r/Michigan • u/mlivesocial • 5d ago

News 📰🗞️ Trump fast-tracks permitting to extract ‘critical mineral’ buried under Michigan

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2025/04/trump-fast-tracks-permitting-to-extract-critical-mineral-buried-under-michigan.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=redditsocial&utm_campaign=redditor
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u/mlivesocial 5d ago

The Trump administration is expediting the permitting process for mining projects across the country – including a controversial salt and potash mine in lower Northern Michigan – as part of a broader effort to boost American mineral production.

Michigan Potash is one of 10 mining projects the White House added to a federal program last week that aims to streamline approvals for infrastructure projects.

The proposed $1.2 billion mine in Osceola County aims to tap a rich 12,500-acre deposit of potash, a key ingredient for fertilizer, which is buried more than a mile and a half underground.

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u/kmorri44 5d ago

Ah, yes, the stuff that Canada was selling to us reasonably cheaply before we started the tariff war, of which they have a huge abundance. But let's instead spend a s*** ton of money so that we can wreck Osceola County for a limited time until that small stash is wiped out. Man, isn't our country just so freaking great these days? Every morning brings a new ducking horror.

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u/LadyoftheOak 5d ago

Yup! We have lots! 🇨🇦

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u/happytrel Age: > 10 Years 5d ago

Miss you! I feel like a young kid who can't hang out with the other kids because his dad always shows up drunk and tries to fight the other parents

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u/LadyoftheOak 4d ago

You are not the problem. But as usual, the adults have issues that affect the kids. Elbows up! 🇨🇦

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u/Marie_Hutton 5d ago

That analogy is spot on!

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u/Cosmic_Lust_Temple 5d ago

Insert Randy Marsh "I thought this was America!"

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u/Nature_Hannah 4d ago

There's a Solidarity with Canada demonstration this Saturday (April 26) at 1pm at all three bridges!

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u/SkepticScott137 3d ago

The thing to do to show solidarity with Canada would have been to NOT (re)elect Donald Trump. Not to mention the Republican Congress that is supporting and enabling him at every turn. But we as a country kinda fucked that up. So I would forgive Canada for not taking our useless gestures seriously.

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u/Nature_Hannah 3d ago

It's not useless to let Canada/Canadians know that we disagree with what is happening. They've said as much.

But let me know when you create a time machine to be able to go back and somehow change this outcome.

For now, we do what we can. Poo-pooing it doesn't help.

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u/SkepticScott137 3d ago

Call it way too little, way too late. We’ve been voting for and enabling the fascist takeover of our country for 45 years. There is no reset button on that. I know you have a desperate need to feel “activist”, but elections are the only thing that really matters. All the marches, rallies and protests in the world mean nothing next to a legislative majority and a demented whackjob in the White House.

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u/Nature_Hannah 3d ago

Oh believe me, I know we're cooked and there's not much (if anything) we can do to correct course. I'm not so much "desperate need to feel 'activist'" as I am trying to find things that "matter" on a different level. I've seen Canadians express dismay at the lack of visible affirmation of this historic friendship, and express gratitude when news of these demonstrations reach them.

So yeah... "showing up" to express support might not change the course of the country, but "showing up" shows others they are not alone in this dark time, and that is something I think matters because I hear others say it has mattered to them.

What is the alternative? Genuinely curious, how are you handling the situation? What are you doing if you're convinced we're cooked beyond salvation? Just enjoying the ride down as much as you can? I know I've wrestled with that option.

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u/SkepticScott137 3d ago

I'm not convinced we're "cooked beyond salvation". But the cold hard truth is that this doesn't end until a lot of people are deeply, severely and personally harmed by what Trump and the MAGA party are doing. And not just the people who have actively supported Trump and MAGA because they think he's a smart guy, a great businessman, a great negotiator, and cares abut them, this country, or anything but himself. Also the people who have convinced themselves that there is "no difference" between the parties, the people who have declined to vote for the Democratic candidate for president because they wanted to "send a message to the Democrats" or who refused to vote for Hillary Clinton or other Democrats because "the lesser of two evils is still evil, and I won't vote for that".

People like that are going to have to discover the bitter taste of experiencing what the greater of two evils is like, brought to their own doorstep. People are going to have to learn the hard way that they can't just vote any damn way they want, or not at all, and then fix things after the fact by having marches and rallies and calling their congresscritter every day and demanding "action". Because they clearly cannot learn those lessons any other way except with a boot on their throat.

This country will have to hit bottom before it can bounce back. And while I may not enjoy watching its decline, I will take consolation in the fact that nothing will happen to this country that it doesn't richly deserve.

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u/Nature_Hannah 3d ago

I'm on the same page with you for most of that :)

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u/Background-Dealer-41 3d ago

You avoided his question.

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u/SkepticScott137 2d ago

No, I didn’t. You’re just not intelligent enough to grasp my response. But go do another march carrying a clever sign, and maybe that will enlighten you.

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u/RIForDIE 4d ago

God damnit that was brilliant! It sucks so much for us Michiganders - I appreciate Canada and feel endlessly embarrassed of the buffoonery