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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula November 22, 2006  Text © 2006 Emily Svenson and Michele Anderson. Photos © 2006 Michele Anderson and  © 2005 and 2006 Northwoods Wilderness Recovery. Reprinted with permission.

DEQ proceeds with Kennecott sulfide mine application, still opposed by community groups

By Emily Svenson and Michele Anderson

MARQUETTE -- The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) resumed processing Kennecott Minerals' application for a sulfide mine under the Yellow Dog Plains and Salmon Trout River on Oct. 26, 2006. A debate over the proposed Eagle Project mine, to be located about 30 miles northwest of Marquette, has been ongoing since the spring of 2003, when Kennecott’s proposition became public. Kennecott leased the mineral rights to the ore bodies in question in 1992. 

The mine would take up 160 acres of state-owned land and would be in operation for 7-10 years, mining mainly for nickel. Gail Griffith, a retired professor of chemistry from Northern Michigan University who's been studying the effects of sulfide or metallic mining for years, said Kennecott Minerals would not be mining sulfide, but metals like copper, zinc, and nickel which are all ore bodies. Jon Cherry, project manager and environmental engineer for Kennecott, explained they will extract about 85 percent nickel and 15 percent copper from the ore bodies in question.

A view of the Salmon-Trout River, which flows through an area proposed for Kennecott Minerals' Eagle Project sulfide mine. The River contains a rare population of Coaster Brook Trout. American Rivers recently gave it number four on their 2006 list of Most Endangered Rivers in America. (File photo © 2005 Northwoods Wilderness Recovery. Reprinted with permission.)

Many local and national groups have joined together in opposition to the mine. Local groups include grassroots organizations such as the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve as well as the Huron Mountain Club, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), and UP Sportsmen. This issue has reached the national scope with the involvement of the National Wildlife Federation, Michigan Environmental Council, Sierra Club, National Trout Unlimited, and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. 

DEQ update issued Nov. 14, 2006

On Nov. 14, 2006, the DEQ issued a permit review update on the proposed Eagle Project mine, which states, "The proposed mine represents the first application received under Michigan’s new comprehensive mining law - Part 632, Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended. Part 632 provides a comprehensive framework to assess and evaluate the environmental impacts, operational controls, and closure activities proposed by the applicant to ensure that Michigan’s natural resources are fully protected."*

The DEQ statement also notes the project will require a  groundwater discharge permit and an air discharge permit. The DEQ plans to schedule one consolidated multi-day public hearing for all three permit applications.

A legal challenge by three opponents of the original Kennecott application (the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Huron Mountain Club) resulted in a County Circuit Court stopping review of the application until a hearing could be held, but the Court of Appeals overturned that decision. Consequently, on Oct. 27, 2006, the DEQ received from Kennecott additional data, which responded to the DEQ’s 91 identified areas of technical deficiency in the application. These had been submitted to Kennecott while the legal proceedings were ongoing. 

The DEQ's Nov. 14 statement adds, "In the absence of additional technical information, had the permit process proceeded without legal challenge, the DEQ would of necessity have to issue a proposed decision to deny the permit application because it would not have been based on further relevant technical information. The legal proceeding had the effect of altering the timelines for submittals that would have governed the application process. The legal proceeding also provided the applicant time to prepare additional information and data that the applicant believes is responsive to the 91 areas of technical deficiency."** 

The DEQ statement notes also that Kennecott submitted a letter on Oct. 27, 2006, waiving the deadline for the DEQ to issue a proposed decision. The letter states, "Kennecott has also applied for permits under Parts 31 (discharges to groundwater) and 55 (air emissions) of NREPA (Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act) in conjunction with the project. ...In accordance with Part 63205(15), this waiver will provide sufficient time to facilitate the Department’s coordinated review of the Part 31, Part 55 and Part 632 permit applications. More specifically, extending the deadline for making a proposed decision on the mine permit application to the statutory deadline for making a decision on the groundwater discharge permit will allow the Department ample time to review Kennecott's answers to the Department's questions on the mine permit application, and facilitate a well evaluated proposed decision on the application that takes into account the Department's evaluation of the air and groundwater permit applications."***

DEQ accepting public comments until Dec. 26, 2006

The DEQ now plans to accept public comments on Kennecott’s response until Dec. 26, 2006. After taking 14 days to review the comments, the DEQ  will make a proposed decision to grant or deny the Part 632 permit application on January 9, 2007, and will also issue notice of the consolidated public hearing, expected to be held in mid-February.**

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is the most critical concern with sulfide mining. Griffith explained how it is produced.

