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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)

SenSAnthony@senate.michigan.gov

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):

• Copperwood would be the closest metallic sulfide mine to Lake Superior in history and thus is incompatible with Michigan's Healthy Climate goal of conserving 30% of water by 2030.
• Copperwood is simply too divisive to be worthy of taxpayer funding; there is currently a petition of 45,000+ signatures opposing the project.
• Influences from mining — such as light pollution, noise pollution, subterranean blasting and heavy industrial traffic — risk severely disrupting the experience of visitors at Porcupine Mountains State Park — ranked recently as the most beautiful State Park in the country — beside and beneath which the company would seek to mine.
• The copper would be shipped out of country with no promise of return. 
• Michigan's Severance Tax of 2.75% — paid by a company to compensate for the loss of mineral wealth — is among the lowest in the world. The mining company would need to pay a mere $62 million in Severance Tax, the vast majority of which would be nullified by the $50 million grant. Thus, Michigan would be losing its copper for dirt cheap prices.
• There is a plethora of research showing that mining is far more likely to harm than help rural communities like those in the Upper Peninsula (1, 2, 3)
• Although it is claimed that the grant would pay for infrastructure which would help the community with or without a mine, in fact there are no humans living within several miles of the mine site. Rolling out cell service, power grid, and industrial roads into the buffer zone of mainland Michigan's largest designated Wilderness Area will be of benefit to no one.

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:

1. Although billed as a “copper mine,” in fact, copper would be only 1.45% of extracted material, with the remaining 98.55% being waste, containing constituents of concern such as mercury and arsenic, to be stored on-site, on downward sloping topography, in the closest metallic sulfide waste facility to Lake Superior in history.
   
   A 2024 model released by the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission shows that, in the event of a dam collapse, mine waste many meters in depth could flood Lake Superior and Porcupine Mountains State Park (5).
   
   Regardless, even assuming the dam holds, literally all copper sulfide mines contaminate water through other means (6).
   
   The presence of such an operation in a water-rich environment in unprecedented proximity to Lake Superior, a full 10% of the planet’s surface freshwater, is simply not in keeping with Michigan’s expressed Healthy Climate goal of conserving 30% of land and water by 2030.
   
   
2. The Copperwood Mine would seek to mine next to and even underneath Porcupine Mountains State Park. The Porkies are the crowning jewel of the Michigan State Park system. It is both the largest State Park and old growth forest in State, as well as the largest designated Wilderness Area in the mainland.  An operating mine would introduce noise pollution, light pollution, subterranean blasting, and heavy industrial traffic, greatly disrupting the experience of visitors to this cherished area. This is sure to have economic implications. Please consider that outdoor recreation brought in over $12 billion to Michigan’s GDP last year, whereas mining brought in around $1 billion.
   
   Proud Michiganders organized in the 1940s to protect these lands from logging and mining interests, and now it is our turn to carry the torch.
   
   
3.  The copper would be shipped out of country with no promise of return (7). In compensation, the company would be required to pay a 2.75% severance tax (among the lowest rates in the country), resulting in a sum of around $62 million. Therefore, a $50 million grant is essentially nullifying 80% of the Severance Tax paid for the loss of the minerals. To quote Senator John Cherry, “It would be like the Saudis paying us to take their oil.”
   
   Copper is valuable today, but it could be incalculably more valuable in the future. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing a foreign company to haul off Michigan’s copper for dirt-cheap prices. This would not just be an injustice to the present — we would be robbing the future as well.
   
   
4. You will be told that the grant money would pay for infrastructure such as power grid expansion, cell service, and road improvements, all of which would “help the community.” But please consider that there are no humans who live within five miles of the mine site; therefore, the community is the flora and the fauna who will not be benefited in the slightest by such measures. More alarmingly, rolling out the power grid right into the buffer zone of mainland Michigan’s largest Wilderness Area will lay the foundation for on-going development long after the mine boards up shop in 10.7 years and thus risks forever altering the character of this cherished area.
   
   The argument is made in the grant text that “road improvements would allow for year-round access to the State Park.” But the road in question — County Road 519 — is already plowed all the way to the State Park and accessible 365 days a year. This discrepancy suggests either ignorance or deception on the part of the grant authors and calls into question the soundness of other arguments.
   
   
5. The only point you are likely to hear in favor of the proposed mine is “It will make jobs,” but in fact, research shows that such an operation is far more likely to hurt the local economy than help.
   
   -- The most comprehensive study on the topic ever conducted (8), which analyzed “literally all of the quantitative findings,” found that in nearly half of all cases mining led to negative economic outcomes from non-metropolitan communities like those in the Upper Peninsula. Only 29% of cases were positive, and most of those came from before 1982. The study concludes, “There is surprisingly little evidence that mining will bring about economic good times, while there is a good deal of evidence for expecting just the opposite."
   
   — More recent research shows that the trend has worsened (9). To quote Harvard economist James Stock, former advisor to President Obama: “In 89% of cases, copper mining leads to a loss for jobs and a loss for incomes.” Are we to assume that the handful of construction company owners and profit-motivated businesspeople who support the mine are a better source regarding its economic implications than the independent research of a Harvard professor and former presidential advisor?
   
   — We must also wonder how it is that the mining company projected 250 jobs back in 2018, but now, shortly before requesting State funding, they’re projecting 380 jobs, a total which is 50% higher than their original number. Either they were wrong then or they or wrong now— in either case, we must not confuse speculative modeling with reality. We must also wonder as to the quality of these jobs, which the grant text defines as “lasting for at least six months,” with a large portion going to “specialized non-residents,” and thus especially unlikely to be of benefit to the community. (10)

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”

https://www.mlive.com/environment/2024/09/tribes-to-carry-water-30-miles-on-foot-in-opposition-to-proposed-up-mine.html

(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!