MARQUETTE, MI-- A speaking tour is stopping at Northern Michigan University Monday to discuss the proposed Back Forty mine in Menominee County.
Al Gedicks is executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council. He’ll join Guy Reiter—a member of the Menominee Conservation Committee—to talk about the planned 83-acre, open-pit sulfide mine.
Nathan Frischkorn is a member of NMU’s American Indian Science and Engineering Society. He says the project would pose environmental problems.
“There has never been an open-pit sulfide mine that has not polluted the local watershed,” he says. Frischkorn adds there are also native burial mounds in the area, which presents cultural concerns. “A burial mound there—it’s like putting a mine on top of a cemetery where your or my grandparents are buried,” he notes.
The presentation takes place Monday from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Marquette and Nicolet rooms at NMU’s University Center.