In our continued resistance against the $50 million taxpayer-funded grant to the proposed Copperwood Mine, last week we visited the Michigan Capitol in person to deliver the following materials to the Governor and to members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees:

1. Our petition opposing the mine's development, which has received over 200,000 fresh signatures in the last week and now exceeds a quarter million, most of which come from Michigan residents;
2. A letter signed by over 70 organizations opposing the grant;
3. A letter signed by over 100 local residents opposing the grant. 

We had many excellent conversations with lawmakers and their staff and found sympathetic ears on both sides of the aisle. But our work is not over...
 
This week we need your help more than ever!
 
Thus far we've been concentrating our efforts on the Senate, but we've recently learned that the grant will also need to pass through the House. In fact, we've been told that the mining company will be speaking at a House Appropriations Committee hearing THIS WEDNESDAY, and a rumor is circulating that they may be attempting to make the bill more attractive to certain lawmakers by including additional funding to completely unrelated projects — shady politics at work!
 
That means this week it's CRUCIAL to make our voices heard. Lawmakers are currently juggling dozens of issues, so in order to cut through the noise, the House needs to hear from us in unprecedented numbers.
 
Please join us in taking the following steps:

1. Visit our Take Action Page and copy/paste all the e-mail addresses of the House members into a fresh message urging them to REJECT the grant to Copperwood.
2. This week, please CALL those same lawmakers; you'll find their phone numbers lower down on that same page.
3. You may also use this Fast Action form, which takes just 2 minutes of your time and now includes House emails in addition to the Senate — but when possible, we advise prioritizing the first two steps and writing/calling the legislators directly.
4. Please encourage friends and family to do the same.

With your help, we will defeat the grant and ensure the protection of old growth ecosystems and freshwater seas from short-sighted greed and foreign extraction!
 
If you appreciate the countless hours dedicated to this cause by our volunteer-run campaign, you may donate here.
 
In solidarity,
 
The ProtectThePorkies team