WRPC website address: http://www.wrpc.net/index.html

May 13, 2005

Dear WRPC Member,

Save Our Unique Lands (SOUL), the grassroots movement to stop the Arrowhead-Weston power line project,  scored a major victory when the Douglas County Board voted 15-11 against granting the American Transmission Company (ATC) access to any county land for the project last February. The project would have cut a path for  high voltage power lines extending from the Duluth area to the Wausau area. A feeder line was also proposed to bring power to the now defunct Crandon mine project. ATC and the Wisconsin Public Service Commission must now go back to the drawing board to re-route the proposed lien around public land in Douglas County (see Glenn Stoddard's article, enclosed).

Clean Wisconsin and SOUL have also filed a challenge against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR)  decision regarding the project. The DNR granted the request for a contested case hearing as well as a request for a stay pending a review by the administratative law judge. The State of Wisconsin Division of Hearings and Appeals will hold a public hearing on this issue beginning at 12:45pm on Monday, May 16, 2005, in the Banquet Room of the Hayward Veterans Association, 10534 S. Main Street, Hayward, Wisconsin. The hearing will continue on May 17-18, 2005, and June 20-24, 2005, at the same location.

Plans for metallic sulfide mining in Marquette County in Michigan's Upper Peninsula are moving ahead despite serious objections from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, local property owners and a number of environmental groups. Kennecott Exploration Company, a subsidiary of the British Rio Tinto Corporation, has identified a potential nickel sulfide orebody called the "Eagle Prospect"  on the Yellow Dog Plains close to two sensitive Lake Superior tributaries - the Salmon Trout and Yellow Dog Rivers. The proposed mine lies within 100 feet of the Salmon Trout River, which provides habitat for the last native Coaster Brook Trout on the south shore of Lake Superior. As with the defeated Crandon mine, the main concern is the acid mine drainage that occurs wherever sulfide mining occurs. If the company proceeds on schedule, they could begin mining as early as mid 2006. See enclosed article from Mazina-igan.

These and many other threats to the western Great Lakes region will be discussed at the Nationhood Gathering, hosted by the Sokaogon Chippewa Community at Mole Lake on June 10-12, 2005. The gathering will be a historic event aimed to build grassroots unity among Native nations in the western Great Lakes region, to educate and empower youth, and to mobilize Native peoples for cultural and environmental survival. See enclosed flyer. For more information go to: www.treatyland.com or www.alphacdc.com/treaty/gathering.html

Stay tuned.

Al Gedicks, Exec. Secretary
info@wrpc.net
www.wrpc.net