by Isiah Holmes
December 18, 2019
A proposed open pit sulfide mine along the Wisconsin-Michigan border, owned by Canada-based Aquila Resources, has stirred controversy ever since the Menominee Tribe first highlighted the danger it would pose to their sacred lands over a year ago. Called the Back Forty mine, it would operate right in the heart of the Great Lakes basin.
Mine on Wisconsin border would use approach that has resulted in 46 catastrophic failures in last 20 years.
by Al Gedicks
December 13, 2019
For the communities downstream from the proposed Back Forty open pit mine on the Michigan-Wisconsin border, the threat of a massive release of toxic mine waste into the Menominee River is a nightmare scenario. Why would Wisconsin and Michigan residents put up with what Brazil will not? After a catastrophic mine tailings dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil killed 270 people in January of 2019 Brazil not only banned that design for future mines, but mandated that every existing mine tailings dam of that design be decommissioned. The dam collapse was the world’s deadliest in more than 50 years.
PENNY MULLINS, EH news editor/digital director
December 6, 2019
Eagle Herald
MENOMINEE — Tom Boerner, who owns land in Lake Township directly adjacent to the Back Forty Mine, said Wednesday he doesn’t see the recent decision by a state review panel as changing too much in his and others fight against the gold and silver mine becoming a reality in Menominee County.
By Ryan Heise, Peninsula Pulse –
At some point during the summer bustle, I had the occasion to speak with an agitated gentleman who owns a home on the waters of Green Bay in Egg Harbor. He was concerned about air cannons blasting continually on Hat Island across from his home. I envisioned him on the other side of the phone, red-eyed and disheveled from lack of sleep.
PENNY MULLINS, EH news editor/digital director
October 24, 2019
Eagle Herald
GREEN BAY — A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Coalition to Save the Menominee River against the developers of the Back Forty Mine in Menominee County, as well as several federal agencies.
September 18, 2019
The willingness of top Michigan regulators to ignore their own scientific staff and approve a wetland permit for a controversial open pit mine next to the Menominee River on the Michigan-Wisconsin border has been reported by Urban Milwaukee, but is only the beginning of a dangerous decision-making process. The proposed Back Forty metallic sulfide mine is owned by Aquila Resources, a Canadian exploration company that has no experience with mining.
by Mark Doremus
August 23, 2019
https://www.facebook.com/back40film/
Mine developer Aquila Resources, Inc., has held at least two private, off-the-record meetings with local government officials, seeking support for its proposed Back Forty mine in Menominee County, Michigan.
by Bruce Murphy
August 20, 2019
![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)
This is a story about an open pit copper, zinc and gold mine on the border of Wisconsin and Michigan that could pollute the waters of both states, including Lake Michigan and also endanger sacred burial grounds of the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin. Scientific staff of both the State of Michigan and federal EPA had significant concerns about the proposed mine with the homey name of the Back Forty Project, and were unsatisfied with responses by Aquila Resources, a Canadian start-up company with no experience operating such a mine.
August 16, 2019
The Menominee River forms the boundary between Wisconsin and Michigan in the Upper Peninsula, and flows into Lake Michigan, feeding an abundant source of clean drinking water for the more than 35 million people. The river has held extremely important spiritual and cultural significance for the Menominee people for millennia.
by Keith Matheny
August 13, 2019
Over and over, Michigan environmental regulators sounded alarms as they reviewed a proposed large, open-pit ore mine in the Upper Peninsula near the Menominee River, prized for walleye fishing and a major tributary to Lake Michigan. The mine would send acidic mining wastes into the river and surrounding waterways, which would then spill into the Great Lake, staff said. More acres of wetlands would be harmed than the mining company was projecting, evaluators found.
Then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and then-Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approved the mine anyway.
