Alternative One

Advertising slogans--those catchy phrases that draw attention to a product or company—are a powerful marketing tool.   A successful slogan makes its target audience feel good, or builds desire for a specific product or service. In rare instances, a slogan can come back to haunt a company by calling attention to a negative event or failed product.  In other cases, a slogan can be so misleading that it calls into question the integrity of the company or product it promotes. 

Union Carbide:   A Hand In Things To Come

When Union Carbide affixed this slogan to its advertising and product labels, the one–time chemical manufacturing giant could not have anticipated the event which came to define and eventually destroy the company.  On December 3, 1984, the Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, leaked almost 50 tons of deadly chemical gas, killing 8,000 people and injuring hundreds of thousands who lived in the impoverished city. 
                                                                                                                                                                    Prior to the Bhopal disaster, Union Carbide ran an advertisement entitled “Science helps build a new India,” which showed a thin, dark-skinned man at the wearing a turban, plowing desert ground, behind a primitive plow pulled by oxen. Two dark-skinned women wearing traditional saris watch while carrying a parasol, one balancing a large basket or jug on her head. 

Across the top of the advertisement is the hand of a white man. The hand is pouring a clear red fluid out of a chemist’s flask onto the agricultural scene below. Beneath the picture, is the Union Carbide logo and the slogan, “A hand in things to come.”

Freeport McMoRan:  Connecting The Future

Many Americans are familiar with Halliburton and Bechtel.  When we hear about these companies, we associate them with scandal, corruption and overall sinister activities.  Throughout its lengthy and sordid history, New Orleans-based Freeport McMoRan was as obscure as its slogan.   That changed dramatically in 2005 when the New York Times printed a massive story about the company that operates the world’s largest gold mine.  The article charges Freeport with spying on environmental organizers, making large payoffs to individuals in the Indonesian security forces, and polluting groundwater supplies.

Freeport turned a lovely mountain, the Grasberg -- called "Copper Mountain" because of its rich copper vein -- into a pit so large it shows on satellite photos. As they mined for copper, they found an incredible bounty of gold.   The company has been linked to plots to assassinate and overthrow world leaders.  Freeport’s involvement in Indonesian politics led to that country’s bloody invasion of East Timor.  Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor led to more than 185,000 deaths out of a total population of less than 700,000.  Connecting the Future?  Let’s hope not! 

A key player in Freeport McMoRan’s Indonesian mining operation was none other than Robert Russell, now a Director of Mines Management.  Connecting The Future?  Let’s hope not!  Support  Alternative One:  No Montanore Mine, no power lines!

Enriching Lives.  Everywhere

Now there’s a slogan for the ages.  Guess who are enriching lives…everywhere? None other than the friendly folks managing today’s….W. R. Grace & Company. 

But wait. This can’t be the same W. R. Grace that operated the vermiculite mine in Montana?  The company which almost killed every man, woman and child in Libby?  The folks who poisoned our air, water and land, and who exported their deadly products around the world for decades? 

You would think that a company which had done all of this and managed to escaped both financial -- through bankruptcy reorganization -- and criminal – through the failure of our justice system --  responsibility might keep a low profile, exhibit a little contrition or quietly go away.

 Not a chance!   Yes, O. J. Simpson of the corporate world is b-a-a-a-a-ck, meaner, cockier and fouler than ever.  In the second quarter of 2011, Grace’s $826 .4 million in sales represents a 20.6 percent over the second quarter of 2010.  They crow about supporting the National Aquarium, creating a few scholarships and sponsoring environmental workshops for teachers.

W. R. Grace describes itself as a group of good people who were going about the business of mining in Libby, none of whom had even the slightest inkling that the asbestos in the mine was deadly.  Once suspicions were raised, Grace claims, they took the lead in promoting research, protecting its workers and, ultimately, in making sure those who were sick would have access to world class health care.  Unfortunately, this revisionist version of the Libby tragedy contains not one grain of truth.  Grace covered up and tried to bury the truth for as long as they could, lied to their workers and to the community at large, pocketed as much loot as possible and skipped town.

