Open letter to HudBay
August 9, 2018
Mr. Alan Hair, President and Chief Executive Officer
Hudbay Minerals
25 York Street, Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2V5
Canada
Dear Mr. Hair,
We are writing in regard to Hudbay’s 10.9% investment in Aquila Resources’ Back Forty metallic sulfide project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. While Aquila has celebrated its recent receipt of the final permit for its controversial open pit sulfide mine next to the Menominee River, the mine is no closer to construction now than when the project was first discovered in 2002.
The enclosed 14 pages of petitions with nearly 300 signatures were gathered over a single weekend in Madison and Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan. These petitions are just a snapshot of the larger story of ongoing, widespread local, regional and statewide opposition to this project, which poses a pollution threat to the Menominee River and the desecration of the sacred sites of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
We suspect that you may be unaware of the significant community opposition to this proposed mine because Aquila officials insist Upper Peninsula residents are overwhelmingly supportive of a mine and that most of the opposition comes from Wisconsin (Paul Srubas, “Proposed mine pits neighbor against neighbor,” (USA Today Network, August 24, 2017).
Aquila officials must be blind to the proliferation of “Save Our Water, Stop the Mine” signs and “No Back 40 Mine” signs that dominate the landscape near the proposed mine and in the city of Menominee, where the Menominee County Board voted 5-4 in favor of a resolution opposing the Back Forty Mine (Patty Murray, “County Board in Michigan’s UP Takes Symbolic Stance Against Mining Near Menominee River,” Wisconsin Public Radio, August 9, 2017).
The proposed mine is so controversial that not a single mine supporter in Menominee, Michigan would speak to a Wisconsin radio reporter on tape when she visited the city (Danielle Kaeding, “Tension Mounts Over Back Forty Mine As It Nears Final Approval,” Wisconsin Public Radio, October 4, 2017).
Several recent events should warrant serious reconsideration of your investment in this high-risk project.
The approval of Aquila’s wetland permit by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) directly contradicted the recommendation of the DEQ’s own Water Resources Division that found that “the project does NOT demonstrate that an unacceptable disruption to the aquatic resources of the State will not occur and that the activities associated with the project are NOT consistent with the permitting criteria for an acceptable impact to the resources regulated under Parts 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, and Part 303, Wetlands Protection.”
In response to this unwarranted approval, the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River has filed a petition seeking a contested case hearing challenging the MDEQ’s decision to grant Aquila a wetlands permit (see enclosed articles from the Eagle Herald and wearegreenbay.com).
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin has also filed a petition for a contested case hearing on MDEQ’s issuance of a wetland permit for the Back Forty Mine. The Tribe contends the permit was granted to Aquila “contrary to the requirements of state law for wetland protections – and over the written objections of MDEQ’s own Water Resources Division” (“Tribe challenges wetland permit; Second petition filed against state regarding Back Forty Mine,” Eagle Herald, August 7, 2018).
At the same time, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is in federal court in Green Bay, Wisconsin in a lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). They claim that the federal agencies abandoned their responsibilities to enforce stricter regulations under the Clean Water Act by allowing the State of Michigan to handle the wetland permit. Aquila has joined the case as a defendant intervenor.
At stake are over 24 sites of historical and cultural significance to the Menominee Indian Tribe and their right to government- to- government consultation regarding the protection of their traditional and cultural resources within the Back Forty footprint. A successful lawsuit would require the EPA and USACE to apply the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Protection Act for a full and fair investigation and review of the Menominee Tribe’s concerns regarding its cultural properties and the environment of the Menominee River.
Throughout this entire permitting process, Aquila has ignored Menominee treaty rights and is in violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that requires all extractive resource projects to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples. Furthermore, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has affirmed that the sacred sites of Indigenous Peoples, such as the Back Forty mine site, should be “No-Go Areas” for destructive activities like mining and for corporations to permanently withdraw from such areas.
Hudbay’s investment in the Back Forty project raises serious questions about your company’s respect for the sacred sites of Indigenous Peoples at a time when Hudbay is also invested in the proposed Rosemont Mine in Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains. Three tribes – the Tohono O’odham, Pascua Yaqui and Hopi – have filed a lawsuit against this project because the mine would deprive tribal members of access to ancestral praying grounds, destroy a critical part of their heritage including burial grounds and stop members from engaging in important cultural practices and religious traditions.
The tribes’ lawsuit quotes the Forest Service’s 2013 final Rosemont environmental impact statement as saying damages to cultural sites and prehistoric and historic archaeological sites would be “severe, irreversible and irretrievable.”
Your company’s investment in the Back Forty project is a high-risk investment for your shareholders and a serious reputational risk for a mining company that has been criticized for violating the sacred sites of Indigenous Peoples in mining impact communities.
We urge you to seriously consider the risks of continuing to invest in a project that is unlikely to produce a single ounce of gold or zinc. Do not be fooled by Aquila’s false promises of an economically viable mining project.
Sincerely,
Al Gedicks, Wisconsin Resources Protection Council, Tomahawk, WI
Guy Anahkwet Reiter, Menikanehkem (Community Rebuilders), Keshena, WI
Ron Henriksen, Front 40 Environmental Fight, Stephenson, MI
Jane A. TenEyck, Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Judith LeBlanc, Native Organizers Alliance, Seattle, WA
Lea Jane and Dale Burie, Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc., Marinette, WI
Kathleen Heideman, Mining Action Group of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition, Houghton, MI
Seth Hoffmeister, Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, Green Bay, WI
John Engel, Wisconsin Sierra Club, John Muir Chapter, Madison, WI
Karl Fate and Sarah Juon, Oneida County Clean Waters Action, Rhinelander, WI
Timothy Cordon, Wisconsin Network for Peace, Justice and Sustainability, Madison, WI
Roger Featherstone, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, Tucson, AZ
Jill Ryan and Cheryl Kallio, Freshwater Future, Petoskey, MI
Toni Harris, OP, Dominicans of Sinsinawa Leadership Council, Sinsinawa, WI
David Liners, WISDOM, Milwaukee, WI
Lee Stedman, Gaia Coalition Network, Milwaukee, WI
Pam Richard, Peace Action Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
Kesha Patel, Sunrise Movement, Milwaukee, WI
Lelah Allen and Shannon Sloan-Spice, Water Protectors of Milwaukee, WI
Steve Watrous, Midwest Coalition Against Lethal Mining, Milwaukee, WI
Marc Rosenthal, Madison Arcatao Sister City Project, Madison, WI
Jack Laun, Colombia Support Network, Madison, WI
Adam Kassulke, Wisconsin Wolf Front United, Milwaukee, WI
Jessycah Andersen, 350 Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI