Grand Rapids resident Lee Sprague addresses protesters Thursday at a rally for environmental preservation on the Capitol lawn in Lansing. Sprague is an active member of the environmental community and has participated in a number of rallies.
American Indian performers, dressed in turquoise shawls, stood at the Capitol steps in Lansing Thursday morning. Traditional American Indian singing, drumming, guitar playing and other various performances echoed on the top of the Capitol stairs.
Among other performers, there were MSU alumni, Lansing residents and speakers from across mid-Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. All performers and participants were united for one cause, one that stressed the importance of Michigan’s Great Lakes.
An environmental rally Thursday at the Capitol, hosted by the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve and the National Wildlife Federation, attempted to gain mass opposition in hopes of preventing a mining operation in Marquette, Mich., which protesters said could harm the surrounding environment.
Cynthia Pryor, who organized the protest, said it is important to preserve the state’s land and waters. Along with the Ojibwa tribe and several other state tribes, Pryor came with a petition from the Upper Peninsula containing more than 10,000 signatures asking the state to protect public land in the Upper Peninsula from mining development.
Rally organizers hoped to deliver the petition to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, but ultimately left the petition with Capitol security because Granholm was not available Thursday.
Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said in an e-mail Thursday evening that the tribes’ concerns were taken into consideration early on, after the groups requested consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Natural Resources.
The consultation request was under with the State-Tribal Accord, which was created in 2002, Boyd said.
“While the tribe did not agree with the decision of the agencies to issue the permits, both departments certainly gave careful consideration to all of their concerns,” Boyd said in the e-mail.
Pryor, an advocate for preserving the area, said mining would take away opportunities from people in the community to experience nature. Additionally, she said the land is important for people and American Indian tribes in the area.
“(The mining) takes away our use and enjoyment of public lands,” she said. “Not only does it deny public access to public rock, but it denies the Anishinabe access to their sacred site.”
Performer and MSU alumn Jennifer Sygit said any advantages from the mining would be temporary, but the effects are long term and could negatively impact the land and people living in the area.
“Any benefit that we would get from the jobs to me does not outweigh the damage that will be done to the environment,” Sygit said. “If you effect the waterway, you are effecting the food source, the drinking water, you know, the lively hood of a lot of other species.”
Performer and Lansing resident Sam Corbin said mining in the area would defeat Michigan’s Great Lakes entity.
“This is Michigan, we are known for the clean waters,” he said. “We are trying to keep the waters clean.”
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