Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

Lee Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

September 19, 2016

As an open pit mine planned along the Menominee River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula nears final regulatory approval, opponents are raising worries about potential environmental harm and the threat of the project on cultural artifacts of Wisconsin’s Menominee tribe.

Toronto-based Aquila Resources Inc. is proposing to mine gold and other minerals as close as 150 feet to the river, which serves as the state’s northeastern border with Michigan.

The location of a controversial project on a shared waterway — and the region’s role in the Menominee’s tribal history — have invited close scrutiny in Wisconsin.

Tribal members have expressed worries about the impact of mining on land considered the home of the Menominee before the tribe was relocated to a reservation in Keshena.

Opponents also are raising worries about the ecological effects of the mine, known as the Back Forty, on  the Menominee River — a tributary of Green Bay that biologists believe is the largest source of sturgeon in Lake Michigan.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also asked the company for additional information on the potential effect on natural resources.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources also has conferred with Michigan officials and reached an agreement that the stricter standards for water pollutants in each state will be used.

The Back Forty mine would be nearly 2,500 feet long and more than 2,000 feet wide. It would plunge more than 700 feet below the surface, and over the 16-year life of the project, millions of tons of rock would be removed before the entire project is covered over again.

The site contains sulfide deposits and would produce acidic water when exposed to air and water. This creates the potential for acid mine drainage that could harm the river if it is not properly handled.

Aquila has been evaluating plans to extract gold, zinc, copper, silver and lead for years. The company has invested $70 million in the project, according to a presentation to investors last month. Spokeswoman Robin Quigley said the company expects to spend an additional $260 million to construct the mine and hopes to begin construction in the second quarter of next year.

In Wisconsin, the company is also exploring construction of the Bend mine, a copper and gold deposit in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest about 20 miles northwest of Medford. Aquila is also considering development of the Reef mine in the Town of Easton, east of Wausau in Marathon County — an area with known gold deposits.

The company said in documents the projects are in the “exploration” stage and are not as far along as the Michigan project.

The company has provided detailed plans to Michigan regulators on steps it will take to protect the river, including construction of a berm system and a wastewater treatment plant to clean water before it is returned to the river or seeps into groundwater.

But environmental groups believe that mining so close to the river, and the potential for more flash flood events because of climate change, could be disastrous.

“The elephant in the room is … the acid mine drainage and several hundred feet of the Menominee River where we can have flooding,” said Al Gedicks, executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council.

“There is no guarantee that those kind of engineering provisions are going to hold up to prevent millions of tons of acid rock drainage being discharged into the Menominee River.”

Economic benefit touted

Aquila has emphasized the economics of the project and points to a  study the company underwrote by the business school at the University of Minnesota-Duluth to buttress the point:

The mine will create about 250 jobs; generate $20 million in new annual tax revenue for federal, state and local governments; and provide $16.5 million in royalties to Michigan.

The company also points to industry’s need for minerals — the gold it recovers could be used in computers and cellphones, the zinc for making brass and other alloys, and copper for plumbing and electrical work.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality made a preliminary decision Sept. 2 to grant Aquila a mining permit, meaning regulators believe the plans show mining can be done safely.

“Can you point to a mine that has not polluted? I cannot,” said Joe Maki of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality . “But you have to point to the amount of pollution. We feel we have the standards and the monitoring that will be in place before anything becomes a major problem.”

The Michigan agency’s announcement on a Friday before the Labor Day weekend raised questions from opponents who complained that regulators appear to be pushing the project along. Three permits have been tentatively approved for mining, air emissions and wastewater.

Maki said his agency did not time the release on the eve of a holiday weekend to try to play down the decision.

“I understand that people might think that, but I am not a politician,” said Maki, a geologist who is heading the mining review for his agency.

Public hearing

His agency set a public hearing for Oct. 6 in Stephenson, Mich., to let citizens comment on the project and point out areas regulators may have overlooked.

A fourth application for a wetlands permit has been delayed because the EPA said it needed more information on existing conditions in the river. The agency also asked for other details, including a plan on relocating mussels, according to Ginny Pennala, a supervisor in water resources at the DEQ.

The scale of the project in an area considered sacred to the Menominee has engendered strong opposition

“The Menominee Indian tribe of Wisconsin is sickened by MDEQ’s decision to approve the application ….,” Tribal Chairman Joan Delabreau said in a statement this month. She said the tribe would “continue to fight any land within our ancestral territory that contains remains of our ancestors and our cultural resources.”

There is extensive archaeological and historical evidence that the Menominee lived on both sides of the river. An archaeological report filed by the company says French explorer Jean Nicolet likely met with the tribe in 1632. The  report also says that at least 22 archaeological sites are known to exist on the property.

Guy Reiter, a tribal member monitoring mining for the Menominee, says the tribe wants those areas protected. “We don’t believe that we have been adequately consulted during this entire process,” he said.

Quigley said Aqulia has no plans to disturb any of the identified archaeological sites.

He will help lead a  walk  on Wednesday to the Back Forty site, to underscore the cultural significance of the area.

Cliff Nelson, vice president of U.S. operations of Aquila, said in a statement, “We have previously met and talked with the Menominee Indian Nation and also have toured the project site with some of the Tribe’s members. We respect their right to gather peacefully.”

The mine has drawn comparisons to Wisconsin’s Flambeau mine — a gold and copper mine that operated from 1993 to 1997 next to the Flambeau River near Ladysmith.

Gedicks says the site remains polluted.

A stream on the property has elevated levels of copper and zinc. The DNR added it to a list of impaired waters because it does not meet state water quality standards.

Also, groundwater beneath the old pit contains high levels of manganese — far above safety standards for human health.

The DNR’s Ann Coakley said the stream is in an area where copper and zinc are naturally plentiful, and because of this, it will be difficult to pinpoint the source of pollution.

As for the high levels of manganese, she cautioned that groundwater modeling has not predicted  water will flow far enough to turn up in private wells.