Hello team,

As we fight to resist a specific metallic sulfide mine here in our neck of the woods, it's important to realize that this battle is part of a much larger struggle. As you read this, politicians and mining CEOs are scheming to turn the Upper Peninsula and the greater Lake Superior watershed into a mining district.

On September 12th, the federal government awarded $20.6 million to Talon Metals for the purpose of exploratory drilling on large tracts of wild land in Minnesota and Upper Peninsula, Michigan. The funds were part of a Ukraine Relief package, and yet the money is being appropriated to ransack Nature in our home country instead. In addition to exploring 400,000 private acres in central U.P., Talon hopes to conduct drilling in 23,000 public acres in Baraga, Houghton, Iron and Marquette Counties. 

"Talon says the Lake Superior region of Minnesota and Michigan is highly prospective for nickel sulfide deposits with potential for district scale mineralization [...] The company is searching for minerals near the nation’s only existing nickel mine, Lundin Mining Company’s Eagle Mine northwest of Marquette."
                                — Read the full story on MLive

Do we want to see the spectacular Great Lakes region — valuable both ecologically and economically — be converted into a mining district? If not, it's important to SPEAK UP NOW.

The public comment period is open until October 25th, but best would be to make your comment TODAY. Now is the time to stand in solidarity with our fellows— connecting our separate struggles will make our voices louder and more powerful.

To the profiteers who want to turn the U.P. into just another graveyard where Nature used to be, we must send a decisive message. So please, at this very instant, take five minutes and send an e-mail to:  DNR-LeaseManagement@michigan.gov
SUBJECT: "Comments Opposing TALON Mineral Lease Request"

Here are a few points you might bring up, though please state them in your own words:

1. This is not about resisting one single mine; this may be our last chance to stop the widespread contamination impact of a regional mining district upon some of the last unspoiled areas in the country.
2. Mining contributes around $1 billion to Michigan's economy annually; outdoor recreation contributes $10.8 billion. That's over ten times as much. Furthermore, whereas mining is boom-and-bust, outdoor recreation is strong and sustained. Therefore it is far more worthwhile to invest in tourism which promotes the protection of ecology than to invest in an enterprise which is actively destroying ecology and thus destroying the foundation of the more substantial industry.
3. Lake Superior is 10% of the world's surface freshwater. In an era when the planet is becoming hotter and drier, when many American cities must ship in water from hundreds of miles away, we should be doing everything we can to protect the integrity of the largest freshwater lake on Earth. Much of the exploratory drilling would take place directly in the Superior watershed.
4. The mineral in question — nickel — is already being phased out from electric vehicles and other technologies. It will be well over a decade before the mines are permitted, constructed, and operating, so by the time the nickel is finally extracted and processed, it will be obsolete. The politicians and mining CEOs who fund them know this, and we know it too: this is not about technology; this is nothing more than a cash grab at some of the finest wild land remaining on the continent.

Again, send that email to DNR-LeaseManagement@michigan.gov, with the subject: "Comments Opposing TALON Mineral Lease Request"

Thank you for your contribution to this fight— we can't do it without you! And if there's still ink left in your pen, be sure to revisit our previous collective action.

Until next time!

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SAMPLE MESSAGE:

Comments Opposing TALON Mineral Lease Request
Email to: DNR-LeaseManagement@michigan.gov

"I oppose this lease because of the direct relationship between mining and air, land, and water pollution. The UP is one of the last unspoiled areas in the entire nation, and it is the backbone of a $10.8 billion outdoor recreation economy in Michigan that is growing annually at twice the rate of all other Michigan business sectors (including mining).

We cannot afford to risk 10 percent of the world's fresh surface water to pursue a mineral that is already being phased out of EV battery systems, nor spoil the UP itself.

Sincerely,
John and Jane Doe"