‘Our UP, Our Future’
Job creation coalition launched
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MARQUETTE -- On Monday, InvestUP announced the launch of a coalition of more than 130 local leaders of business, education, and labor unions, called "Our U.P., Our Future." The coalition, according to the announcement, is “dedicated to championing the creation of jobs and opportunities for the Upper Peninsula while protecting the region's natural resources.” The coalition includes all six of the state legislators representing the U.P., indicating broad support for the effort across the region.
In a telephone interview with the Daily Mining Gazette, InvestUP CEO Marty Fittante said attracting new opportunities and industry to the Upper Peninsula is how to create jobs that permit families to remain in the U.P. and move the region forward while protecting its natural resources.
"We know economic opportunity and the environment can co-exist because of the Eagle Mine (in Marquette County)," Fittante said. "InvestUP is proud to be part of a coalition that's working to make that a reality. The support here is real and it's our job to make sure the rest of the state knows it."
Fittante points to recent statewide polling conducted by EPIC-MRA to anchor that claim. The data reveals that 71% of Michigan voters support the Copperwood Project, a copper mining effort in Gogebic County. While 58% favor state funding for it--metrics the InvestUP CEO leverages to demonstrate that the coalition’s goals align with broader statewide sentiment.
The coalition is in response to some opposition of the Copperwood Mine Project's development, which is due to its geographic proximity to Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains State Park. Among the opposition groups is one calling itself Protect the Porkies. Fittante said there is significant support for the Copperwood Mine Project, and the coalition is designed to give a voice to those who support the project and economic growth
In reference to Tuesday’s Michigan Strategic Fund Board meeting, held in Lansing, Protect the Porkies posted on Facebook that "dozens of regular citizens have spoken in opposition to the Copperwood funding," adding, "Not a single regular citizen has spoken in favor - only politicians."
Fittante said that at the meeting, all of the opposition to the Copperwood project came from people from other areas. "Not one was from the Upper Peninsula," he said.
Michigan Advance reported Wednesday that Bryan Mitchell of Novi, objected to the project largely on economic grounds [Michigan Environmental Council]. MLive on Tuesday reported that dozens of people showed up to speak at Tuesday's board meeting in Lansing, many traveling from places like Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and Milwaukee to oppose the project. For example, Lauren Pomeroy told the Michigan Strategic Fund board she drove in from Milwaukee to speak against the project at Tuesday's meeting.
"Michigan taxpayers should not be asked to help a Canadian mining company rip open one of the most sacred, protected places in our entire state," MLive reported her saying. "The Porcupine Mountains are not just land. They are Michigan's soul."
On Tuesday, Fittante commented on the support and its location, compared to those opposing Copperwood.
"You look at that relative to the support that we've seen in the polls, and what we've seen through this coalition, and I think it speaks to the minority that they are," Fittante said. "Social media, and through an influencer, driving opposition that has got no subject matter expertise to criticize what the state regulators have done in going through a test that is the most stringent in the country.
"Additionally, it's from outside the area," Fittante said. "I think it just speaks to the nature of the opposition."
Fittante also noted that active opposition on the ground may be small in numbers, stating he had heard unverified reports that a tribal resistance encampment set up near the mine site consisted of just 14 people.
The encampment, established in the Ottawa National Forest by members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) and Protect the Porkies activists, was organized to protest the project’s proximity to Lake Superior.
While Fittante asserted that opposition is purely driven by outsiders, geographic sentiment remains deeply divided within the Upper Peninsula. While over 20 local government units--including the Gogebic County Board and both Wakefield and Ironwood townships where the mine will sit--have passed resolutions supporting the project, the project faces long-standing, fierce opposition locally, such as the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, who express severe concerns over heavy metal contamination in local waterways and Lake Superior. Furthermore, grassroots groups point out that nearly half a million people, including thousands of local U.P. residents, have signed petitions opposing the mine.