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. 

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.

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.

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.