Mar
29
2021
Post-screening discussion of Keepers of the Water, a 1996 documentary produced by the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council featuring the activists who eventually helped defeat the Crandon mine proposal
March 17, 2021
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
In a major victory for water protectors, a Michigan Administrative Law Judge has denied a disputed Wetlands Permit for Aquila Resources’ proposed Back Forty metallic sulfide mine in an exhaustive 76-page decision issued on January 4, 2021. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (now the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy or EGLE) provoked immediate controversy when it approved Aquila’s Wetlands Permit in 2018, over the objections of the agency’s own scientific staff who recommended to deny the permit.
Jan
11
2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – JOINT PRESS STATEMENT
Friday, January 8, 2021
CONTACTS
Al Gedicks, Wisconsin Resource Protection Council, (608) 784-4399
Dale Burie, Coalition to Save the Menominee, (615) 512-3506
Guy Reiter, Menikanaehkem (715) 853-2776
Ron Henriksen, Front 40 Environmental Group, frontforty2016@aol.com
Kathleen Heideman, Mining Action Group, info@savethewildup.org
Dave Harmon, Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition, upec@upenvironment.org
Carl Lindquist, Superior Watershed Partnership, (906) 228-6095
Sulfide Mine Permit Denied: “A Win for Wetlands”
MARQUETTE, MI – Regional environmental groups are celebrating the news that a disputed Wetlands Permit for Aquila Resources’ Back Forty sulfide mine has been denied by a Michigan Administrative Law Judge, concluding a two year review of the contested case. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (now the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) sparked controversy when it approved Aquila’s Wetlands Permit in 2018, over the objections of regulatory staff who were prepared to deny the permit.
Jan
02
2021
The Peshtigo Times
December 29, 2020
Dear Editor:
The 2,472 pages of Aquila’s recently submitted Dam Safety permit application is exclusively focused on the engineering aspects of the proposed tailings dam near the Menominee River. There is no discussion of the corporate organizational and human causes of catastrophic failures like the January 2019 Brazilian tailings dam failure that killed 270 people.
Dec
11
2020
December 10, 2020
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
Aquila Resources has submitted its Dam Safety Permit application to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). However, the company has not yet submitted an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in the event of a dam failure and the release of toxic mine waste into the Menominee River. In the absence of an EAP, the application is incomplete. This may explain why EGLE has not announced a timetable for a public hearing on the permit and a deadline for the submission of written comments.
Aug
29
2020
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.”
Aug
02
2020
Jul
29
2020
Back Forty Mine along Wisconsin border faces insufficient funding, increasing opposition.
by Al Gedicks
July 26, 2020
![Aftermath of the Brumadinho dam collapse in Brazil. Photo by TV NBR [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]](https://urbanmilwaukee.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Resumo_da_agenda_do_Presidente_da_República_26.01.2019_video_screenshot_01_cropped.jpg)
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.
