On Thursday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m. at the State Street entrance to the State Capitol, indigenous and non-native people will stand up, step forward and speak out against destructive sand and taconite mining in Wisconsin.  Migizi Advocates for Turtle Island invites all people concerned with protecting Turtle Island or planet earth against permanent damage by mining in Wisconsin to join us after the State of the Tribes address by Menominee tribal chairman Craig Corn in the state legislature at Noon.  Rally speakers will include Jon Greendeer, chairman of the Ho Chunk Tribe, Andi Cloud of Migizi Advocates, Barbara With of the Penokee Hills Education Project, Forest Jahnke of the Crawford Stewardship Project, and John Peck of Family Farm Defenders.

More than 60 operating mines blasting sandstone for hydraulic fracking, with dozens more in development, are changing the landscape of western Wisconsin and subjecting citizens near the open pit mines to silica dust, water pollution and life in an industrial zone.  Sand mining spilled into the St Croix River, one of two wild and scenic rivers in Wisconsin resulting in fines, although lax regulations and abundant supply help make Wisconsin the largest source of frac sand in the U.S.  Sand mining uses huge amounts of water and also threatens sacred sites of the HoChunk people. The proposed Gogebic Taconite mine in the Penokee Hills on Lake Superior’s doorstep is an assault on the Bad River Ojibwe, with the largest wetland estuary and remaining wild rice beds on the largest freshwater lake in the world. Despite the discovery of asbestos at the mine site, the passage of the law exempting taconite mining from most mining laws last year has paved the way for an irresponsible company whose president faces charges of poisoning an aquifer in Spain to open the largest open pit mine in the world in northern Wisconsin.

Stand with us on February 13 and send a message to our government–Protect our land, air and water from mining!

Madison Action for Mining Alternatives (MAMA)