MINING COMPANY WITHDRAWS PERMIT FOR ACID SOLUTION MINE
Michigan decision may have impact on Wisconsin sulfide mining
On Thursday afternoon, May 29, the Copper Range Corporation withdrew its
permit for acid solution mining at the White Pine copper mine in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water
manager Jody Traub telephoned Chippewa tribal chairs from the EPA Region V
office in Chicago around 3 pm to inform them of the company's decision.
Midwest Treaty Network spokesperson Walter Bresette hailed the company
move as a major victory for grassroots environmental organizing and
traditional Native American activism. "The death of the White Pine mine
shows that mining companies are now on the run in our region. We
anticipate the company withdrawal to begin a domino effect across the
North Country. Today White Pine, tomorrow Crandon!"
A Copper Range letter stated that the current EPA delay in permitting the
acid solution pilot project is making the mining project "economically
unfeasible." The project would have reopened the White Pine mine, which
was closed in 1995, in order to extract or leach out the remaining copper
ore with a sulfuric acid solution.
The White Pine acid solution mining project was the cause of a train
blockade on the Bad River Chippewa Reservation in northern Wisconsin last
year. The Anishinabe Ogitchida (Protectors of the People) blocked the
Wisconsin Central Railroad tracks from July 22 to August 18 out of fear
that sulfuric acid being transported in tanker cars to White Pine would
spill into reservation waterways.
For background on the blockade and the White Pine mine,
log on to the Midwest Treaty Network web site at
http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/mtn-brx1.html
For comments, call Walter Bresette at the Midwest Treaty Network
Northwest Wisconsin office at (715) 779-5071.