And what do they have to say about the Libby disaster?  Grace just can’t get enough coverage of their $250 thousand annual contribution to St. John’s Lutheran Hospital.  They have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the entire story of vermiculite mining and their role in creating the one of the worst human-caused environmental disasters in history.  They treat the $250 million fine they paid to EPA as an act of charity. 

Haven’t we had enough of out-of-town mining companies posing as models of corporate responsibility while they plunder our land, air and water and treat the local residents like mining waste?  Do we really need another slickly packaged corporation…one which misleads us by claiming to specialize in mining while never having mined a single ounce of anything… posing as the Messiah and offering shaky promises of  better days for our community?  Is a company led by a hedge fund manager and a man with connections to massive international environmental and human rights crimes really what’s best for Northwest Montana?  We think not.

Mines Management:  Unearthing Life’s Key Ingredients

 What does “Unearthing Life’s Key Ingredients” have to do with transferring someone else’s money from an account in Nevis to another in Vancouver to a third one in another tax haven, charging a hefty fee, driving home and cracking open a cold beer?  Not a whole heck of a lot, but what difference does it make?  It looks good on the MMI website, and that’s what really matters.

State Worker Right To Know laws are an essential ingredient in creating and maintain the safest possible workplace.  These laws require companies which expose their workers to hazardous substances to share this information with them and to provide training, written materials.

We think this is pretty basic stuff.   Many companies, particularly those which manufacture or use hazardous chemicals, spend millions of dollars fighting Worker Right To Know laws or to weaken them significantly. 

 Mines Management, Inc. CEO Glenn Dobbs is a former member of the Washington State Legislature.  During his tenure, Mr. Dobbs cast his vote on numerous labor-related bills.  His voting record earned him a zero score from the Washington State Labor Council.  This means that Mr. Dobbs always voted against workers – every time.  Glenn Dobbs is no friend of the working men and women he would hire to run his mine.

 One of the key bills Mr. Dobbs opposed was Washington’s Worker Right To Know Law.  Glenn Dobbs does not believe workers have a right to know the dangers of hazardous substances they work with and around.  This includes people with medical conditions, pregnant women, and others who might be at an elevated level of risk. 

 In Glenn’s world, W. R. Grace would have been allowed to withhold the truth about hazards in the Libby mine.  Is this really someone who should be running a mine—especially one in Libby? 

 W. R. Grace and Mines Management.  In spite of MMI’s spin, there isn’t as much difference as they would like you to think.  The last thing we need in Northwest Montana is another Grace-like disaster.  Alternative One:  No Montanore Mine, No Power Lines.  What’s Best for Northwest Montana. 

"Another year, yet another mining fear. People seem to think that they have a legitimate right to take every particle of natural habitat away from the animals. Yet another species will become extinct if action is not taken, I don't know why we still propagate the extinct species as being the Dodo and Great Auk when we have done so much to further the extinction of animals in our own lifetime and seem to see mora of the same as a coveted goal.

The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.'-Henry Havelock Ellis"

"Surely there must be a way to stop the mine taking up all that land! Once that land has gone under the mining machinery, it will never be able to be bought back, and neither will any of the animals that live there, what a terrible thing to happen, please please do something !"

"WRONG....WRONG....WRONG! STOP the GREEDY land grasping at the expense of every other living creature!"

"'The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.' - Arthur Schopenhauer"

"Animal Rights! give them what we all deserve, the right to live life naturally and with dignity. No to Montanore Minerals Corp. license to Kill!!!"

"I am so tired of big industry destroying our planet and the creatures who live here. What legacy are you leaving our children but one of rape and pillage?"

"Be smart and responsible. Do the right thing and do NOT grant Montanore Minerals Corp. a license to kill!"

"Our public lands are not to be given away to private companies who will decimate them for profit. You have no right to take this action. We are your boss, we demand that you respect our lands!"

"Public lands are not for mining companies to gut.  The Government must not allow them to mine the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness area."

"Please stop this folly."

