It was encouraging that three Menominee city officials wanted to stop the city from accepting donations from Aquila Resources, the Canadian company that wants to put an open-pit sulfide mine near the Menominee River.
Aquila has tried to buy off the entire area, but especially Menominee and Menominee County, for a decade now.
Unfortunately, a majority of the city council nixed the donation ban last week.
Most local organizations and individuals aren't that stupid. Almost every municipality in our corner of the world has come out against the open-pit sulfide mine that Aquila wants along the Menominee River. The city of Menominee has lagged behind.
I've been to the mine site. I know how close it is to the river. I've listened to the propaganda Aquila spews. (Fortunately, the Canadian mining company has yet to hire anyone with the savvy to sell its plans with any expertise.)
Another big plus is the many average citizens who have fought against the mine for many years now, beginning with the Front Forty movement some 11 years back.
My favorites are those who frequent the Save the Menominee River Facebook Page. I won't name names, but they seem like a great crew: Driven, dedicated and resourceful.
They've testified, marched, picketed, donated, made signs, created memes, written letters and done much more to keep the Menominee River - which is finally clean after decades of contamination - safe from destruction.
Along the way, I suspect they've learned a lot about the civic process and made what I hope will be lasting friendships. I really like these people, at least online. I admire their dedication.
I applaud the progress these good people have made. Now there's more than one federal agency that is looking askance at the Back Forty Mine. As it should.
Sure, the mine might bring a few jobs to the area. But that's not so attractive now with other businesses expanding.
And no amount of job creation is worth losing our most valuable resource: The Menominee River.
Stop the mine.
