Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Upper Midwest's Rivers Awareness Tour Kicks Off Friday Evening! Paddlers, Native Americans, Environmentalists and Landowners To Unite Against Threats to the Bioregion's Rivers from Proposed Duluth-Wausau Transmission Routes!

Catawba, WI - Grassroots organizations, tribes and individuals in the Upper Midwest are joining forces this summer to bring attention to the human and ecological impacts of a proposed 250-mile electric transmission line from Duluth, Minnesota, to Wausau, Wisconsin.

        "This spring's conference in Minneapolis about the lack of environmental justice in the upper Midwest's energy policies, and the May 19 release of the DEIS (draft environmental impact statement) on the proposed routes in Wisconsin propelled us to take a bioregional perspective," said Linda Ceylor, spokesperson for Save Our Unique Lands, Inc., a Wisconsin group.

        "An ecological approach to energy stresses conservation and the alternatives available in the Midwest," said Kevin Sands O'Brien, spokesperson for Minnesota Witness for Environmental Justice. According to the DEIS, the line will cross rivers such as the St. Louis, St. Croix, Namekagon and Flambeau, as well as the Ice Age Trail. Other ecological impacts mentioned are forest fragmentation from road and corridor construction and degradation of wetlands.

        "We've asked Pimicikamak Cree Indians to join us, since some of the power transmitted on this line would be generated in their traditional land in northern Manitoba," said Ceylor. The week of events will include paddles and walks along the routes, as well as social and educational activities in towns such as Gordon, Ladysmith, Tomahawk and Medford.

        All events are free and open to the public but registration is suggested, but people will not be turned away on the day of the event. The tour begins Friday evening, July 28 south of Duluth and ends at the Menominee Nation's annual pow-wow in Keshena on Friday, August 4.