Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak Reiterates Concerns With Rio Tinto Mine

By
Gabriel Caplett
– 07/19/2010

A few weeks after writing an 0p-ed comparing BP’s lack of concern for worker safety and the environment to Rio Tinto, Stupak has reiterated his concerns about Michigan’s mining law and lack of financial assurance requirements in a letter to the editor of the Iron Mountain Daily News.

. . . My position on the Kennecott mine in Marquette County has remained consistent since it was first proposed. When the Michigan legislature first considered the new mining law that made sulfide mining possible, I expressed significant concern that baseline standards were not called for in the law. In early 2006, when the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality first allowed for public comment I raised these concerns. Unfortunately, four years later these concerns still remain unaddressed.

Without an Environmental Impact Statement and independent baseline hydrological and geological studies it will be very difficult to prove that the Kennecott mine is the source of any new pollution that occurs once operations begin. I am also not confident that a $17 million assurance bond will be enough to cover all potential environmental damage and contamination from the Kennecott mine. It is not uncommon for environmental remediation costs to end up being significantly higher than originally planned for.

Stupak also noted that Rio Tinto’s nearby (now closed) Flambeau Mine, in Wisconsin continues to pollute the prized Flambeau River with heavy metals and that metallic sulfide mining is known to have caused extensive damage to rivers and streams in the American West.

The fact is that sulfide mining is prone to pollution and very difficult to clean. Studies have shown high levels of toxic heavy metals downriver from the former Kennecott Flambeau mine in Ladysmith, Wis., and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that at least 40 percent of the headwater streams in western watersheds are contaminated where similar mining is occurring in states like Colorado and New Mexico. These scenarios must be prevented from occurring in the Yellow Dog River and our Great Lakes.

The people and our communities of the Upper Peninsula will remain long after Kennecott collects its profits and leaves. It is imperative that we do all we can to protect our miners, our citizens and our Great Lakes in the meantime so we are not left with a tarnished landscape and public health problems.

This post was written by

Gabriel Caplett – who has written 106 posts on Headwaters - Community Journalism for the Great Lakes.

Gabriel Caplett is a writer and market farmer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

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