Western Mining Action Network – Indigenous Environmental Network Mini-Grant Recipients

October 2011

  1. Action for the Environment, South Dakota: for travel to the state capitol for public meetings to comment on decisions of whether to expand cyanide process mining in the northern Black Hills
  1. Arizona Mining Reform: for educational outreach to generate comments from across the nation related to a Canadian company’s proposed mine near Tuscon, Arizona
  1. Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Virginia: to hire a hydrogeologist to review potential water quality impacts from a new uranium mine proposal and to consider the broader implications of an associated push to lift Virginia’s statewide ban against uranium mining
  1. Clean Water Alliance, South Dakota: for public education materials and mailings related to a new rare earths mine with radioactive tailings’ potential, and the associated cumulative impacts of six other regional uranium mines/proposals
  1. Committee for Future Generations, Saskatchewan: for youth organizing and other public outreach to encourage a dialogue about the impacts of uranium mining and waste disposal in the world’s largest uranium producing region
  1. Concerned Citizens of Penobsquis, New Brunswick: to prepare for a presentation in front of the New Brunswick mining commissioner regarding lost drinking water at residential homes, farmland, and lost property value from area potash mines and natural gas wells
  1. Dine Care, Arizona: for production of several videos to be broadcast to electric-rate payers in Arizona, New Mexico and California receiving power generated by the coal mining and power plants in the surrounding Navajo Nation
  1. Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK), Michigan: to compile research and host a series of associated public forums regarding new mine development proposed in the western region of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and also in the surrounding region of Ontario, Minnesota and Wisconsin
  1. Ground Truth Trekking, Alaska: to create an interactive "super map" of Alaskan mining projects, to display on their website and freely distribute to groups and individuals who wish to download it and add it to their own websites
  1. Hamlet of Arctic Bay, Nunavut: for a case study of mineral development in the high Arctic focusing on the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental implications of the operation of a lead/zinc mine at Nanisvik, near Arctic Bay, Nunavut, including an investigation of the initial rationale for the establishment of Nanisivik, and to what extent promised or suggested community benefits from the mine were met
  1. Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade, British Columbia: to host and provide a venue for Indigenous Peoples who question mining and want prior informed consent before a mine is developed; this Indigenous Peoples Assembly will coincide with a 19th Annual Conference of the Canadian Aboriginal Mineral Association
  1. Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin, Wisconsin: for research and development of reports, public handouts, and a newsletter on the current value of water and wildlife resources and the impacts of large-scale taconite mining
  1. Plains Justice, Montana: to update and maintain the CoalDiver website (coaldiver.org) which provides easy access for advocates, journalists, and others seeking information about western coal development; the site also features unique interactive tools to help users grasp the scale of western coal strip mining
  1. Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, Arizona: to produce a series of short video vignettes, and associated material, to illustrate local residents’ concerns with the proposed Rosemont mine near Tucson, Arizona
  1. Secwepemc Nation Youth Network, British Columbia: for outreach materials, organizing and a mural project to make a billboard mural on their reservation, along the Trans Canada Hwy, to outreach to the 10,000+ motorists per day on the impacts of proposed lead/zinc mining to sockeye salmon and indigenous land values generally
  1. Sipaulovi Development Corporation, Arizona: for Hopi elders and youth interns to work together in the monitoring of six to eight village springs where, recently, the water flow decreased or ceased potentially due to area mining drawing down the aquifer and using a high volume of surface water
  1. Unit 2 Hypha Films and Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan: for a collaboration between independent filmmakers and the KBIC to develop a video short to build awareness within the KBIC and other communities in the region (and as the first step towards a broader documentary envisioned centered on the Great Lakes Region as a whole) focused on the threat to 19% of the world’s fresh water supply due to the cumulative impacts of previous, current, and proposed regional mining
  1. Water Legacy, Minnesota: for legal assistance and map development related to upholding Minnesota’s “Wild Rice Rule,” which limits sulfate pollution in wild rice waters and protects fish, other aquatic life, and humans from toxic methylation of mercury, a potent neurotoxin