefer, contributions may also be made on-line at: http://www.northwoodalliance.org/#Donate
Just click on the “Donate Now through Network For Good” button. Be sure to indicate the special use “Wild Cat Falls” on the donation page.

The falling nickel prices bring expansion efforts like Vale’s exploration in the far north, First Nickel’s attempts and Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Eagle Mine on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula into question. If between 5% and 8% of current nickel production is unprofitable, as Mr. Sprogis claims, how are these new projects supposed to make money?

The Kennecott Eagle, with its mile-long tunnel, is obviously one of the most questionable mining projects out there. On this website, Rio Tinto (RIO) admits that Kennecott, which won’t even open until next year, will cost $469 million. Kennecott will only be in business for 7-8seven to eight years, but it is supposed to produce 300 million pounds of nickel and 250 million pounds of copper.

To read the rest of the article, please click here:  http://seekingalpha.com/article/518791-these-5-mining-stocks-will-plummet-on-falling-nickel-prices

Two Upper Peninsula women are traveling to London, England to attend the Rio Tinto Annual General Meeting taking place April 19, 2012.  Carla Champagne of the grassroots citizens group Concerned Citizens of Big Bay and Cynthia Pryor of the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, plan on attending the Rio Tinto AGM meeting for two reasons:

“Air Quality is of prime importance to the people and community of Big Bay.” states Carla Champagne.  “We are directly downwind and no one – including Kennecott and the DEQ – knows what is currently in the air coming from this mine, or even more importantly, what will be coming from the one once they are in full operation.  There are no air monitors either at the mine or anywhere near Big Bay.  We will be asking the Rio Tinto Board of Directors and their shareholders for a comprehensive air quality program to be installed in the region that will be regulated by the DEQ, monitored by DEQ approved third party scientists and all costs paid for by Kennecott.”

Cynthia Pryor considers this meeting an opportunity to express outrage at Kennecott’s new Air Quality application to remove the air filter controls from the Main Vent Air Raise which will exhaust all the underground mine workings.  “This 65 foot high stack sits within 150 feet of the Salmon Trout River.  We worked hard to get the air filter included as part of Kennecott’s original Air Quality permit as they intended the mine exhaust to be vented directly to the air.  Now, they are back pedaling and want this air filter to be removed.  We are vehemently opposed to such a notion and we wish to make this clear to the Rio Tinto Board.”

Rio Tinto filed their new Air Quality permit March 20, 2012 and the DEQ Air Quality Division is currently evaluating it.  Public hearings for this application have been requested for Big Bay and Lansing.  The application is on the DEQ website at http://www.deq.state.mi.us/aps/AppsOfInterest.shtml.

Initially we claimed that the Rock is sacred – a place of worship, not to be desecrated.

Kennecott, in their application, wrote that no artifacts were found.  They were incompetent archaeologists and/or they lied.

Significant prehistoric artifacts were being studied professionally on top of the rock.  The results have now been published.

In court AL Judge Patterson sided with us and ruled that the portal should be located elsewhere, far from the Rock. That was his sole concession.

Kennecott lawyers reinterpreted the meaning of “place of worship”, insisting that it included a building, and the DEQ concurred with them, as usual, despite other dictionary definitions, despite the fact that prehistoric construction materials would have decomposed and, without field investigation, they overturned the ALJ ruling.

In September 2011 Kennecott began to construct a portal into the Rock, including a tunnel beneath the Rock, now fenced off as sacred ground.  That was a scenario not unlike driving a tunnel beneath Saint Peter’s (the “Rock on which my church is built”) cathedral and building a 100-acre mine site in his parking lot.   You might ask the Bishop for his opinion.

The desecration will continue for many years, beyond the life of the Eagle mine.

To protect the artifacts from exploitation by amateur archaeologists and collectors Kennecott built a substantial galvanized Cyclone-type 8ft fence around the top of the Rock.  That was a commendable gesture on their part, probably instigated by new local management, but it does not excuse the fraudulent deceptions committed by Kennecott two years ago and it does not change the ongoing desecration of the site as a whole.

Without any field investigation they lied about the status of the Rock, and the DEQ, similarly without field investigation, colluded with them.

To accept the current situation would be to aid and abet the breaking of the law, Part 632 in particular, and to invite the prescribed penalties for doing so.
The legal requirement would be that the site be restored to its original condition without delay.

