Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

August 20, 2020

Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,

Aquila Resources continues to provide misleading and inaccurate information about the status of the Back Forty project in its most recent financial report. The company’s June 2020 report states, “The Company has received the four primary permits required to commence construction and operations at Back Forty.”

Aquila has no Back Forty Dam Permit

However, the company has not yet submitted a revised Dam Safety Permit application since Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) rejected Aquila’s original application as incomplete and requested additional information. According to EGLE, “Aquila is not authorized to begin construction of the mine and will not be able to proceed until all permits, including the Dam Safety Permit have been approved by EGLE.”

Back Forty Mine along Wisconsin border faces insufficient funding, increasing opposition.

by Al Gedicks

July 26, 2020

urbanmilwaukee.com

Aftermath of the Brumadinho dam collapse in Brazil. Photo by TV NBR (CC BY 3.0)

The controversial proposed Back Forty open pit metallic sulfide mine on the Michigan-Wisconsin border has suffered major financial and permitting setbacks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and increasing public concerns over the safety of tailings dams to store mine waste. The proposed mine, would be located next to the Menominee River, which flows into Lake Michigan, and has raised concerns about potential pollution.

June 1, 2020

Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc.
P.O. Box 475
Marinette, Wisconsin 54143

Mr. Luke Trumble,
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy
Dam Safety Unit
P.O. Box 30473
525 West Allegan Street
Lansing, MI 48909-7923

Dear Mr. Trumble,

We are writing to express our concerns about the permitting process for the Back Forty tailings dam in light of the unprecedented flooding after two dams collapsed in Michigan following record rainfall.

May 13, 2020

Eagle Herald

Dear editor,

Thanks to a major pollution cleanup effort by multiple federal and state agencies and citizen groups, the Lower Menominee River will be delisted or removed as an area of concern for pollution and habitat loss. This restoration work took more than two decades and cost at least $200 million, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

April 14, 2020

AmericanRivers.org

Contact: Amy Kober, 503-708-1145, akober@americanrivers.org

National

• Press Release – American Rivers Announces America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2020
• America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2020 Full Report
• America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2020 Map

by Carol Thompson

Lansing State Journal

February 10, 2020

LANSING — A Wisconsin tribe is challenging Michigan’s decision to issue a permit for an open-pit  mine proposed in the Upper Peninsula, the latest in a series of attempts to stop the controversial project from moving forward.

February 6, 2020

Eagle Herald

Dear Editor,

My name is Tom Boerner, I have been involved in two contested cases hearings against permits issued to Aquila by EGLE and have just filed contested case petitions for two more: Air Quality Permit and Amended Part 632 Permit.