ACTION ALERT: Sean Duffy Attacking Wisconsin’s Water

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Barbara With

October 27, 2014

Rep. Sean Duffy and his Tea Party extremists are trying to take away our protection.

Rep. Sean Duffy (WI-R-7) is in a hotly contested race with Kelly Westlund of Ashland for the Congressional seat representing District 7, which includes the Penokee Hill and Bad River watershed. Duffy recently co-sponsored two bills that passed in the House that take aim at the Treaty Rights of the Lake Superior Chippewa, as well as all of the waters of Wisconsin.

The bills—HR 5078 and HR 4854—are co-sponsored by Tea Party Republicans and Southern Democrats in mining states and are based on a corporate manifesto written by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization funded in part by David and Charles Koch. They are designed to severely limit the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers from implementing the Clean Power Plan.

The bills passed the House in September and are part of ALEC’s “model legislation” based on the Tea Party ideology found in “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Assault on State Sovereignty.” Portraying the power of the EPA as dangerous federal overreach, the manifesto aims to protect mining interests across the country from being held accountable for their impact on the environment.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

We need people power before the election to help educate the state on the truth. We need people writing Letters to the Editor to your local papers, sharing this information with your family and friends, and forwarding the link to people who might be undecided about who to vote for.

The truth is if Walker, Duffy and Ryan get re-elected, they will continue to bring the Koch Brothers and the influence of all their corporate money has here in Wisconsin. If Walker, Duffy, Jamey Francis, Dane Deustch and their Tea Party friends prevail, they will dismantle any protections we have from mining.

Remember how we were told over and over, “If the mine would pollute, the EPA won’t allow it.” This is the same lie they told us in January 2011 about not wanting to change the Wisconsin State mining laws. GTac knew when they told us that that the new bill was already in progress.

Find your local newspaper here. Write a letter. Support Kelly Westlund. And then get out the vote and let’s elect people not paid for by the Koch Brothers: Kelly for Congress, Beth Meyers for Assembly, Susan Happ for Attorney General and Mary Burke for governor on November 4, 2014. If you live outside of District 7, find out who in your district supports We the People and clean water.

Help others learn the truth and get out the vote on November 4th.

Your very life may depend on it.

One of many undocumented streams and waterfalls of the Bad River watershed. Photo: Maureen Matusewic

Hayward Screening of “Wisconsin Mining Standoff”

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Barbara With

** For Immediate Release ***

SCREENING AND DISCUSSION OF DOCUMENTARY ON PROPOSED PENOKEE IRON MINE

Hayward, September 11, Park Theatre, 6:30pm

A short documentary film which addresses the controversial, proposed iron mine in the Penokee Hills will be screened at the Park Theatre in Hayward, Wisconsin, Thursday, September 11th, 6:30pm. A panel discussion with open community forum will follow the film.

WISCONSIN’S MINING STANDOFF was produced by Milwaukee-based 371 Productions for the Al Jazeera America “Fault Lines” program and premiered June of 2014. The filmmakers visited Ashland and Iron Counties to gather stories of the people there and the company behind the mine.

Gogebic Taconite (GTac) proposes to dig North America’s largest open pit mine in the Penokee Hills. Company executives are interviewed, as are area residents in opposition to the mine.

Viewers will visit a century-old family owned dairy farm, join a geologist on a rock hunt, and hike deep into the winter woods to spend time at a harvest camp established by members of the Lac Courtes Orielles (LCO) Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. Local residents and members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa raise concerns about acid mine drainage that would likely contaminate the Bad River and the large sloughs at the edge of Lake Superior. The Chairwoman of the Iron County Mining Impact Committee, on the other hand, maintains GTac’s mine would bring desperately needed jobs to a region with high unemployment.

If you care about democracy or the environment, or simply love good drama, you won’t want to miss this deep look into the controversy. The dive into the issues will continue after the half-hour film. A panel made up mainly of people featured in the film will field questions from the audience.