The blame for the situation and the cost of restitution can be attributed to those who deceived, those “who made false representations in the permitting process”.

See pages 13 and 14 of Part 632.

Jack Parker
Baltic, MI

It is indeed a sad anniversary, two years since my first visit to the Rock.  Rich, Gabriel, Barb, Teresa, Tiris and I went up before sunrise and had a small ceremony on this date in 2010.  No fans, generators, trucks, or drill rigs.  No powerlines, streetlights or spotlights.  Darkness only, and no sound but the wind, or the Spirit, moving over the Plains.

Catherine

Thursday, April 12, 2012

WATERSMEET, MICH. — On Sunday, April 1, approximately 100 people gathered on County Line Lake Road a few miles northwest of Watersmeet, Mich., for a hike to Wildcat Falls — to mourn the sacrificial loss of these special Forest Service parcels containing the unique natural features of potential old growth hemlock/cedar forests, amazing rock outcrops, high quality Scott and Howe Creek, as well as Wildcat Falls.

The crowd contained not only local residents, but numerous individuals who traveled from as far away as Houghton/Hancock, Marquette, Iron River, and Ironwood, Mich., as well as Rhinelander, Wis. This hike was sponsored by Partners in Forestry Coop (a local woodland owners organization dedicated to sustainable forestry practices), the Northwoods Alliance (a local non-profit that promotes land conservation issues), and the Northwoods Native Plant Society (a native botany club consisting of professional and amateur botanists).

To continue reading, please click here:  http://keweenawnow.blogspot.com/2012/04/hike-to-wildcat-falls-draws-large-crowd.html

A final, heartfelt appeal:  http://keweenawnow.blogspot.com/2012/04/letter-to-forest-service-on-wildcat.html

By Gabriel Caplett– 04/11/2012

Once again, the Army Corps of Engineers has objected to Kennecott’s planned ore hauling road, in Marquette County.  The road project, formerly called “Woodland Road,” but now going by “County Road 595” and applied for by the county road commission, “is deficient in several areas,” according to a letter dated March 29, sent from the Corps’ Detroit office to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The letter makes clear that the “the primary beneficiary of the route as proposed would be Kennecott.”  According to the Corps, 595 “is the most direct route from the Eagle Mine to Kennecott’s ore processing facility,” in Humboldt Township, so the road plan should be clear it would be built largely to service Kennecott’s mining operations.

In the letter, the Corps lists a number of other potential hauling routes that would be preferable to constructing 595, including rail options, something not considered in the application.  Rehabilitating abandoned railways, the Corps writes, “in combination with selected road improvements and active railroad lines, may provide a potentially viable alternative for transportation of ore and timber, as well as improve road access from US-41 to the northern portion of Marquette County.”

To continue reading, please click here:  http://headwatersnews.net/news/army-corps-objects-to-kennecott-haul-road/

Public  input has been overwhelmingly against this exchange.  It is also opposed by a number of conservation groups, including  Partners in Forestry, which promotes sustainable use of woodlands.   PIF comments, and supporting documentation, may be seen here:  http://www.partnersinforestry.com/

A citizen appeal has been filed and is pending review before Chuck Myers, Appeal Deciding Officer for the Forest Service.  His decision may come as early as April 2012.

Please let him know these lands must be cherished and protected in trust for the public, by signing this petition:  http://signon.org/sign/ottawa-national-forest-1?source=s.em.cr&r_by=893716&mailing_id=2940  You are most welcome to contact him directly, as well:

Chuck Myers, Regional Forester
USDA Forest Service
Eastern Region – R9
626 East Wisconsin Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
414.297.3600

clmeyers@fs.fed.us

We would also like you to join us in visiting this very special place as part of a group hike–this Sunday, April 1st, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Central time.  Please click here for details:  LAST CHANCE VISIT TO WILDCAT FALLS

A friend of the Falls has put together a brief video, a preview of what you might see:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIWyot-Mq8E&feature=youtu.be

We are asking that the decision be reversed.  It can be done.  It should be done.

Forest Service link for the Delich exchange:  http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/project_content.php?project=27625

Map of the proposed exchange: 

Link for USFS office in Milwaukee–submit electronic comments here:  http://www.fs.usda.gov/contactus/r9/about-region/contactus

Video footage of the properties that would be exchanged:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bns0aFaBceM&feature=youtu.be