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Last week, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s tribal council had a meeting with Gov. Scott Walker at the Capitol. The meeting concerned the planned Gogebic Taconite mine on the Bad River Watershed, which will blast down to the iron ore and, in the process, create a four- to five-mile open pit mine. Open pit mining is the most primitive and environmentally destructive form of mining that is still practiced today, and this is only the first phase of the project.
The Gogebic company and its supporters have boasted about the economic benefits the mine will bring to Wisconsin, claiming it will directly create 700 mining jobs and indirectly create almost 3,000 jobs in the trucking and foundry industries. The proposed mining project would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars per year to the state.
However, the Bad River Band has concerns. They believe acid run-off from the mine will destroy their watershed and ruin their traditional rice harvests. The council feels it has been excluded from the planning and approval process for their lands and waters, and wants to ensure it will have control in the environmental regulation for the mine. The Band insisted that contested case hearings, which allow citizens to contest a mining permit before it goes to trial, should be preserved. The current draft bill eliminates this process, giving the Native Americans no say.
For the Bad River Band, the proposed site of the Gogebic mine is their home.
“This is our land. This is where we live. We can’t just pack up and move,” said Frank Connors, a member of the tribal council. If anybody has the right to determine the future of the land and resources of the Bad River Watershed, it is the Native Americans who live there.
Although Walker met with the Bad River Band, he seems to be indifferent to their requests. He said he supports the mine as long as it doesn’t harm other business sectors in the state, such as farming and tourism. Apparently, Walker listened to the Band’s thoughts about mining laws and then disregarded them. The discussion about the process is moving forward. It seems the governor wants to make good on the mantra of creating Wisconsin jobs and won’t be dissuaded by the demands of the state’s Native American people.
It is disappointing that the rights of Native Americans will once more be trampled in the pursuit of natural resources and economic interests. The consistent and systematic disregard for their rights to land use and resources is one of the ugliest and most tragic aspects of American history, and if the Gogebic Taconite mine opens up on the Bad River watershed, it will confirm that American government still disrespects its native people.
Today, Walker, lawmakers, the Gogebic Taconite company and the state of Wisconsin have an opportunity to be leaders for the rest of the country and set an example for the future of Native American rights, both with regard to land and resources and as fellow citizens. Wisconsin could show the rest of the country that it values the cultural history of the Bad River Band and its right to a clean and healthy watershed more than the taconite lying in the ground beneath them.
I hope that those who will decide the future of this taconite mine realize that Wisconsin doesn’t need jobs and money that come at the cost of disregard for the dignity and civil rights of the Native American people who have lived here longer than Wisconsin itself existed.
Charles Godfrey ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in math and physics.
