What’s good for our local economy may not be good for the environment. The debate is raw and real, especially when the topic surrounds protecting what some residents and visitors call ‘God’s Country.’

It could be argued, and convincingly, that the iron ore, copper and forestry industries were an integral part of bringing people to this area in the first place.

The U.P. Travel website says there are currently 8.8 million acres of pine and hardwood forests in the region, but when British and French settlers arrived there was a lot more.

In fact, U.P. timber was used to make countless structures and devices across the midwest during the mid-1800s. It was easy to ship across the Great Lakes to make anything from military forts to Kingsford charcoal.The U.P. helped build America with its timber.

But now many of those U.P. forests are gone. It’s part of the cost of economic and social development.

Again, we would not be here were it not for the mining and timber industries.

Development is not as simple as it used to be. We are more knowledgeable about the environmental consequences of harvesting timber or digging up minerals, and as citizens who want this to remain “God’s Country,” we should consider the long-term environmental impact of any action we take here.

Now we find ourselves dealing with another question. A proposed spaceport that could impact one of the largest fresh water resources in the country, Lake Superior, was announced in 2020.

The proposed facility, which would be located at the privately owned Granot Loma in Powell Township has been the source of significant controversy since it was announced. The proposed facility would be part of a spaceport that would include a horizontal-launch site at the downstate Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport, with operations for both sites supported by a command-and-control center in Chippewa County.

A petition signed by 164 Powell Township residents in September is asking the planning commission and the township board to amend its zoning ordinance to specifically prohibit spaceports and rocket launches in the township.

The residents want to protect the pristine Lake Superior coastline from contamination from things like rocket fuel and debris, we get it, and we agree.

But we’re also afraid that asking the township to prohibit a certain activity is a slippery slope.

We hope that in this case, the economic benefit can be realized without detriment to the ecology of the area. It would be cool to say we have a rocket launch pad in Marquette County, but only if the needs of the surrounding communities are met, and the environment protected for future generations who may want to live and work in God’s Country.