Penokee Hills Mine Could Devastate Environment, Local Economies

[hue]

http://www.uwsp.edu/pointeronline/Pages/articles/Penokee-Hills-Mine-Could-Devastate.aspx

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, Frank Koehn held a presentation in the DUC Theatre to educate people about the destructive nature of the Penokee Hills iron mine proposal.

“This is a resource war,” Koehn began. “It’s about the water.”
The area where the proposed iron mine would be placed—which covers a 22-mile, 22,000-acre strip of the Penokee Hills from southwest of Hurley to west of Mellen—contains 71 miles of rivers and streams. Many of these waterways empty into the Bad River and eventually find their way to Lake Superior, contamination of which could be catastrophic. “All waste products will end up in the Bad River,” Koehn warned.

A pamphlet distributed at the presentation states the contamination of Lake Superior could prove detrimental to the economies of lakeside communities such as Bayfield, Washburn and Ashland. Native American tribes such as the Ojibwe and the Anishinaabeg of Bad River would also suffer greatly.

The Nature Conservancy has dedicated a page on its website to this issue. It explains that “these waterways—including the Bad, Potato and Tyler Forks rivers—are designated as Exceptional or Outstanding Resource waters, meaning they are among the highest quality rivers in Wisconsin, having good water quality … and supporting valuable fisheries and wildlife habitat.”

Glenn Wills, an attendant of the presentation, said, “I just think it’s more than obvious that the jobs that the mining bill will supposedly create are going to be far less that the jobs that are currently provided by the job structure of the area surrounding the mine.” He said that these small businesses, including rice fields and fisheries, would be better off left as they are. Currently there are around 1,000 jobs, and Wills concluded, “This is going to be less than 1,000 and it’s only going to be for five years.”

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great synopsis & cross posted to GR

[Scuba]

1. Thanks hue. Depressing, but it's necessary that we are informed.