Power to the People

Last week I attended a public hearing at the Lansing Center that brought public opinion on the Yellow Dog mining project in Marquette, Mich. to the ears of state policymakers.

For background, a foreign-subsidized mining company, Kennecott, was granted initial approval from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to mine for sulfur in the Yellow Dog Plains - a beautiful watershed home to a unique river and rare fish species.

Not only does mining for sulfide have consequences such as radiation exposure and the depletion of animal species. It has the potentional to suck the Salmon Trout River completely dry!

The MDEQ remained totally ignorant about the mine’s consequences until a group of scientists presented them with undeniable evidence of its destructive potential.

This is where you can see the Power of the People.

From there, numerous grassroots projects banded together to protest these industrialists and dissuade the MDEQ from giving in to big business.

The public hearing in Lansing was overwhelming. I approximated that for every 12 people that spoke against the mine’s construction, there was one supporter.

The public has the opportunity to voice their opinion until Oct. 17, when MDEQ will close off public comment and make a final decision.

From what I saw, these public hearings were a fantastic opportunity to seriously prevent this big business from destroying one of Michigan’s gems.

I know some public hearings are mired in deadlocks between sides. But when public consciousness is obviously right and contradicts the government, it is a journalist's duty to report democracy in action.

Power to the People.