Kennecott approved for re-opening Humbolt mill

In case any of NMU’s community is interested on Feb. 9 of this year, the newly-formed Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued the permits necessary  for Kennecott –– a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto –– to reopen the Humboldt Mill near Champion. The article is posted on www.michigan.gov  under the MDNRE. The agency’s official contact is Robert McCann (517) 373-7917. They have “concluded that Kennecott’s applications meet the requirements of Michigan law, and the mill operation will provide the necessary protection for the environment, natural resources and public health.”

Anyone interested in reading opinions opposed to the statement above may visit www.savethewildup.org  and look up Gabriel Caplett’s articles in The Splash, issue 3, 2009.

It seems the Humboldt tailings pit is still leaking mercury –– and possibly other contaminants –– even after having been shut down for many years.

According to Kennecott, they are going to use that same pit for the waste from copper and nickel processing. This may be by the letter of the Michigan law, but perhaps the law needs to be more carefully examined.

While this area desperately needs jobs, the Michigan Land Use Institute (article by Glenn Puit, also in the Splash issue above) lists “green industries” starting up all over Michigan that would provide good (not temporary, like mining) jobs without ruining our land and water. The Great Lakes make up at least 17 percent of our world’s fresh water.

Water is the most precious resource on the planet; not oil, not gold, certainly not copper or nickel.

-Sarah Culvers

Penn not famous for coffee pot in Fast Times at Ridgemont High

I recently finished reading the Oscar predictions section for the Feb. 25 issue of The North Wind.  I have noticed your staff writer, Brett Hilbrandt, wrote that he was surprised.

Mo’Nique has a chance to win the best supporting actress Oscar He comically referenced her role in “Beerfest” and also how great actors can have odd starts to their Oscar winning careers, such as Sean Penn starting out as Jeff Spicoli in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”.

This brings me to the main point of my E-mail.  He states that “Sean Penn’s career started off as a stoner who hits someone in the head with a coffee pot.” This is wrong. While Penn did portray a stoner, it was in fact Judge Reinhold’s character who hit a would-be robber in the head with a coffee pot at the end of the movie, and Spicoli comes on screen to say, “All right, Hamilton!”

I am only noticing and mentioning this because I am a huge Sean Penn fan.  I have followed his films and his career for a along time, which I know means nothing to you, but I just thought it would be right to set the record straight.  Thank you for your time.

-Stephen Sobell

ASNMU looking for students’ input for programming

I want to hear from you, the reader: what would you do to better represent students? Our priorities have been to keep school affordable, increased student outreach and tackling pragmatic issues.  The editorial states, “Unfortunately, with recent changes in priorities, the voice of students has been lost”. Did you know that you can charge up to $500 worth of textbooks to your student account? Did you know that NMU is giving students a tuition rebate next year? Or, did you hear about the proposal to raise parking rates to $150 last year, which failed because of student advocates?  These are all areas where ASNMU has represented YOU to the NMU administration.

I assure you that with 60-80 ASNMU work hours per week, along with the countless extra hours put in by your representatives, we have plenty of time to advocate for all student priorities.

Our purpose has always been clear: to be advocates for our fellow students and that is exactly what we are doing. With the changes we are making, assembly members will have their duties more clearly defined which makes advocating for students even more of a priority.

Before you begin to state what ASNMU is doing, or isn’t doing correctly I think that it is important for you to make sure that you know accurate information. It isn’t hard to ask any member of the assembly for clarification, and our door is always open.  I hope to see more educated articles from the North Wind in the future.

-Jason Morgan, ASNMU President