8A - Wednesday, October 17, 2007A
U.P. mine plan draws fire
from across Michigan
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
DRUM CIRCLE
Kennecott
drilling proposal
under review by state
TRAVERSE CITY (AP) - Bik-
ing enthusiast Michael Robold
recoils at the idea of a copper and
nickel mine amid the woods and
rivers of the Yellow Dog Plains. "It
wouldbe atravesty!" he exclaimed
during a rally called by opponents.
Such determined resistance is
nothing new in the Upper Penin-
sula countryside where Kennecott
Minerals Co. wants to drill the
mine. But Robold was attending
a standing-room-only gathering
abut 300 miles away in Traverse
City, where opponents distributed
petitions and form letters to Gov.
Jennifer Granholm.
The debate over the mining
project began several years ago
as a mostly local squabble in Mar-
quette County. Now it's reverber-
ating across Michigan as the state
Department of Environmental
Quality approaches a final decision
on whether to issue permits.
Supporters and opponents are.
contacting government officials
and legislators, renting billboards
and sounding off in the media and
cyberspace. Combined, they've
spent at least $99,000 on lobby-
ing efforts, according to records
filed with the Secretary.of State's
office.
About 1,000 people attended
a series of public hearings last
month in Marquette County and
Lansing. Even former Gov. Wil-
liam Milliken weighed in with a
newspaper column denouncing
the project.
The public comment period
ends today. The DEQ, which has
given tentative approval, is sup-
posed to make a final ruling by
mid-November. But spokesman
Robert McCann said the deadline
might be extended so staffers can
properly consider the points citi-
zens have raised.
"It's an unusual case, where
people all over the state have been
taking interest and following it
very closely," McCann said. "Both
sides are very passionate."
Kennecott, which calls the
would-be mine the Eagle Proj-
ect, is targeting a six-acre
underground deposit expected
to yield 250-300 million pounds
of nickel and about 200 million
pounds of copper. Both are in
heavy demand for use. in elec-
tronic devices such as comput-
ers and'cell phones.
The mine would operate six to
eight years, providing more than
100 full-time jobs and generat-
ing millions in economic activity
and tax revenue, says Utah-based
Kennecott, a subsidiary of the
international conglomerate Rio
Tinto.
"These types of jobs are the
backbone of the economy in the
U.P., besides the forest industry,"
said Tom Petersen, president of a
pro-Kennecott group called Citi-
zens for Responsible Mining.
Petersen, now a consultant,
previously managed one of the
Upper Peninsula's two remain-
ing iron ore mines - both in Mar-
quette County. Supporters hope
the Eagle Project would herald a
new era of metal extraction in the
central and western U.P., where
abandoned copper and iron shafts
dot the landscape and companies
are exploring other potential
sites.
Petersen said he helped estab-
lish the Citizens group to coun-
ter "the misinformation and fear
tactics and emotional pleas of the
anti-mining community."
Opponents say the mine would
ruin the serenity of the isolated
Yellow Dog Plains and pollute its
Lake Superior tributary rivers.
They contend any economic ben-
efit would be short-lived and offset
by damage to industries such as
tourism.
The company says it can build
and operate the mine without
harm to the nearby Salmon Trout
and Yellow Dog rivers and while
keeping surface effects to a mini-
mum.
Citizens for Responsible Mining
has raised about $8,000 in dona-
tions but has accepted no money
from Kennecott, Petersen said. It
has a Web site and is sponsoring
billboard messages, speaking to
civic groups and writing guest edi-
torials for newspapers and televi-
sion.
Kennecott has sought support
locally and in Lansing.
Records with the Secretary of
State's office show the company
has spent more than $63,000 on
lobbying in Michigan since 2004.
It also has contributed to nonprofit
funds operatedby political parties,
Kennecott project manager Jon
Cherry said, although he would
not reveal how much. Operators of
such funds are not required to dis-
close their donors.
"We want to make sure people
in Lansing know what our project
is about, what the benefits to the
state of Michigan will be," Cherry
said.
The National Wildlife Federa-
tion has spent about $36,000 lob-
bying against the Eagle Project.
"We will never be able to match
their spending," federation attor-
ney Michelle Halley said. "But we
have advocates and citizens with a
genuine sense of place, an authen-
tic stake in where they live. Ken-
necott can't buy that."
Save the Wild U.P., a home-
grown opposition group, is rely-
ing on its Web site and grassroots
activism to make its voice heard
instead of hiring professionals
to lobby the DEQ or lawmakers,
director Alexis Raney said.
"I'll write to them, I'll talk to
them but I certainly don't wine
and dine them," she said.
McCann said DEQ officials
are giving supporters and foes a
fair hearing, but won't base their
decision on which side campaigns
more effectively.
It ultimately will depend on
whether the DEQ judges Ken-
necott's permit application as
meeting the state's nonferrous
mining law and regulations, he
said.
"This is not a popularity con-
test," McCann-said.
MAX COLuNS/Daily
People gathered in the back room of the Crazy Wisdom Book Store to participate in a drum circle open tothe public organized by
a group called Drummunity. Drummunity runs the high energy percussion activity once a month and also offers various drum-
ming-based workshops for parties and other events.
Jackson prison begins closing
Sick inmates had sued
state to keep
facility open
LANSING (AP) - Sick inpates at
a prison in Jackson are being taken
elsewhere now that the state has
approval to close the facility.
Twenty-five to 30 prisoners were
moved to other prisons yesterday,
said Russ Marlan, spokesman for
the state Department of Correc-
tions. Another 100 will be moved
this week, with the remaining 435
transferred gradually over the next
month. The Corrections Department
planstoclosethe SouthernMichigan
Correctional Facility by Nov. 15.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker
in Grand Rapids has again approved
a plan to transfer the sick inmates.
Federal appeals by inmates lawyers'
have been unsuccessful, and the
6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
on Monday issued a mandate giving
effect to an earlier decision to large-
ly stayout of the dispute.
Governor Jennifer Granholm's
admigistration wants to close the
1,400-bed Jackson prison to save
$35 million and help balance the
state budget.
Inmates' lawyers who sued to
block the prison's closure have said
the state wants it closed to escape
long-standing and costly federal
oversight of the health care system
at the Jackson prison complex.
Jonker recently took over the
class-action case after U.S. District
Judge Richard Enslen in Kalama-
zoo asked that it be transferred.
While Enslen had blocked the plan
to close the prison and ordered the
department to revise it, citing con-
cerns over moving sick prisoners,
Jonker said the transfer proposal
was OK.
The Corrections Departmenthas
been under a federal consent decree
in the case, known as Hadix, since
1985 to improve medical care and
other conditions at the state prisons
in Jackson.
The case has struck a nerve as
lawmakers and Granholm continue
grappling with major budget prob-
lems, including how to slow spend-
ing in the prison system that costs
$2 billion a year to run.
About 335 employees who work at
the Jackson prison will get letters in
the next two weeks asking for volun-
teers to transfer to prisons in other
partsofthestate.Thenthedepartment
will see how many of the remaining
workers can be moved to other parts of
the Jacksonprisoncomplex.
The Corrections Department
also plans to officially close Camp
Manistique, a minimum- security
facility in the Upper Peninsula, this
weekend. The prisoners already
have been transferred out. Some
state lawmakers want to keep the
facility open during budget nego-
tiations in coming weeks, but Gran-
holm's administration has much of
the control over closing facilities.
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