Sign warning of dangerous pollution from the long-closed Buck and Dober mines in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The latest chapter in a multi-year fight over a proposed copper-nickel mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is the overnight jailing of Cynthia Pryor for alleged trespass on the mining site, which is on state-owned land. Although the project has won all necessary state approvals — which are being contested in court by citizens — activists say the project can’t go ahead until the U.S. EPA signs off. Kennecott Company, operator of the Kennecott Eagle mine project, disagrees, saying changes it made to its proposal make the federal OK unnecessary.
Tuesday night, newly re-energized mine opponents turned out at a meeting to support Pryor. Pryor said Kennecott purchased about 40 acres of land on the Yellow Dog Plains to begin construction, but has only leased the land she was arrested on, and that the lease that does not permit construction.
“In my mind, that lease is not real,” said Pryor.
The week before Pryor’s arrest, Kennecott officials said they were proceeding without the EPA permit.
“We are scheduled to start surface facilities this summer,” said Matt Johnson, Kennecott government and community relations manager.
Pryor was arrested April 20 by Michigan State Police troopers contacted by Kennecott employees after she refused to leave the site. She was lodged in the Marquette County Jail on $100 bond. She pled not guilty. A judge released her from jail pending a May 6 court hearing.
The Kennecott proposal has sharply divided the state, with some locals supporting the project for job creation and others fearing acid mine drainage could harm high-quality trout streams and Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world when measured by surface area. Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (now the Department of Natural Resources and Environment), approved the project under state law in January.
Native Americans are protesting the proposed mine entrance near Eagle Rock, which they say is a sacred place. A state regulator dismissed the claim, ruling that only buildings are considered places of worship under state law.
This is a YouTube video documenting Pryor’s arrest and her reaction :
Image: Save Our Sky Blue Waters.
One expects this kind of behaviour in third world countries where large companies ‘own’ the local politicians and the police… that couldn’t happen in Michigan, could it?