TOP 11 Reasons To Be Concerned About Mining In Menominee County:

 

1.      Zinc, copper, gold and silver mining is more hazardous to the environment than the Iron mining we know in Upper Michigan.

 

2.      Contamination is bound to occur no matter how diligent the operators are.

 

3.      There are no proven cost effective technologies for the acceptable long-term mitigation of potential impacts.

 

 

4.      The Menominee River is a breeding bed for the sturgeon, the bald eagle is on the threatened specie list - they will not survive the heavy metal runoff from a mine.

 

5.      There has never been a metallic mineral mine in the World that has not polluted.

 

 

6.      Our Michigan mining laws are weak and favor the drilling/mining operations; not our groundwater.  Metallic mineral mines are not subject to stringent hazardous waste management laws, even if it contains cyanide.

 

7.      Once our groundwater, lakes, river, streams are lost, it will take generations to repair.  We would leave the clean-up costs to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

 

 

8.      A change in our climate, such as our heavy snowfall of 1960 and 1965, will pose Spring flooding.  If the mine site is not designed for these extremes Mother Nature can put on this County; we will have an environmental disaster.  This is a major reason for the Acid Mine Drainage problems in Canada’s mining - insufficient planning for extreme heavy snowfalls.

 

9.      Once Acid Mine Drainage starts, it can effectively sterilize an entire water system for generations to come. 

 

 

10.   The overburden from metallic mineral mining will leach acid from the exposed rock for as long as it is exposed to air and water until the sulphides are leached out. A process that can last hundreds, even thousands of years.

 

11.   There is a known Exploration Site (drilling) in British Columbia called the Windy Craggy that is presently generating Acid Mine Drainage.  This is evidence that even in the drilling phase of mineral mining, precautions must be taken or our groundwaters will be polluted.