"No wilderness should be mined so that the environment and the life that thrives in this wilderness will be sacrificed. Corporations with the greed mentality should be banned from these wild places forever, period, no discussion."

"Mining is a dirty business and leaves behind a toxic and damaged environment. We must protect our wilderness from this greedy rape of nature."

"This land is the property of the American people and we do not want it taken over and destroyed by corporate greed. It's time for our government to start acting on behalf of the other 98% of us!"

"NO to the mining interests in destroying and polluting Cabinet Mountain Wilderness. We must help protect our dwindling species before they become extinct."

"No amount of money in the world is worth the destruction of this majestic mountains and the loss of grizzly bears and Canada lynx!!"

According to the minesmanagement.com website, 

Residents of Lincoln County, because of their livelihoods, are closely linked to the natural environment and have a conservation ethic, but do not favor preservation that would prohibit development of natural resources...Using natural resources, not just protecting them for future generations, is a dominant concept of the culture of Lincoln County and other communities which strongly rely upon natural resources for individual and community survival."  

Question: Does destruction of the Libby Creek area of Kootenai National Forest constitute "development of natural resources?" We think not.

Question:  Given the county's largest employers, are we missing the integral Zen connection between healthcare, the grocery business, and the natural environment?

Question:  To which Lincoln County and to what residents does this pseudo-scientific claptrap refer?  Not our Lincoln County, and not us.

Click to read about the study.

Lincoln County:  Waltzing with Bears?

In February of this year, Lincoln County Commissioner Tony Berget announced that he and fellow officials Marianne Roose and Ron Downey had made the decision to dip into the Lincoln County coffers to fund a new accounting of the grizzly bear population in the region.

The city of Libby contributed as well.  At the May 2, 2011 City Council meeting, Mayor Doug Roll "announced that the County has been raising funds to fund a DNA grizzly bear analysis to help with the Montanore Mine Project and stated unless someone had an objection he would like to donate $100.00 or so from the City."

The study, reportedly now underway, will take three years to complete, with the total cost currently expected to top $1.5 million.  According to Berget, the county's ante, $50,000 for the first year, is coming out of the PILT -- Payments in Lieu of Taxes -- fund,  federal money paid to local governments to compensate for federally-held lands that do not contribute to tax revenues. 

Libby City Council Minutes: The County has been raising funds to fund a DNA grizzly bear analysis to help with the Montanore Mine Project"

According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, "PILT payments help local governments carry out such vital services as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations. The payments are made annually for tax-exempt Federal lands administered by the BLM, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (all agencies of the Interior Department), the U.S. Forest service (part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture), and for Federal water projects and some military installations."

Why, then, would Lincoln County Commissioners divert a sizeable chunk of the community's limited funds to grizzly bear research?  The answer lies in the list of other contributors to the bear count.  Berget admits that some for-profit entities are contributing, including Montanore Mine Corporation as well as a timber company or two.

The underlying impetus for funding a new grizzly count  is economic.  One of the primary barriers to the approval of the Montanore project, and to logging projects in the Kootenai National Forest,  is the risk these activities pose to a threatened  grizzly population, and if a new study can eke out a few extra bears in the area, that may make it easier for Montanore and others to push through environmentally destructive plans.

The irony of Lincoln County's rush to underwrite a new grizzly count is that sources in the offices of the study coordinator, Kate Kendall, research biologist at the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, predict that in all probability, few additional bears will be discovered in the Cabinet-Yaak population.  In fact, Kendall herself told the commissioners that she does not expect to find a significantly larger numbers of bears than the scant 40-45 counted just five years ago by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

What's in this project for Lincoln County Commissioners?  The pure of heart might say it's a good-faith effort to create more jobs for a county with a high rate of unemployment.  Others speculate that Berget and company might be in line for a bit of their own economic stimulus money from the corporate powers that be.

For the citizens of Lincoln County, it looks like another instance of throwing desperately-needed funding, which should be dedicated to strengthening medical and safety services and community infrastructure, down another sinkhole of victimization.