Article written by Chuck Glossenger, posted by Gabriel Caplett

Gov. Jennifer Granholm managed to enter Marquette County, endorse Kennecott’s mine in an interview with The Mining Journal and meet no protest whatsoever.

Granholm states she wouldn’t "sign on" a mine that was going to damage "resources," and she signed into law the most "rigorous" mining laws in the nation. She states she will close the mine immediately of the "resource" would be damaged. In maybe the most revealing statement, she calls for "wise use" of our resources since we are a resource state.

"Wise use" property rights movement got its name at a landmark 1988 conference that brough together the American Petroleum Institute, the American Mining Congress, anti-environmental lawyers and corporations such as DuPont and Exxon.

Founder Ron Arnold and right wing fundraisers decided the only way to defeat a social movement such as the environmental movement was with another social movement, so they created a non-profit mechanism (the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise) to work with. Their agenda was/is to step up resource extraction on public lands and dismantle the country’s environmental laws.

When Kennecott states Michigan’s new sulfide mining laws are the best in the nation and Granholm echoes it, you must believe she believes in this "free market conservationism."

The problem is, Granholm is pretending to be a Democrat, who are pretending to be different from Republicans. I would respect her if she came into Marquette outraged that we have archaic laws such as "severed" mineral rights, or if she was disappointed with Kennecott lobbyists for holding the threat of litigation in front of her.

In case she didn’t know, we wanted protective, not rigorous laws. Wisconsin, our neighbor, has that and there are no pending permits.

On her Web site biography, Gov. Granholm brags that she has trimmed more state government than any governor in Michigan history and that the Michigan business tax will cut taxes for seven out of 10 businesses. This sounds like a Republican resume to me.

I extend an invitation to the mine site for Granholm. Maybe she’ll see the "resource" has real names, like coaster brook trout.

Chuck Glossenger
Big Bay

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