“I’m tired of seeing rich folks from Ann Arbor and carpetbaggers from Kansas taking up all the oxygen in the room when anyone brings up the Copperwood Mine,” said Markkanen, R-Hancock. “They don’t care about our U.P. community. They don’t even really understand this project or its true impact. The people who will benefit most from the Copperwood Mine project don’t have time to stage days-long protests in Lansing. They’re back home in the U.P., working three jobs just trying to get by. They’re swerving potholes because there isn’t enough of a tax base to fix the roads. They’re trying to get their kids from school before they go serve tables at a local restaurant.”
