​Wisconsin Mine Permit Held Up ​Due to Water Issues

As Wisconsin lawmakers consider a bill aimed at attracting mining jobs, state residents are standing up against an open pit mine proposed for a site in Michigan 150 feet from the river that forms the state line.

The elected boards and councils of six counties, four municipalities and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin oppose the Aquila Resources Back Forty project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Opponents say it could drain acid into the Menominee River, a fishing destination that empties into Lake Michigan’s Green Bay.

Dozens of ancient effigy mounds, ceremonial fire rings and raised community gardens have been mapped along the river on property Aquila owns or plans to acquire. 

The huge mine would unearth tons of sulfide rock, which reacts with air and water to create the acid, said Menominee chairman Gary Besaw.

The delay, however, doesn’t indicate the project is in trouble, said Joe Maki, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality mining specialist. The company started out using outdated wetland maps that didn’t show how much protected acreage is there, he said.

The Marinette County Board passed a resolution opposing the mine last year and the Marinette City Council followed suit in July, said Ken Keller, a member of both bodies as well as the city water and waste water commissions.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, wrote an Aug. 18 letter supporting the tribe’s contention that if mine pollution reached the river it would seriously affect Wisconsin as well as Michigan.

“In this corner of Wisconsin, water resources define the landscape and the way of life,” Baldwin wrote. “From hosting international sport fishing competitions to the prominent tourism industry to the natural beauty that makes it a special place to live, the health of the Green Bay and its tributaries is extremely important to local communities.”

Baldwin noted that it has taken years and more than $26.5 million to clean up pollution left by industry on both sides of the river.

Maki, the Michigan mining regulator, acknowledged that no sulfide mine has operated without at least some pollution, but he said Aquila’s plans and the state’s monitoring program are a reasonable assurance that there wouldn’t be a major release of pollutants.

Waste rock and water would be stored in uphill locations that guarantee any spill would flow down into holding ponds and then into the mine pit. A wall would reinforce fractured bedrock and channel a spill away from the river, he said.

But critics have said the plans don’t adequately consider weaknesses in the bedrock under the wall, and the plans don’t properly account for the possibility of the river flooding.

Several other tribes and tribal associations oppose the mine, according to the Menominee Indian Tribe website, in addition to the Marinette County city of Peshtigo and towns of Wagner and Porterfield; and Door, Brown, Oconto, Menominee and Shawano counties. Wisconsin’s Menominee County has the same boundaries as the tribe’s reservation. Menominee County, Michigan, has also passed a resolution opposing the mine.

Source: WiscNews

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