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  • 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.

    Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak Reiterates Concerns With Rio Tinto Mine

    Posted on 07/19/2010 | 2 Comments
    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.

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  • Michigan Messenger’s Eartha Melzer writes that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment lacks funding to come even close to regulating a new mine in the...

    Weak Enforcement Likely at Proposed Rio Tinto Mine

    Posted on 07/14/2010 | No Comments
    Michigan Messenger’s Eartha Melzer writes that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment lacks funding to come even close to regulating a new mine in the...

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  • About thirty people packed a small room at the Peter White Library, in Marquette, yesterday evening to listen to filmmaker/composer Jeff Gibbs discuss economic, health and environmental problems with

    Diverse Crowd Attends Marquette Biomass Discussion

    Posted on 07/09/2010 | No Comments
    About thirty people packed a small room at the Peter White Library, in Marquette, yesterday evening to listen to filmmaker/composer Jeff Gibbs discuss economic, health and environmental problems with "biomass" energy plans.

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  • Marquette, Michigan is fortunate in being able to draw its drinking water from the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior. With an intake positioned away from river outlets and outside of the harbor, it pulls water from a depth of 60 feet at a distance of 600 feet from the shore. This natural advantage, plus an innovative micro-filtration process, means that very few of the EPA’s “regulated contaminants” for drinking water are detectable, and none are in violation of EPA standards. One of those few detectable “contaminants” is fluoride, a controversial drinking water additive that is purported to reduce rates of tooth decay.

    Fluoride in Drinking Water: How Safe Is It?

    Posted on 07/08/2010 | 1 Comment
    Marquette, Michigan is fortunate in being able to draw its drinking water from the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior. With an intake positioned away from river outlets and outside of the harbor, it pulls water from a depth of 60 feet at a distance of 600 feet from the shore. This natural advantage, plus an innovative micro-filtration process, means that very few of the EPA’s “regulated contaminants” for drinking water are detectable, and none are in violation of EPA standards. One of those few detectable “contaminants” is fluoride, a controversial drinking water additive that is purported to reduce rates of tooth decay.

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  • More than three months since Rio Tinto announced that it no longer needed a federal permit to inject 184 million gallons of treated wastewater at its proposed metallic sulfide Eagle Project, the US Environmental Protection Agency has agreed with the company. In a letter dated July 1, Peter Silva, Assistant Administrator for Water for the EPA’s Region 5 division said the agency “reviewed” Rio Tinto’s revised plans for its “treated water infiltration system” and agreed that a permit is not required under the federal underground injection control program.”

    EPA Says No Permit Needed for Rio Tinto Mine

    Posted on 07/04/2010 | 2 Comments
    More than three months since Rio Tinto announced that it no longer needed a federal permit to inject 184 million gallons of treated wastewater at its proposed metallic sulfide Eagle Project, the US Environmental Protection Agency has agreed with the company. In a letter dated July 1, Peter Silva, Assistant Administrator for Water for the EPA’s Region 5 division said the agency “reviewed” Rio Tinto’s revised plans for its “treated water infiltration system” and agreed that a permit is not required under the federal underground injection control program.”

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  • BP's oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not the first time the oil industry's practice of cutting corners on environmental protection put entire ecosystems and cultures at risk. While most Americans are familiar with the Exxon Valdez spill, few have heard of Chevron/Texaco's far more serious oil disaster in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. Chevron, which bought Texaco in 2001, dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater (known as "produced water") into the Amazon from 1964 to 1992.

    Chevron Should Pay for Its Oil Disaster, Too

    Posted on 07/01/2010 | No Comments
    BP's oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not the first time the oil industry's practice of cutting corners on environmental protection put entire ecosystems and cultures at risk. While most Americans are familiar with the Exxon Valdez spill, few have heard of Chevron/Texaco's far more serious oil disaster in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. Chevron, which bought Texaco in 2001, dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater (known as "produced water") into the Amazon from 1964 to 1992.

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  • by US Representative Bart Stupak It is difficult to think of northern Michigan without also thinking about the Great Lakes. These waters are vital to our economy...

    Gulf Spill Holds Lessons for Protecting Great Lakes from Drilling and Sulfide Mining

    Posted on 06/26/2010 | 2 Comments
    by US Representative Bart Stupak It is difficult to think of northern Michigan without also thinking about the Great Lakes. These waters are vital to our economy...

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  • Traverse City Light & Power executive director Ed Rice said that the TCLP board has decided to “curtail any detailed analysis” of biomass options and instead explore meeting the city’s power needs with natural gas. He cited community opposition to biomass power and lowered costs for natural gas as the main reasons for tabling the plan.

    Traverse City Backs-off From Biomass Plans

    Posted on 06/23/2010 | 2 Comments
    Traverse City Light & Power executive director Ed Rice said that the TCLP board has decided to “curtail any detailed analysis” of biomass options and instead explore meeting the city’s power needs with natural gas. He cited community opposition to biomass power and lowered costs for natural gas as the main reasons for tabling the plan.

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  • In his May 27 Press Conference, President Obama stated that BP Oil (British Petroleum) will be totally responsible for all clean up in the Gulf oil spill....

    The Bailing-out of BP: Implications for the Upper Great Lakes

    Posted on 06/07/2010 | No Comments
    In his May 27 Press Conference, President Obama stated that BP Oil (British Petroleum) will be totally responsible for all clean up in the Gulf oil spill....

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  • April 20, 2010 will go down in history as a day of infamy.  This is the day that British Petroleum’s deep ocean oil exploration drilling rig exploded,...

    BP Disaster: What are we doing to the planet we call Home?

    Posted on 05/09/2010 | 1 Comment
    April 20, 2010 will go down in history as a day of infamy.  This is the day that British Petroleum’s deep ocean oil exploration drilling rig exploded,...

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