Archived Tamarack Water Alliance Newsletters

Join Mailing List To Get These Newletters Register for Our Community Calls

January 2026: Defending Wild Rice and Our Collective Futures by Leanna Goose, Rise & Repair Alliance Organizer

December 2025: Protecting Minnesota's Water and the BWCA from Sulfide Mining by Steve Schultz, Government Relations Director, Friends of the Boundary Waters

November 2025: History of Savannah Portage Region and Ojibwe Stewardship Past and Present by Stephen Schaitberger, Episcopal Priest/Author and Don Wedll, Mille Lacs Historian

October 2025: Minnesota Loons And The Need For A Fresh Water Ecosystem by Maddi Nistler, Education & Outreach Manager National Loon Center

September 2025: Copper Nickel Mining Hazards of Sulfates to Wild Rice and Mercury Methylation by Craig Sterle BS, MN Conservation Issues Chair for Izaak Walton League of America

August 2025: Talon Metals/Rio Tinto Drilling, Sumps, and Cumulative Threats to Tamarack Region Waters and Communities by Paula Maccabee, Executive Director & Counsel for WaterLegacy

July 2025: Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is the Key Wise Solution to Moving Forward in a Good Way - by Nibi Ogichidaa Ikwe ~ Water Warrior Woman

June 2025: The Use of Kaandoosh as a Biodegradable Disinfectant and Anticancer Agent - by Johanna Bernu, Student Researcher, Rising Yale Freshman

May 2025: Saving the BWCA and Voyageurs Park from Pollution - by Sue Okerstrom, President of Lichen Labs, Research Partner with NLSP (Northern Lakes Scientific Advisory Panel)

April 2025: E-Recycling: A Better Way to Handle Electronic & Battery Waste - by Kathleen Doran-Norton, Chair of Clean River Partners, Board Member MN Environmental Partnership, Rural Organizer.

March 2025: Protecting Public Health from False Climate Solutions - by Kathleen Schuler, MPH, State Policy Director & Board Member Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. (https://hpforhc.org/).

February 2025: Bad Actors in Northeastern Minnesota - Foreign Mining Companies with History of Deception, Pollution, and Natural Resource Destruction. Talon is engaged in a marketing lie - they do not have a supply agreement with Tesla based on Talon documents filed with the Toronto Stock Exchange. But they continue the lie as if no one will notice.

January 2025: Native Wise LLC: Our Mission to Revitalize and Share Indigenous Agricultural Practices with David Wise, BS - Ojibwe, born and raised on the Fond Du Lac Reservation in Sawyer, MN.

December 2024: The Campaign To Protect The Penokees with Nick Vander Puy Storyteller/Author of Water Protectors: the H.E.L.P. Campaign to Save the Penokees.

November 2024: How To Greenwash Your Toxic Tailings Pile by Kathleen M. Heideman, UPEC Mining Action Group

October 2024: The Nexus of Water and Our Future Energy Transition with Peg Furshong, Director of Programs, CURE

September 2024: Talon, What is the Real Story with Chris Baldwin.

August 2024: Mining, Lake Life, and Our Family Stories with Anna Battistini.

July 2024: Consultation and Trust Responsibility with Kelly Applegate, Commissioner of Natural Resources with Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

June 2024: Carbon Capture in Minnesota: What You Need to Know

May 2024: Indigenous Resistance to Mining in the Upper Midwest and Beyond by Al Gedicks, executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council and emeritus professor of environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

April 2024: Miners Take A Look At Mining by Bob Tammen, Steelworker/IBEW (Retired)

March 2024: An Ojibwe Man's Perspective on Extractivism by Nagaajiwanaang gichi-ayaa'aa/FDL Elder Ricky DeFoe

February 2024: Mapping MEPA: How to Engage in Minnesota's Environmental Review Process by Joy Anderson, Supervising Attorney, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA)

January 2024: Minnesota's Shallow Lakes & Wild Rice - A Deep Heritage (Excerpted from Shallow Lakes-Minnesota’s Natural Heritage brochure by Nicole Hansel-Welch, MN DNR and Scott Kudelka, Water Resource Center, MSUM)

