by Barry Drue
The Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition celebrated the UP and the grassroots group’s 40th year with a day and a half of special events and an annual meeting. The group was hosted by Keweenaw Bay Indian Community at the Baraga campus of the Ojibwa Commumnity College last Friday and Saturday, March 18-19, 2016. UPEC members and KBIC share many values and concerns about the Upper Peninsula’s environment. In his opening remarks Saturday, Tribal Chairman Chris Swartz noted that one of KBIC’s biggest regional concerns is the Eagle Mine at the Native spiritual site, Eagle Rock on the Yellow Dog Plains. Swartz told the large group gathered in the OCC gym that the tribe is not opposed to mining. It is opposed to mining that brings adverse environmental effects, which he believes will happen at Eagle Mine with sulfide mining. To read more, subscribe to the L’Anse Sentinel online, or buy a print copy at our local retailers.