A Miner’s Take on Mining the Boundary Waters
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
May 8, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
Today’s guest blog about the #6 Boundary Waters- a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series- is from Bob Tammen, a retired miner living in Soudan, Minnesota. Bob and his wife are regular paddlers of the South Kawishiwi River, where copper-nickel mines have been proposed.
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Boundary Waters
Urge President Obama, Governor Dayton, and Members of Congress to protect the Boundary Waters and oppose the Twin Metals Mine.
My wife, Pat, and I stopped by the South Kawishiwi River last week. The river current is starting to take out the ice in the narrows, and in a few days we'll have a canoe in the water again.
We see evidence of exploratory drilling for copper-nickel mines, but spring load limits are on some of the roads so we won't see the big rigs moving for a few days. So far, the drilling has confirmed that the Duluth Complex is a low grade ore body in a high grade environment— Superior National Forest.
Pat and I just attended a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency meeting concerning the damage done to wild rice by sulfates. We've already sacrificed a tremendous amount of wild rice waters to contamination from sulfide ore mining [PDF]. For example, there is documentation that the Dunka Mine is discharging sulfates that end up in the South Kawishiwi River.
Our existing mining industry likes to brag about the millions they pay to the State of Minnesota in taxes, but when you calculate those numbers as a percent of ore shipped, it only amounts to three percent.
Minnesota has sacrificed much and received little from the mining industry. There is no reason to believe the copper mining industry will be more financially generous or less environmentally damaging that the iron mining industry.
The University of Minnesota Duluth study entitled The Economic Impact of Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Mining (November 2012) [PDF], states that more indirect and induced jobs dependent on mining are created in the Duluth Metro Area than in the Arrowhead Region. Many of the jobs aren't being created where the environment is being destroyed. We're being set-up as an economic and environmental sacrifice zone.
When I first started canoeing the Kawishiwi River over forty years ago, there were drill rigs exploring along Spruce Road. They eventually went away and most of the scars have healed. Now we have a new generation of drillers, and an old tradition of environmental stewardship. The drillers have public relations consultants. We have values. It's time to defend the Kawishiwi.
Lend your voice to this effort to protect the Boundary Waters and the South Kawishiwi River! Please tell President Obama and Congress to protect this special place from copper-nickel mines!
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Comments List
Submitted by PSchoonover at: May 12, 2013
Bob, thanks for everything you do to protect for others the community and area you love so much. I hope we have a chance to paddle together soon. It absolutely boggles my mind how so many people, like the author of a previous comment can miss the fundamental point of this conversation so badly. How can someone with so much self-described "common sense" fail to realize that decisions regarding the best interest of a community, region, and a place like the BWCA cannot always be based on calculating monetary figures? The true value of the BWCA, for past, present and future generations is far greater than any amount of real or theoretic financial/economic contribution that a mining industry can provide. This oversight, along with a naive trust in regulatory agencies, and a gullible blind faith in the integrity of these mining companies (who say they will be the first ever to mine sulfide ore bodies and not pollute nearby waters), is the reason that having conversations with certain people is so difficult, and so important. I am so glad there are thousands of other people, on this website and elsewhere, who are willing to join-in to help protect the BWCA from sulfide mining.
Submitted by Bob Tammen at: May 10, 2013
The comment from McReady leaves out the number that matters the most. The global mining industry shipped $5 Billion worth of ore out of Minnesota. They're stripping our assets and leaving a few pitiful scraps for state and local governments. Google the Resource Curse to get a better understanding of why some residents applaud their own destruction.
Submitted by NMcReady at: May 8, 2013
Oh Bob. If sulfates were a problem in South Kawishiwi River from Dunka Pit the DNR and MPCA would do something about it. Bob, with $79,138,000 in total taconite production tax paid to the State of MN in 2010, YES, mining industry has a right to brag but they don't. To say Minnesota has received little from the mining industry, you must have your eyes closed Bob. $10,040.153 went to cities & townships $17,094,176 went to school districts $13,304,905 went to counties $11,846,794 went to property tax relief $17,007,197 went to IRRRB $9,673,605 went to Taconite Economic Development Fund $110,294 went to schools $60,876 went to the Hockey Hall of Fame What is the contribute to the State of Minnesota from tourism Bob? I really don't think spin off jobs from mining being created in the Duluth Metro Area is a minus. Where are the full-time jobs in the Arrowhead created by tourism Bob?
Submitted by Jeffrey Willius at: May 8, 2013
Bravo, Bob! Very well put.