Hi team,

Our efforts are bearing fruit! Remember our media outreach action? Since then, we have appeared in both local ABC news and the Keweenaw Report, with upcoming stories in multiple other publications, including MLive! The reporter from MLive specifically mentioned that they had received a great many e-mails asking them to cover our campaign.

The moral of the story? Your efforts are actually making an impact.

Today, in celebration of this tremendous 9,000-signature milestone, we will be writing Attorney General Dana Nessel. Here is her contact info:

• E-mail: miag@michigan.gov
• Phone: 517-335-7622
• Office: 
  G. Mennen Williams Building
  525 W. Ottawa Street
  P.O. Box 30212
  Lansing, MI 48909
• Facebook
• Twitter (or X, or whatever it's called...)

Try to write an e-mail, at the very least. But don't underestimate the impact of making a statement on social media: whereas e-mails, phone calls, and letters will be private, outreach on social media will be seen by a larger audience.

Below is a sample letter which you can use as inspiration or forget about completely. Regardless of what you write or say, try to include some variation of this statement: "We request that you file an official petition for review of the Copperwood project." Please also suggest that the Attorney General visit our own petition for potential points of investigation, specifically the sections V, VI, and VII. 

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Sample message:

"Dear Attorney General Nessel,

I would like to call your attention to several concerns regarding the proposed Copperwood Mine in Gogebic County of the Upper Peninsula. Although billed as a "copper mine," the ore grade is only 1 to 1.5%, meaning that nearly 99% of extracted material will be heavy metal-laden, sulfide-bearing waste rock, comprising 50+ million tons in total, stored on site, on topography sloping towards Lake Superior.

This is not just another mine: this would be the closest sulfide waste facility to Lake Superior in history. As the largest freshwater lake on Earth, Lake Superior is without a doubt the most important resource not just in Michigan, but arguably the entire continent, and I urge you to critically examine the unprecedented risks posed by the Copperwood project.

You can find a full elaboration of the arguments against the Mine at this petition, which already has over 9,000 signatures, more than the population of the closest three towns to the mine site combined. Specifically, you might visit the sections V, VI, and VII, regarding impacts to outdoor recreation, the potential for a tailings dam rupture, and additional concerns.

These are the points which resonate with me personally:

• The risk of a tailings dam rupture is real. Are you familiar with the Mount Polley Mine in British Columbia? It was designed and operated by experts at the top of the field in the Canadian mining industry, and it followed strict environmental regulations; all the same, the dam still ruptured, and when it did, it crippled a thriving outdoor recreation area. If it can happen there, it can happen here. 
• There is a Michigan endangered species, the Redside Dace, in the very stream where the mining company is permitted to dump up to half a million gallons of wastewater per day. Although the water will undergo extensive treatment, it will be biologically dead water, deprived of minerals and microbes— flooding the stream with such water will be detrimental to the ecosystem. Furthermore, the water will undergo deionization. I urge you to look into the risks of deionized water, including this report from the World Health Organization. Deionized water is called aggressive because it is highly corrosive, leaching not just vitamins and minerals from the human body if it is consumed, but also heavy metals from stream sediment. There is the very real risk that flooding the stream with deionized water will result in the concentration of heavy metals in the habitat of the Redside Dace.
• Finally, this Mine endangers not just Lake Superior, but the experience of visitors at Porcupine Mountains State Park — the most beloved State Park in Michigan — as well as hikers on the North Country Trail, which was just recently declared part of the National Park system. Sound pollution, light pollution, air pollution, water pollution, subterranean blasts, and heavy industrial traffic— all of these influences will have an impact far outside the borders of the mine property.

I guess in the end, it all boils down to this point: Is this really a good place for a sulfide mine? Really?

I kindly request that you file a formal petition for review of the Copperwood Mine. Please act swiftly, for the project is advancing faster than anticipated: this summer, forest has been clearcut, wetlands destroyed, and streams rerouted. There may be a construction decision in 2024. There is no time to lose. 

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Your Name Here"

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Feel free to forward us your message: ProtectThePorkies@gmail.com

Alright team, until next time!

P.S. Remember there is a virtual meeting with EGLE, the agency responsible for permitting Copperwood, being held on Monday, December 18th. Please attend to make your voice heard!