December 2023: Protecting Our Lakes & Rivers by Jeff Forester, Executive Director of Minnesota Lakes & Rivers

November 2023: Ignorance is NOT Bliss: Why Scientific Study of the District-Scale Mining of the Tamarack Intrusive Complex is Needed by Paula Maccabee and Bruce Johnson

October 2023: Carbon Capture Near Tamarack MN

September 2023: Human Health Effects of Sulfide Mining

August 2023: Peat and RePeat: Why Protecting & Restoring Minnesota’s Peatlands Matters for Climate, Water, & People by Kristen Blann, MS, PhD

July 2023: The Value of Fishing and Fishing Habitat

June 2023: Talon Continues to Push Toward An Environmental Disaster

May 2023: Perspectives on Minnesota Mining with Aaron Brown

April 2023: Call To Action: Foreign Sulfide Mining in Minnesota by Arne Carlson, former Republican governor of Minnesota

March 2023: Prove It First!

February 2023: Nickel Not Needed for Future EV's - by Lynn Anderson

January 2023: Water is Life - Talon Metals and the Tamarack North Project - by Tom Anderson

December 2022: What's New With Talon Metals and the Tamarack North Project - by Tom Anderson

November 2022: Thanksgiving - The Price Paid By Native People - by Waabishki Giiwedin Ikwe (White Wind Woman) Tracey L. Wilke, Citizen of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa North Dakota, Descendant of Chippewa/Ojibwa/Anishinaabe Minnesota

October 2022: Hydrology and the Potential Impacts of Mining - John L. Nieber, P.H., P.E., PhD

September 2022: Extractive Industries Cannot Compete with Tourism and Recreation as an Economic Driver

August 2022: Reflections from a Recent Visit to the Eagle Mine

July 2022: Mining Contributes Less Than 1% To Minnesota's Economy

June 2022: Responsible Mining

May 2022: Do Minnesota’s Regulatory Agencies Really Protect The Environment?

April 2022: Community Consent / Social License

March 2022: Is Talon Metals Green or "Just Kidding?

February 2022: Nickel-Sulfide Mining Pollution and Nickel-free Electric Vehicle Batteries

January 2022: What We Know About the Proposed Talon Metals Mine

Welcome: Welcome to Tamarack Water Alliance

Articles Published in News Outlets

JANUARY 2026:

U.S. Rep. McCollum Statement on Passage of House Republicans' Legislation to Remove Boundary Waters Protections
mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases/us-rep-mccollum-statement- passage-house-republicans-legislation-remove/

Boundary Waters Mine Vote Highlights Ryan Zinke's Hypocrisy on Public Lands
wessiler.substack.com/p/boundary-waters-mine-vote-highlights

House Votes To Strip Critical Boundary Waters Protections in a Blow To Sportsmen and Public Lands
www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/house-resolution-stripping-boundary-waters-protections/

NOVEMBER 2025:

Columbia Declares Itself the First Nation in the Amazon with its Entire Forest Free of Oil and Mining Activities
infoamazonia.org/en/2025/11/13/colombia-declares-itself-the-first-nation-in-the-amazon-with-its-entire-forest-free-from-oil-and-mining-activities/

Rio Tinto Pauses Plans for $3.7 billion Lithium Mine but Serbians Remain Concerned
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-18/rio-tinto-jadar-valley-mine-paused-amid-huge-opposition/106020944

Mining Companies Say They Are Listening, But Are They Really?
www.startribune.com/minnesota-iron-range-nickel-sulfide-mining-pollution/601523149

OCTOBER 2025:

Public Opinion In The Boundary Waters Being Ignored
www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/local-view-public-opinion-on-boundary-waters-being-ignored

SEPTEMBER 2025:

All Mining is Not Equal - Sulfide Mining Different Than Taconite Mining
www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/local-view-all-mining-is-not-equal-sulfide-different-from-taconite

