Letter | Bad news about water, climate abound

Dear Editor: Water problems — mostly concerning drowning coastlines or the parched West — abound in the media, along with worsening global news about climate change.

Esther Launstein’s report (“Soccer fields on Madison’s west side may be replaced by a bigger pond,” Sept. 24) on Madison’s plan to combine and enlarge two west-side ponds to manage stormwater hits here at home. And a re-emerging issue in the Midwest connects water, climate change and relations with our Canadian neighbors: the likely mining of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel warned that mining would devastate “one of the most beloved and threatened wild places in America … as sacred to Midwesterners as the Grand Canyon is to South westerners.”

Another story, in The Washington Post, asked, “Will mining destroy America’s most-visited wilderness?” 

Yes, if it happens as President Trump intends. It will not only destroy the wilderness but have profound consequences for climate, the environment, relations with Canada and the treaty-protected rights of the Ojibwe people to harvest wild rice, whose beds will be destroyed. It will release stored greenhouse gases, destroy the forest’s ability to sequester carbon and use large amounts of fossil-fuel energy — thus accelerating climate change. The forest and wetlands’ ability to purify water and mitigate floods will be critically impaired.

Canada has consistently opposed mining the Boundary Waters. As the intended area doesn’t drain into the Great Lakes watershed, mining won’t violate the Great Lakes Compact. But it will produce acid mine drainage and other toxic runoff and affect water shared by both countries — violating the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, which guarantees equal rights to the water and prohibits actions harmful to the other country.

Like all developers, Minnesota’s Twin Metals, which will construct the first mine, promises advanced technology and environmental protections. We’ve heard those promises before. And Trump’s promises of jobs, prosperity and energy dominance mean forget about environmental protection and a livable climate.

Carol Steinhart

Madison

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