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		Letter to Editor March 16, 2007 Letter © 2007 Ted Johnson. Published with Permission.

Stop the Eagle Mine Project forever

By Ted Johnson

The Upper Peninsula is the last bastion in Michigan capable of saving the pristine landscapes, the unspoiled lakes and rivers, tribal ceded lands, major bird and wildfowl flyways, trophy deer and fish, a safe and friendly living environment, and unique and remaining resources.

Out-of-state and foreign companies, including certain individuals from same, even a few of our own, with nothing more than profit on their minds, come here to extract the minerals, the trees, and the artifacts -- and then retreat, having left nothing of value in return. They dump on the landscape all their own trash, industrial wastes, and toxic chemicals that leach into our soils and wetlands. Their machinery may also emit hazardous air emissions that, combined with the former defined wastes, denigrate our air and the protecting atmosphere. Some of this activity is even performed or proposed in the guise of development that is supposed to aid our economy. However, any/all of this, in effect, decreases the value and serenity of our lands and leaves a non-sustaining economic base.

No matter what regulations or contracts exist, those companies and individuals have only to leave the area, possibly pay some fines, or simply evade everything in court and/or declare bankruptcy.

Our generations and we will be the only ones left that are alive and responsible enough to rebuild, refill, renew, replant, restock, detoxify, clean up after them, and reclaim the land.

If you want to see a good example of how a chalcopyrite and/or a sulphur-based ore type of mine can devastate a community, go to Chapais, Quebec, and look at the mine tailings surrounding a portion of the community. The only proposed economic benefit to the community for which the tailings are deemed suitable is a huge open-air landfill which generates a tipping fee, another project guaranteeing the final demise of that community.

Every individual in this area -- each one representing this state and the visitors who come to the U.P. to enjoy its natural beauty and recreational opportunities -- has a duty to stand up and repel the aforementioned entities whenever the need arises. An important need arose in the Yellow Dog Plains.

This land is the "Mother Earth" to the First Nation, another "Soul Mate" to all, and is waiting for us to step forth and identify ourselves.

Ted Johnson
Calumet, Michigan

Editor's Note: The author of this letter, Calumet resident Ted Johnson, is an engineer and project developer working on regional alternative energy systems with environmental enhancement for municipalities and industries in North America and developing countries. He is also an avid researcher of worldwide prehistoric mining activities.

Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists and correspondents are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.