Friends of the Mississippi River New Video - Threats to Water and the Mississippi River
fmr.org/updates/land-use-planning/new-video-mines-risk-clean-mississippi?emci=a3771a01-ff8c-f011-b484-6045bdeb7413&emdi=ab674dae-0793-f011-b484-6045bdeb7413&ceid=6344066

AUGUST 2025:

We Have A Sacred Duty to Protect Water and Manoomin (wild rice)
https://www.messagemedia.co/aitkin/opinion/letters/letters-from-readers---8-13-25/article_e47fa20a-f5b3-4993-aad1-835bc31d302c.html

JULY 2025:

Amid Tariff Shocks, Sulfide Mining in Minnesota Still Isn't Worth the Cost
www.mepartnership.org/mining/

MAY 2025:

Minnesota Cannot Be Treated as an Experiment for Sulfide Mining
www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/local-view-minnesota-cannot-be-treated-as-an-experiment-for-sulfide-mining

APRIL 2025:

Around The Pit - America's largest superfund site
longreads.com/2025/04/24/butte-montana-mining-superfund/

FEBRUARY 2025:

Why Should We Trust Anything Claimed by Talon Metals
www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/local-view-why-should-we-trust-anything-claimed-by-talon-metals

JANUARY 2025:

A High Sulfide Mine Is Not What You Want For Your Next Door Neighbor
www.messagemedia.co/aitkin/opinion/letters/letters-from-readers---1-7-26/article_e1b528bb-ac71-4923-ab19-8731f6ba0963.html

TEDx Silver Falls YouTube Video "Taking the Lead in E-Mining
www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4V5ZIAHEwQ

DECEMBER 2024:

Minnesota's Water Future Matters To Everyone
www.startribune.com/why-minnesotas-water-future-matters-for-everyone/601200122

NOVEMBER 2024:

Risky Tamarack Mine Not Worth Its Minimal Impact
www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/local-view-risky-tamarack-mine- just-not-worth-its-minimal-impact

OCTOBER 2024:

Landmark report uncovers human rights abuses at Rio Tinto gold mine in Bougainville, 35 years after closure
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-13/human-rights-abuses-found-at-rio-tinto/104463224

SEPTEMBER 2024:

I am the ghost of Kenny Petersen
www.messagemedia.co/aitkin/opinion/letters/letters-from-readers---9-11-24/article_2fbd38f0-6ae3-11ef-b184-afec5d5c8299.html

DECEMBER 2023:

There's no reason to claim that nickel is needed in the transition to a green economy
https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2023/12/theres-no-reason-to-claim-that-nickel-is-needed-in-the-transition-to-a-green-economy/

MAY 2023:

Pilot study: Minnesota's E-waste is Worth $2.8 billion Each Year, but Most Isn't Captured
www.kare11.com/article/news/local/kare11-extras/pilot-study-minnesotas-e-waste-worth-28-billion-each-year-but-most-isnt-captured/89-10c9cf1e-610f-4773-9009-d73eed2e5a48

JUNE 2023:

The Myth of Clean Mining - Dr. Steve Emerman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcEv3f79LGw

The Minnesota Prove It First Bill and The Myth of Sulfide Ore Mining Without Environmental Contamination
www.friends-bwca.org/wp-content/uploads/Prove_It_First_Bill_Report_Emerman_Revised.pdf

FEBRUARY 2023:

An Open Letter To The Waltz Administration From Former Gov. Arne Carlson
minnesotareformer.com/2023/02/17/an-open-letter-to-the-walz-administration-from-former-gov-arne-carlson/

Greenwashing of Talon Metals Will Not Wash Away Concerns
www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/in-response-greenwashing-of-talon-metals-wont-wash-away-concerns

OCTOBER 2022:

No Need To Sacrifice Clean Water for Clean Energy
www.duluthnewstribune.com/opinion/columns/local-view-no-need-to-sacrifice-clean-water-for-clean-energy?auth0Authentication=true

APRIL 2021:

Reducing New Mining for EV Battery Metals: Responsible Sourcing Through Demand Reduction Strategies and Recycling
earthworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/UTS-EV-battery-metals-sourcing-20210419-FINAL.pdf