The panelists will be:

• Dr. Tom Fitz, geologist, Northland College
Paul DeMain, journalist, publisher of Indian County Today, member of LCO Band
Philomena Kebec, attorney, member of Bad River Band
Barbara With, citizen journalist, activist, author

The screening is sponsored by the Penokee Hills Education Project.

miningimpactcoalition.org

Press contacts:

Will Pipkin, event organizer, 715-763-3462, 715-209-3597
Devon Cupery, 371 Productions, 414-617-5843, 371productions.com

Cable Hosts “Wisconsin’s Mining Standoff”

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Barbara With

Bad River Watershed Association hosts “Wisconsin’s Mining Standoff”

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Barbara With

Standing room only at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center for the screening of 371 Production’s “Wisconsin Mining Standoff.” Photo: Bobbi Rongstad

On July 24, 2014, the Bad River Watershed Association hosted a screening of 371 Production’s Wisconsin’s Mining Standoff at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. The film is running on Al Jazeera America, and tells the story of Gogebic Taconite’s invasion of the Penokee Hills with the intention of installing a 22-mile open-pit mountaintop removal iron ore mine at the center of the Bad River Watershed. The event had standing room only.

After the film, a panel discussion was held and included people who have been instrumental in standing up to protect the water. Topics included the hydrology of the Bad River Watershed, recent EPA ruling in Bristol Bay, GTAC, recent legislation, and how we can continue to stand united in defense of the water by writing letters of support for the Chippewa Federation at their August 21, 2104 meeting with the EPA. Audience members asked informed questions and got straight answers.

Photo: Bobbi Rongstad

Panel members included Sen. Bob Jauch (D-25), Chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Mike Wiggins Jr., Ashland County Board Chair Pete Russo, Ashland County Board member Charles Ortman, 371 Productions producer Devon Cupery, and Tracy Hames, executive director of Wisconsin Wetlands Association. The discussion was facilitated by Allie Raven, Bad River Tribal Member and BRWA Mining Impact Committee member.

Watch the entire informative discussion below.

ACTION ALERT: Send Letters of Support to Stop Mining in the Penokees

Posted on July 19, 2014 by Barbara With

Photo: Rebecca Kemble

On August 21, 2014, the six tribes of Wisconsin’s Chippewa Federation will meet with the Environmental Protection Agency officials to urge them to stop mining activity in the Penokee Hills. Tribal leaders sent a letter last May requesting the meeting and asking the EPA to invoke a section of the Clean Water Act in order to prevent the devastation of a proposed 22-mile open pit mountaintop removal iron ore mine from destroying the Bad River watershed:

“CWA§404(c) authorizes the EPA to restrict, prohibit, deny, or withdraw the use of an area for the disposal of dredged or fill material, including mining wastes, when it is determined that discharge will have unacceptable adverse effects on fisheries, wildlife, shellfish beds, municipal water supplies, or recreational areas.”

We need your help in standing united in defense of the life-supporting waters of the Bad River Watershed. Let’s send a clear message to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of initiating the 404c Process.

Use this form to tell the EPA how mining discharge would affect you:

EPA Letter Campaign

Using a copy of the pre-addressed letter, please sign and add a brief statement based on your own experience that tells how you/your family/your business would be affected.

The entire stack of completed letters will be presented to the EPA on August 21, so please add your personal message, sign it, and either email your online version to:

CommDir@badriver-nsn.gov
(715) 682-7107 ext. 1531

Or mail hard copy to:
Mark Rolo
Bad River Legal Department
PO Box 39
Odanah, WI 54861.

We are asking that you include additional contact information so we can contact you for follow-up activities.

Here are a few points to help get you started:

• I am a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa…

• My family has lived/conducted spiritual practices/farmed/harvested wild rice/hunted/fished/hiked/in the Bad River Watershed area for — generations…

• I live (fish, hunt, gather, hike, bird watch, kayak, canoe…) in/my business is located in/ the area drained by the Bad River Watershed…

Mining waste discharge from GTAC’s proposed taconite mine in the Penokee Hills will disperse known harmful contaminants throughout the water-rich environment of the Bad River Watershed from the Bad River’s headwaters in the Penokee Range to its endpoints throughout the western Lake Superior Basin, thereby adversely affecting /the health and well-being of our human, plant and animal communities for years to come/ my community’s drinking water/the plants and animals I depend on for subsistence/the vitality of our fish and other aquatic species/our wild and unspoiled natural recreational areas/…

You can also find more info on the website protectpenokeehills.org.

Top: The Penokee Hills now. Bottom: What the Penokee Hills would look like if a mine was allowed to be built.

United In Defense of The Water

Water is Life

Category Archives: wisconsin mining