Dear friends,<\/p>\n
I don’t do this very often, but this is a\u00a0call to rally the troops.<\/p>\n
As you likely know, folks in Michigan’s far North in the Upper Peninsula have been battling Kennecott for nearly five years now. Kennecott\/Rio Tinto proposes to blast a portal to its\u00a0new metallic sulfide mine through a sacred site to the Ojibwe known as Eagle Rock, Migizi Waasin. Recently, it seems, Kennecott (the same company that mined at Ladysmith and is proposing to mine in Aitkin County, Minnesota as well as in Michigan) \u00a0made a big mistake and arrested a citizen for sitting on a stump with her dog on public land, close to Eagle Rock.\u00a0 The company has a pending lease for the property, but it is conditioned on the company first receiving all\u00a0necessary permits to mine. One permit (from the EPA) has not yet been granted, so the land lease is not\u00a0valid (not that it would be, really, even if they had all of their permits).<\/p>\n
Members of the\u00a0Keweenaw Bay Indian Community\u00a0have taken a strong stand\u00a0for the land,\u00a0for the water (the proposed mine site is\u00a0about ten miles from the shores of Lake Superior)\u00a0and the sacred site. Right now, about 5 of them are perched atop the site of the mining company’s proposed portal. They welcome visitors to the site (you do not have to trespass, you can meet them at the end of the road). They need food, blankets, prayers,\u00a0spiritual support, emotional support\u00a0and\u00a0legal support. If you have suggestions or ideas, if you would like to come for a visit,\u00a0if you need a place to stay or a little funding for gas, please\u00a0email me (kettu2010@callta.com<\/a>) or my friend Teresa Bertossi (teresabertossi@gmail.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n Here’s\u00a0 a link to stories about the issue we face:<\/p>\n http:\/\/standfortheland.com\/<\/a> This is a blog recently put up just for the issue.<\/p>\n