http://www.protectourmanoomin.org/1/post/2013/02/wisconsin-mining-bill-threatens-genocide.html
"Wisconsin Mining Bill Threatens Genocide"
by Barbara With
Wisconsin's Bad River Band of Ojibwe's way of life, as promised to be protected by treaties of 1837 and 1842, is being threatened by Assembly Bill 426. "The treaties of 1837 and 1842 guaranteed the Ojibwe [the right] to stay in Lake Superrior basin in exchange for ceding the US government 23 million acres. In return, they would receive annuity pyments for 20-25 years, a combination of cash, food and services, and the right to hunt, fish, and gather on those 23 million acres for perpetuity (forver)." What that means is that they were allowed to stay, and continue living their lives as they had done for thousands of years, and even get a little monetary compensation for roughly a quarter century. Of course, it was understood by Chief Buffalo, who signed the treaties, that refusal to cooperate would end in the bloody demise of his entire nation.
Assembly Bill 426 threatens to turn the Ojibwe civilization in to a "21 -mile open-pit mountaintop removal iron ore mine." On January 23, current chair of the Bad River Band, Mike Mike Wiggins, jr., was allotted 2 minutes to stand before representatives of state legislature in Madison and "beg for the lives of 7,000 members of his community." With was in attendance and notes, "Having faced similar tibunal several times before, Wiggins looks slightly impatient with the new incarnation of yet another committee pushing the same corporate sponsored bill. Neither he nor any other representative of Wisconsin's Native Soverign Nations have been consulted."
So is Bill 426, this disgusting demolition of land and person, worth the opportunites for our state that it can't even guaruntee? This is the fourth time the public has been heard in regards to 426 since 2011. Each time evidence of the destruction iron mining wrought on our neighbors in Minnesota. "...iron ore mining [has] killed off wild rice in the St. Louis River for 100 miles..."
The Bad River Band relies on the waters of their land for the survival of his people, and Wiggins issues warnings to the committee- "Because were directly downstream and set to endure the impacts of this project, we view it as an iminent threat. This human threat really manifests itself in a form of genocide. Genocide." and "the obliteration of the head waters in a watershed system is catastrophic. It is catastrophic for the ecosystem, which is ultimately catastrophis for the human populationthat is dependent and interconnected with it."
Certainly what is acceptable treatment of human beings has changed since the first treaties were signed at gunpoint in the 1800's, but wiping out an entire civilization by poisoning its water in 2013 would be sending us back in time faster than Doc Brown ever could. The state of Wisconsin will have blood on it's hands if bill 426 is passed and mining begins.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary Post #2
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/margaret_krome/margaret-krome-mining-bill-an-assault-on-sacred-lands-and/article_a31c93d4-747a-11e2-ba47-001a4bcf887a.html
"Margaret Krome: Mining bill an assault on sacred lands and waters"
Chair of Wisconsin's Bad River Band of Ojibwe, Mike Wiggins, spoke recently of his tribes ancient way of growing and harvesting wild rice at an agricultural conference near Ashland, Wi. Among the sets of ears in the crowd was Margaret Krome, program director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institue in East Troy. Krome had hoped to hear Wiggins speak his thoughts in regards to Wisonsin Assembly Bill 426, a proposed bill that would permit a taconite mining operation to set up and drill in Ojibwe, as well as state land, in Northern Wiscinsin. Wiggins, however, kept politics out of his presentation and spoke only of the "sacred nature of these rice beds, these fruitful waters and lands,so necessary to the clean waters around them, and so dependent on them."
Krome's column shows a firm understanding of how bill 426 will inevitably destroy the local tribes rice beds stating-"The proposed taconite mine in the Penokee Hills is a monumental assault upon the 125,000 acres or their reservation, the miles of waterways that empty into the Bad River, the prestine waters that would inevitably be polluted, and the rice beds that have been the corner stone of the tribe's identity for centuries."
Bill 426 would effectively remove the Department of Natural Resources, as well as the public's ability to have any review of mining operations, essentially tying our hands and forcing us to go along with whatever the mining company says is safe, or in our best interest. Secondly, the bill would "set a cap for how much the [mining] company must pay for such review and transfer the rest of the costs to the state." Lastly, the mining company would be "exempt from natural resource and public health rotections that are needed to protect the health of our state."
