The watershed on the Bad River Reservation in Wisconsin. Photo from Bad River Band
Mary Annette Pember reports on continued tribal opposition to the $1.5 billion Gogebic Taconite mine in northern Wisconsin:
The Wisconsin Federation of tribes has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to use the 404 C portion of Clean Water Act to stop mining activity by Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) in the Penokee Mountains located on the edge of the Bad River Ojibwe Reservation. Tribes in Alaska successfully used a similar tactic to halt silver and gold mining earlier this year near Bristol Bay, noted Mike Simonson in an article in the Ashland Daily Press. Section 404c of the Clean Water Act protects treaty rights, aquatic resources, fisheries, wildlife, subsistence and public uses of public waterways. In the May 27 letter, signed by the Bad River, Red Cliff, Lac Courte Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, St. Croix and Sokoagon Ojibwe Bands, tribes maintain that mining activities by GTAC will threaten the health of the western Superior Basin and Bad River Watershed. According to Mark Anthony Rolo, Communications Director for the Bad River tribe, this issue has been added to the agenda of the annual EPA Region 5 Regional Tribal Operating Committee meeting next month in Traverse City, Michigan.Get the Story:
Mary Annette Pember: Wisconsin Tribes Urge EPA to Use Clean Water Act to Stop Gogebic Taconite Mine (Indian Country Today 7/16)
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