Midwest Mining Rush Threatens Water: Part I: Foreign-owned Mining Companies vs. U.S. Regulators   Because no federal law forces mining companies to properly manage sulfide ore mining hazardous waste, large foreign conglomerates proposing this type of mining in the region have only to deal with state laws and state agents.

Lois Gibbs, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee famous for her activism in the struggle of Love Canal, notes that long-standing official denial of poisoning of local residents there is similar to the struggle that environmental organizations around the Great Lakes are facing in opposing sulfide mining projects.  She is not against the mine specifically, but she is worried that information presented to the community about the mine’s safety could possibly be misleading.