1001 Chestnut Street West, Virginia, Minnesota

  The Lake Superior Binational Forum is offering its third and final public meeting about the impacts of mining in the Lake Superior basin at this upcoming meeting in Virginia.

A full agenda is posted on the Forum’s website.  The focus of the meeting will be on how nonferrous mining operations may impact the economies and environment of the Lake Superior basin, especially on the Minnesota Iron Range.

 All Forum meetings are free and open to the public with no need to pre-register.  

Members of the public are invited to an open public comment period starting at 4:30 p.m. on March 15 when anyone is welcome to express their comments about mining and other issues related to Lake Superior.

<=  Click on this poster or the agenda above to display at your group meeting, work site, or other public location.

The first public meeting–held in March 2012 in Ashland, Wisconsin–focused on the historical, environmental, and economic impacts from ferrous mining in the basin. All audio and video recordings of that meeting are available on the Lake Superior Binational Forum’s web site here. 

 The second public meeting–held in September 2012 in Marquette, Michigan–focused on various impacts from nonferrous mining operations, including how mercury affects water quality. You can listen to and watch recordings of speakers’ presentations here.  

The Binational Forum has developed an extensive section about mining throughout the basin on our web site. Click here to access information about all aspects of mining in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario. Included on the web site are resources and links to information about active and proposed mining operations in the basin; socio-economic impacts of mining operations; environmental impacts; citizen responses to mining; Native American perspectives; historical importance of mining; news; recorded presentations by speakers of different perspectives, and other resources.

These meetings are funded through a  Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Lake Superior Binational Program represents a partnership of federal, state, provincial, and First Nations/tribal governments working together with citizens to ensure the protection of the Lake Superior basin ecosystem. The Forum was created in 1991 when the Binational Program members recognized the importance of having a citizen stakeholder group to give input to agencies and governments about how to manage the lake.

The Forum is a citizen stakeholder group of American and Canadian volunteers who work together to provide input to governments about management efforts and to educate basin residents about ways to protect and restore the lake basin’s natural resources.

Contact us at:  binationalforum@northland.edu