Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

July 12, 2010

Dear WRPC Member,

On July 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency informed Kennecott that they were not required to obtain an underground injection permit for their mine’s wastewater discharge system. Kennecott had already decided that they didn’t need such a permit and asserted that they had all the permits they needed to begin mine construction of the Eagle mine. The Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment accepted Kennecott’s assertion and gave the go-ahead for bulldozing the site.

By Al Gedicks, Sociology
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse

Abstract: Multinational mining companies are finding it increasingly difficult to get approval for new mining projects in sensitive areas in most advanced capitalist nations. To overcome grassroots environmental resistance to new mining projects, multinational corporations, in cooperation with the state, have attempted a variety of strategies, including the following: (1)legislative initiatives to thwart local democratic control; (2) legal challenges to local zoning authority; (3) mass media campaigns; and (4) attacks on tribal sovereignty. The development and effectiveness of these strategies will be evaluated in the context of the intense controversy over metallic sulfide mining in northern Wisconsin.