"These sulfide ore bodies have come up from the middle of the earth, they have not been in contact with oxygen and water, and as soon as they come into contact with oxygen and water, they immediately produce sulfuric acid or battery acid," said Griffith.

The Northwoods Wilderness Recovery explains AMD as follows: "Acids seep through the rock much the same way water seeps through coffee, creating a brew of toxic heavy metals (called Acid Mine Drainage, or AMD). AMD can drain into nearby rivers and seep into the groundwater -- killing fish, plants, and wildlife and contaminating local drinking water."****

This photo shows an area included in the proposed site for Kennecott's Eagle Project sulfide mine on the Yellow Dog Plains near Marquette. (Photo © 2006 Doug Cornett of Northwoods Wilderness Recovery. Reprinted from www.northwoodswild.org with permission.)

In spite of the acid mine drainage potential, Kennecott promises economic benefits, minimal environmental impact and sufficient funds for site reclamation. Cherry noted, “After site reclamation is complete you will not be able to tell that there was a mine on the Yellow Dog Plains.” 

The Kennecott motto is, “Promises kept.”

Cherry claims Kennecott's mine will help the public (the State of Michigan) and will contribute to increased economic activity. 

"Around half of the ore body is on state land," Cherry noted. "From this we pay a royalty to the state based on profits. This money goes into the state’s natural resources trust fund used to buy, enhance, or develop habitat, wilderness and recreational areas for the public."

Non-union mining jobs vs. tourism economy

Cherry also says the mine will create 120 full-time jobs that will pay around $40,000/year before benefits.

"In the mining industry for every one job created you create three to five jobs in the area between service providers and consumables," Cherry explained.

The Eagle Alliance, a grassroots organization that objects to the sulfide mining, claims Kennecott will not help the local economy.

"Kennecott has stated that a mine on the Yellow Dog Plains would operate for 7-10 years," writes Eagle Alliance member Eric Hansen. "Kennecott does not hire union workers and will not allow a union to operate at their mines." 

Hansen says Kennecott has a track record for bringing in skilled employees from other parts of the country, leaving only low paying labor jobs for local workers. For a few labor jobs, communities in this area will lose the income from snowmobilers, hikers, bikers, timber, etc. 

Hansen brings the Upper Peninsula’s reliance on eco-tourism into focus, noting, "if our wild areas go -- so do the tourists."

According to Cynthia Pryor, executive director for the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, a non-profit grassroots advocacy group, "The state of Michigan will receive 2-7 percent of royalties, or $17-34 million for an ore body that is worth $5 billion. Michigan will also receive $19 million in property taxes." 

Pryor adds Kennecott will profit from the mine but will leave the local area at odds because the mining activity will involve intense construction and environmental degradation in a pristine wilderness area with minimal profit for Marquette County.

Speaking at the recent annual meeting of the environmental group, Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK), Pryor noted she believes in "the power of the people -- the power that citizens have in this process."

Cynthia Pryor, executive director for the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, addresses the issue of sulfide mining on the Yellow Dog Plains at the annual meeting of Friends of the Land of Keweenaw Oct. 24, 2006, at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Senior Citizens Center in Baraga. (Photo © 2006 Michele Anderson)

"I want people to decide what they want for their community," Pryor said. "This isn't really a battle of environmentalists; this is a battle of place."

Still, Pryor emphasized the environmental impact of the proposed sulfide mining site, sharing with FOLK members the news that a "male Kirtland Warbler, one of the world’s most endangered birds, was found just two miles east of the proposed site" and that "American Rivers put the Salmon Trout River as number four on their 2006 list of Most Endangered Rivers in America." 

The Salmon Trout River is also home and breeding grounds for the endangered Coaster Brook Trout.

For many citizens, the environmental impact is the main concern of the proposed mine. Fred Rydholm, former Mayor of Marquette, said, “I think nothing short of an atomic bomb could change the area more than a mine.”

Diane Miller, a Michigan Tech graduate student who enjoys kayaking, said, “People who have spent time on these rivers know that a project to construct a footprint for the mining operation itself on this site -- not even considering the inevitable damage if it is allowed -- should be unthinkable.” 

Kennecott claims minimal environmental impact

Kennecott promises that their mining plans are environmentally sound; they even have the ISO 14001 certification. This is a third-party-audited, independent environmental management system. It insures compliance with regulations and the best technology available to minimize environmental impact.

Cherry said, "I’m a big outdoorsman, and I live here in the community. From a personal perspective, if we couldn’t mine in a way that was environmentally safe, I wouldn’t be interested."

