Interactive Press & Media Room

News & Media Coverage

The MiWater cause has been featured across the state. Here are the latest stories.. just click on the headline to read or see the entire piece.

• Mining limits proposed, opposed in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula - Great Lakes Echo - December 9, 2009

  The initiative claims sulfide and uranium mining threatens water in the Great Lakes basin. Supporters say they do not want to ban mining they just want stricter regulations. The Great Lakes supply 80 percent of North America’s drinking water, and sulfide mining could harm such sources by draining acid and contaminating the supply for decades, industry critics argue. If passed by voters in November 2010, it would also apply to future mining in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

• A U.S. mine debate centers on water, jobs - November 28, 2009

  Opponents argue that the project would violate an area that is considered sacred by a local American Indian tribe and could send chemical pollution into Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes that straddle the U.S.-Canadian border.

• Sulfide Mining Issues Subject of Initiative - Mining Gazette - November 17, 2009

  Duncan Campbell, treasurer of the Detroit-based Michigan Save Our Water Committee, which was created in March and is directing the MiWater ballot initiative, said the initiative is not intended to and will not end mining in the state. "It's not going to eliminate mining," he said. "It's just going to put in protections for water."

• There is no pure Michigan without abundant pure water - MiningJournal.net - November 15, 2009

  Duncan Campbell's editorial has been published in the Mining Journal.

• Lawmakers Downplay Possibility of U.P. Uranium Mining - Lake Superior Mining News - November 14, 2009

  Upper Peninsula lawmakers are railing against a ballot measure to create standards for uranium mining, claiming that no uranium ore has been discovered in Michigan. However, a Canadian uranium mining company says it’s found uranium in the U.P., scientists have warned that its uranium exploration could harm groundwater, and the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department is warning that residential wells in several counties already have elevated levels of the radioactive metal.

• Mining ballot initiative raises real, not disguised, issues - November 13, 2009

  We do not want to wake up one day to discover that our short-term employment gains have left us poorer overall. “Currently” we need these jobs, argues the Mining Journal editorial, but when the mines are gone, as they inevitably will be sooner or later, what will we be left with?

• Enviro group accuses U.P. lawmakers of spreading pro-mining propaganda - Michigan Messenger - November 12, 2009

  Save the Wild UP director Kristi Mills responds to the recent Senate Democrats press release against MiWater.

• Ballot prop opposed by legislators - MiningJournal.net - November 12, 2009

  This week, a bipartisan group of U.P. lawmakers issued a joint statement opposing the ballot initiative. Those state legislators include Sens. Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming, and Jason Allen, R-Traverse City; and Reps. Michael Lahti, D-Hancock, Steven Lindberg, D-Marquette, and Judy Nerat, D-Wallace.

• Michigan Group Seeks to Curtail Great Lakes Mining - Circle of Blue - October 30, 2009

  The group, the Michigan Save Our Water Committee, hopes to collect 400,000 signatures on a statewide petition by May so its question will make the 2010 general election ballot. The state election board approved the group’s petition form earlier this month.

• There Can Be No Pure Michigan Without Pure Water by Babette Welch - Marquette Monthly - October 29, 2009

  A study commissioned for Travel Michigan concludes that every dollar Michigan invests in out-of-state tourism advertising generates $40.81 in total spending by tourists and $2.86 in new sales tax revenues for the state, according to Traverse City Record Eagle. What a great return. And so much of that return depends on Michigan’s water—from trout streams to the Great Lakes, water is the central theme.

• No Pure Water, No Pure Michigan: Traverse City Record-Eagle - October 28, 2009

  Who hasn't been riveted by the spectacular images of Michigan in the award-winning Pure Michigan ads? Many of these spots focus on our state's most defining feature -- water. Each of us has a favorite stream, river, lake or Great Lake -- the inland seas that make Michigan one of the world's most easily identifiable places. As the stewards of the world's largest fresh water reservoir, we know there is no pure Michigan without pure water.

• Detroit park honors former Gov. Milliken | The Detroit News - October 23, 2009

  Gov. Milliken's comments remind us that we are all in this together, and should not let the Straits of Mackinac prevent us from being one Pure Michigan. We are not fighting for only the UP, but for the common interest of Pure Water for all of Michigan, and the entire Great Lakes Basin.

• Ballot battle over mining looms - The Mining Journal - October 16, 2009

  MARQUETTE - Both proponents and opponents of a new mining and water-related ballot initiative are digging their heels in for what is expected to be a hard-fought, costly battle to win over Michigan's voters. The state Board of Canvassers approved a four-page petition form Wednesday from the Michigan Save Our Water Committee. The committee - whose honorary chairman is former Michigan Gov. William Milliken...

• Michigan proposal would restrict mining operations - chicagotribune.com - October 16, 2009

  LANSING, Mich. - A proposed Michigan ballot measure that would prohibit some types of mining and restrict others took a small step forward Wednesday.The petition form submitted by a group called the Michigan Save Our Water Committee...

• In an era of water scarcity the Great Lakes are more valuable than ever - October 14, 2009

  Read more on the issue of water scarcity...

• Headwaters are no place for toxic new mining - JSOnline - September 23, 2009

  New proposals for mining in the U.P. involve a method — metallic sulfide mining — known for its record of toxic water pollution...

• New era for Michigan mining - article from The Detroit News - September 21, 2009

  Environmental groups find the rush to bring in mining projects alarming. Mining can harm streams and groundwater and the effects could be felt for decades. The risk of long-term damage, they say, is not worth the short-term economic gains, particularly in an area as unspoiled as the Upper Peninsula.