DEQ Sued Over Sulfide Mine Permit

Sulfide mining opponents, concerned about environmental threats and spurred by an announcement that up to seven mines will be considered in the Upper Peninsula, are suing the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for approving one sulfide mine, charging that the permits granted are illegal.

Following last week's controversial decision by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to permit a sulfide mine in the central Upper Peninsula, the National Wildlife Federation, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Huron Mountain Club, and Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve filed a lawsuit Friday, December 21, against the DEQ. It is the first step in a legal challenge to halt a mine proposed by Kennecott Minerals Company, whose parent company announced December 17 that it is considering six more prospects in the region, according to sulfide mining opponents, who contend that sulfide mining technology poses a serious environmental threat.

The DEQ approved three permits Friday, December 14, for the proposed mine in Marquette County, nine miles from Lake Superior.

"The opponents of [Kennecott's proposed] mine have presented the DEQ with over 1,000 pages of unequivocal evidence that the proposed project does not meet the state's legal requirements and would result in profound pollution, impairment, and destruction of air, water, and other natural resources," said Michelle Halley, attorney for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and its co-petitioners, in a prepared statement. "The DEQ has issued permits that are based upon defective, inadequate, and incomplete applications, and are therefore illegal."

The lawsuit will focus directly on a new state mining law and the DEQ's failure to enforce the law and the prescribed standards and rules, mining opponents said.

"Opponents of the mine have consistently fought the project because the construction and operation of the mine, as proposed, will result in the pollution of the environment and the destruction of natural resources in the Yellow Dog Plains due to scientific and engineering defects in the design of the mine," Ms. Halley said in a release.

The lawsuit will address the probability of acid mine drainage, harm to wetlands that opponents say will far exceed the company's expectations, and groundwater and air pollution, she said.

While legal action to challenge the mine's safety and environmental impact has long been an option for opponents, Ms. Halley said a telling announcement by Kennecott's parent company, Rio Tinto, fortified the resolve of the opposition. In a December 17 announcement, a Rio Tinto official said the company is now focused on six additional prospects in the region, she said.

Rebecca Humphries, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), is expected to announce her decision January 10 on a Kennecott request to lease state land to construct surface facilities. If allowed by the DNR, Kennecott would be granted exclusive use of 120 acres of state property for a period of at least 40 years.

With the prospect of multiple sulfide mines looming, Ms. Halley said the state must be compelled to fully apply the legal standards to the first permit, and has failed to do so.

"Setting a precedent that starts with defective, incomplete, inaccurate applications and ends with a dangerous new mine is not in the best interest of the people of Michigan, nor its environment. National Wildlife Federation and our allies are fully prepared to exhaust all options," the attorney said.