Joe Maki, UP district Geologist for the DEQ, said, "If the company meets the requirements of the statute (part 632, a comprehensive law specific for non-ferrous mining) then legally, we have to issue a permit."

Maki noted the DEQ reviews applications for permits very closely. If the DEQ gives Kennecott a permit, he adds, then it is environmentally safe and economically feasible to mine. 

"If we were to issue them a permit to mine we don’t just go away. We would ultimately follow up with regular inspections and we have the authority to stop the mining," Maki said.

After the DEQ makes its proposed decision they will announce a date for a public hearing, and there will be an 18-day public comment period.

Glen Bressette, Jr., of Baraga, a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and a participant in the Native American walk around the Great Lakes, also spoke at the FOLK meeting. 

Glen Bressette, Jr., of Baraga, a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, speaks at the Oct. 24, 2006, FOLK meeting held in the KBIC Senior Citizens Center in Baraga. (Photo © 2006 Michele Anderson)

"That's our big lake," Bressette said of Lake Superior. "That's the last one that's left."

Bressette said he and fellow Native Americans believe in their connection with Mother Earth and with this water. 

"This is what I was taught as a child," Bressette said, "walk lightly, tread softly."  

Bressette said he doesn't think the public is being properly informed about the sulfide mining. 

"When this stuff happens it needs to be put into the public eye because everywhere I go people don’t really know what’s happening," he added.

At a DEQ public hearing in December 2005 on the draft of the new rules and regulations to govern sulfide mining, KBIC President Susan J. LaFernier expressed the concerns of the local Native American Community:

"This area is the homeland of the members of the Community and the treaties entered into by our ancestors with the United States of America preserved for our members a homeland with the right to hunt, fish and gather in this area -- rights which we are determined to preserve and protect for at least the next seven generations. It is a fundamental fact that when sulfide mining occurs in areas where water is abundant, discharge of acid mine drainage into the adjacent water resources is the end result. This is a well-known and established fact in every state where sulfide mining has occurred in areas that have lakes and streams as a natural resource. The water that surrounds and exists within the Upper Peninsula is essential to the Upper Peninsula’s economy, its environment, and the well being of its inhabitants. While a mining company may have legal rights to extract the minerals from their land, they do not have the right to degrade or destroy the environment and natural resources in the process of extracting those minerals. The legacy of sulfide mining is, and will continue to be, one that primarily consists of the degradation and destruction of water resources and ecosystems that depend on the waters." 

People can learn more about the sulfide mining issue by consulting these Web sites: www.ydeaglescry.com, www.savethewildup.org, www.yellowdogwatershed.org and www.northwoodswild.org.

You can express your views on the sulfide mining by writing to Governor Granholm at:
Governor Jennifer Granholm
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, MI 48909

Written comments to the DEQ should be mailed by the deadline of December 26, 2006, to:
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Geological Survey,
525 W. Allegan
P. O. Box 30256
Lansing, MI 48909 7756

E-mail comments are also welcome and can be sent to the DEQ at wilsonse@michigan.gov and 
should also be received by the December 26 deadline. 

Joe Maki of the DEQ can be reached at (906) 346- 8563. Visit the DEQ website at www.michigan.gov/deq. 

Contributions to any of the environmental and advocacy groups working together to prevent the mine may be tax-deductible; for example, The Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve is a 501 C3 classified advocacy group. Donations count as tax write-offs. 

Editor's notes:  *Part 632, Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended, is new legislation introduced to regulate sulfide mining in Michigan. Read the final text of the DEQ mining regulations. **For the complete text of this Nov. 14 statement, visit the DEQ Web site. See also the Eagle Project Permit Application Files. *** For the full text of Kennecott's Oct. 27 letter, signed by Jon Cherry, project manager, see the DEQ Web site. **** Visit the Northwoods Wilderness Recovery Web site, www.northwoodswild.org, for more information on the sulfide mining issue. To learn more about the National Wildlife Federation's efforts to protect the environment, see the Action Report on their Web site. See also the Michigan League of Conservation Voters Education Fund Web site for more on sulfide mining. Anyone opposed to the sulfide mining project on the Yellow Dog Plains can sign an online petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nosulfidemining/. See especially the Web site www.savethewildup.org/alerts for updates and suggestions on how to express your views. For Kennecott Minerals' Description of the Eagle Project, visit their Web site. Emily Svenson, co-author of this article, is an English major in her senior year at Michigan Tech University. She is studying writing, literature and environmental issues. Emily enjoys the outdoors (hiking and camping) and dance.