The heavily opposed taxpayer-funded corporate welfare check to the Copperwood Mine was swept under the rug by the Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee and not included in the 2025 budget. But on September 25th, the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners approved a letter to Committee Chair Sarah Anthony requesting that the taxpayer-funded corporate welfare check be reintroduced in a future session.
Everyone is invited to participate. Whether you are from Michigan or Wisconsin, whether you are Indigenous or descended from settlers, no matter who you are, the wellbeing of Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains is in all of our best interest!
We don't know when Senator Anthony will begin considering the letter sent by the Board of Commissioners, but we must be proactive in our response. For the entire month of October, please write and call the Senator to urge her to deny the reintroduction of the Copperwood grant — or, if it is reintroduced, to reject it decisively.
But don't stop there: next, motivate others to do likewise!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Senator Sarah Anthony
Post Office Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
517-373-6960
855-DIST021 (855-347-8021)
If writing an email, please give a strong subject which immediately communicates your point.
Whether calling or writing, consider including some of these arguments (further elaborated in the Template Letter):
The letter below is likely much longer than the one you will draft. Please use it for inspiration. We will be taken more seriously if we send letters in our own words rather than copy-pasting.
Out-of-state residents are encouraged to participate: emphasize the importance of tax dollars, or the reputation of Michigan.
Those who live in Senator Anthony's district may suggest that their vote is on the line.
________________________________________
To Senator Anthony:
I understand that you are or will soon be under pressure to revive the $50 million taxpayer-funded grant to the proposed Copperwood Mine, a highly controversial operation owned by Canadian company Highland Copper, which would seek to mine next to and underneath Porcupine Mountains State Park — ranked in 2022 as the most beautiful State Park in the country (1) — ship the copper back to Canada, and store over 30 million tons of mine waste in the closest metallic sulfide waste facility to Lake Superior in history (right next to the North Country Trail, the longest of all national hiking trails). Suffice it to say, although this project may be supported by a few business and political leaders, it is adamantly opposed throughout Michigan and beyond:
— There is currently a petition of over 45,000 individual signatures calling for an immediate halt to the project’s development (2).
— When the grant was initially presented at the Michigan Strategic Fund, Letters of Opposition and Concern were sent from the Michigan and Wisconsin Sierra Club, the North Country Trail, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Michigan Environmental Council, and many others (3).
— On September 14th, members from Tribal Nations along with non-Native allies carried a container of water 31 miles on foot in response to the proposed mine. Present were members from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert, Lac du Flambeau, Red Cliff, Bad River, and the Menominee (4).
Here are just a few of the reasons that the Copperwood Project is not an appropriate recipient of taxpayer revenue:
In summary, Copperwood is simply too divisive of a project to be worthy of taxpayer funding. The Senate Appropriations Committee wisely chose not to include the Copperwood grant in the 2025 budget. Please continue to trust in the good judgment which led to this outcome and earned you the applause of tens of thousands across the great State of Michigan, who value clean water and spectacular outdoor recreation opportunities over boom-and-bust jobs and the pocket-padding of foreign executives.
I urge you not to revive the grant. If the bill does reach session, I urge you and your colleagues to reject it with utmost vigor.
Thank you for your consideration.
Signed,
Proud Michigander
SOURCES
(1) Porcupine Mountains ranked as most beautiful State Park in the country
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/michigans-porcupine-mountain-ranked-as-most-beautiful-state-park-in-us/
(2) Petition of 45,000+ signatures opposing the proposed Copperwood Mine:
www.change.org/ProtectThePorkies
(3) Letters of Opposition from organizations and individuals:
https://www.michiganbusiness.org/4981a4/globalassets/documents/msf-board/meeting-minutes/msf-meeting-minutes-3.26.2024---final-approved.pdf
(4) “Tribes to carry water 30 miles on foot in opposition to proposed UP mine”
(5) GLIFWC Copperwood Dam Rupture model
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go6JnA9r92Q
(6) Study: All copper sulfide mines contaminate
https://earthworks.org/issues/copper-sulfide-mining/
(7) Copper to be shipped out of country — See Highland Copper’s Feasibility Report, page 19-3:
https://www.highlandcopper.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Feasability-Study-Update-Copperwood.pdf
(8) Study: Analyzing the Economic Implications of Mining for Nonmetropolitan Regions
https://www.malheurco.org/wp-content/uploads/Departments/Planning/Documents/Calico/Attachment-B_Freudenberg-and-Wilson-Mining-The-Data.pdf
(9) Study: Copper mining leads to net job loss in outdoor recreation economies
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/politics/economist-sees-net-job-loss-from-bwca-mine/89-b93d2be4-7d42-4afa-a8ac-378161088ef8
(10) Grant Text
https://www.michiganbusiness.org/495b18/globalassets/documents/msf-board/msf-board-packets/march-2024-msf-board-packet---final_web-upload.pdf
We need Senator Anthony to receive thousands of messages and phone calls this month, so once you've done your part, motivate others to join us!
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