"Margaret Krome: Mining bill an assault on sacred lands and waters"
Chair of Wisconsin's Bad River Band of Ojibwe, Mike Wiggins, spoke recently of his tribes ancient way of growing and harvesting wild rice at an agricultural conference near Ashland, Wi. Among the sets of ears in the crowd was Margaret Krome, program director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institue in East Troy. Krome had hoped to hear Wiggins speak his thoughts in regards to Wisonsin Assembly Bill 426, a proposed bill that would permit a taconite mining operation to set up and drill in Ojibwe, as well as state land, in Northern Wiscinsin. Wiggins, however, kept politics out of his presentation and spoke only of the "sacred nature of these rice beds, these fruitful waters and lands,so necessary to the clean waters around them, and so dependent on them."
Krome's column shows a firm understanding of how bill 426 will inevitably destroy the local tribes rice beds stating-"The proposed taconite mine in the Penokee Hills is a monumental assault upon the 125,000 acres or their reservation, the miles of waterways that empty into the Bad River, the prestine waters that would inevitably be polluted, and the rice beds that have been the corner stone of the tribe's identity for centuries."
Bill 426 would effectively remove the Department of Natural Resources, as well as the public's ability to have any review of mining operations, essentially tying our hands and forcing us to go along with whatever the mining company says is safe, or in our best interest. Secondly, the bill would "set a cap for how much the [mining] company must pay for such review and transfer the rest of the costs to the state." Lastly, the mining company would be "exempt from natural resource and public health rotections that are needed to protect the health of our state."
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary Post #1
http://mountainsofwisconsin.onza.net/
"The Mining Bill Will Tax You; It Might Take Your Home Too"
by Kevin O'Connell
Wisconsinite Kevin O'Connell is calling our state to help take a stand against Florida based mining company Gogebic Taconite and their push for us to change our mining laws. A few changes in our laws would allow them to mine iron ore from the Penokee Mtn. Range.
Of our current mining laws, written just a few years ago,O'Connell says "...we seem to have done pretty well by them to this point. The state is in fact undergoing a mining bonanaza currently, as Wisconsin's clean sandstone is being brought up by the trainload by the oil, and natural gas industry. However, a Florida company, Gogebic Taconite, wishes us to change our laws so that they may make a good profit taking the iron that is locked up in one of the only real mountain ranges that we have in wisconsin, destroying it in the process."
On the surface, a new mining operation might sound like a good thing for Wisconsin, but if we dig deeper into the issue the author points out what starting an operation of this magnitued entails, and maybe more importantly, will cost.
"For one thing for this mine to operate, the state will have to pour money into infrastructure such as new schools, sewage treatment plants, hospitals and clinics, police and fire departments, utility lines, roads, and a big new local government bureaucracy to administer the whole thing. No doubt the cost will be at least a billion dollars to start."
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, it is a state rich in many mineable minerals, such as zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold. The article continues on as a hypothetical- a slippery slope account of what could happen to our state if we let down our "barriers against irresponsible mining." Madison and Mt. Horeb, from Green Bay to Lake Geneva, Oshkosh, Appleton, Baraboo, Devil's Lake State Park, Wausau all turned into pits, homes destroyed, our state stripped and left naked and broken. But hey, it would bring jobs to Wisconsin, right?
"The Mining Bill Will Tax You; It Might Take Your Home Too"
by Kevin O'Connell
Wisconsinite Kevin O'Connell is calling our state to help take a stand against Florida based mining company Gogebic Taconite and their push for us to change our mining laws. A few changes in our laws would allow them to mine iron ore from the Penokee Mtn. Range.
Of our current mining laws, written just a few years ago,O'Connell says "...we seem to have done pretty well by them to this point. The state is in fact undergoing a mining bonanaza currently, as Wisconsin's clean sandstone is being brought up by the trainload by the oil, and natural gas industry. However, a Florida company, Gogebic Taconite, wishes us to change our laws so that they may make a good profit taking the iron that is locked up in one of the only real mountain ranges that we have in wisconsin, destroying it in the process."
On the surface, a new mining operation might sound like a good thing for Wisconsin, but if we dig deeper into the issue the author points out what starting an operation of this magnitued entails, and maybe more importantly, will cost.
"For one thing for this mine to operate, the state will have to pour money into infrastructure such as new schools, sewage treatment plants, hospitals and clinics, police and fire departments, utility lines, roads, and a big new local government bureaucracy to administer the whole thing. No doubt the cost will be at least a billion dollars to start."
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, it is a state rich in many mineable minerals, such as zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold. The article continues on as a hypothetical- a slippery slope account of what could happen to our state if we let down our "barriers against irresponsible mining." Madison and Mt. Horeb, from Green Bay to Lake Geneva, Oshkosh, Appleton, Baraboo, Devil's Lake State Park, Wausau all turned into pits, homes destroyed, our state stripped and left naked and broken. But hey, it would bring jobs to Wisconsin, right?
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
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