July 2017 Newsletter
July 13, 2017
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
On June 21, 2017 the Brown County Board of Supervisors voted 21-0 to oppose Aquila’s Back Forty metallic sulfide mine project. Brown County, the third largest county in Wisconsin, agreed with mine opponents that the risks of mine pollution in the Menominee River, which empties into Green Bay and eventually into Lake Michigan, outweigh any possible benefits from the proposed mine. Brown County joins Marinette and Menominee County, WI in urging the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to deny a mining permit for the project. Door County will consider a resolution against the project at their next meeting.
City of Marinette, Wisconsin opposes the mine; Back Forty opposition gains momentum
On July 5, 2017 the City of Marinette passed a resolution opposing the Back Forty project by a vote of 6-2. Two of the council members objected to an amendment that restored a reference to the “irreversible loss of significant cultural resources of the Menominee Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, including Native American gravesites and other areas of historical significance.” The reference to the tribe’s cultural resources was omitted from the rewritten version of the resolution that had originally been submitted and tabled at the June 12 meeting of the council.
Over 40 people spoke for five minutes for and against the proposed mine at the June 12 meeting of the City Council. The majority of the speakers opposed the project.
The City Council also passed a resolution urging Wisconsin legislators “to enact legislation which would allow the adjacent Wisconsin State government, Wisconsin county governments and local Wisconsin municipalities and towns to have input on the regulation, permitting, operation and reclamation of sulfide mining operations which pertain to sulfide mining operations on Michigan/Wisconsin boundary waters.” The Wisconsin DNR has taken the position that all permitting decisions that affect an interstate waterway should be left to the Michigan DEQ. “The ones on this side of the river,” said Alderperson Ken Keller, “we have no recourse if and when pollution will occur” from acid mine drainage at the proposed mine.
The DEQ says that public opinion will have no influence on the mine permit decision
Joe Maki, head of the mining division of the DEQ, has continually reminded mine opponents that their opinions will have no influence on the mine permitting process. As long as Aquila meets the conditions of the permit requirements, they will be granted permission to mine. This judgment is at odds with the growing realization within the mining industry that a “social license to operate is an essential part of operating within democratic jurisdictions, as without popular support it is unlikely that agencies from elected governments will willingly grant operational permits or licenses” (The Fraser Institute, a mining industry think tank in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, “What is a Social Licence to Operate?” 2012).
In response to citizen requests for the Menominee, MI County Board to take a stand on the Back Forty project, County Board chairman Charlie Meintz has gone so far as to say that “We can’t go against state law and I am not ready to put members of our community in jeopardy and lose funding just to make a resolution” (Eagle Herald, 6/29/17).
There is no state law prohibiting counties or townships from passing resolutions expressing their opinion about mining projects and certainly no possibility of state funding being withheld to local units of government for such action. The fact is that Aquila, the DEQ and pro-mining elected officials are afraid that as more communities, tribes, citizen groups, environmental and sportfishing groups and faith organizations mobilize public opinion against this project that it will affect investor confidence and lead to a withdrawal of investment funds from this ill-conceived project (see enclosed list of resolutions against the Back Forty project).
Joe Maki is Afraid to Participate in a Public Forum About the Back Forty Project
The May 24th meeting at the Menominee High School was originally planned to have Joe Maki present information about the Back Forty project to council members from the cities of Marinette, WI and Menominee, MI. When Maki learned that I was invited to present information at the meeting he withdrew from the meeting, falsely claiming that I was a party with the Menominee Tribe in the contested case challenge of Aquila’s mine permit. After Maki withdrew from the joint meeting, the Marinette City Council also withdrew from the meeting. Despite the online headline from the Eagle-Herald that the joint meeting was canceled, over 130 people attended the Menominee committee of the whole meeting and heard my presentation. After a separate invitation to address the Marinette City Council, Maki told the Eagle-Herald he would rather avoid “a potentially hostile environment” (“City council hears mine talk,” 6/12/17).
WRPC is urging everyone concerned about this project to write to the investors in this project and let them know that an open pit sulfide mine next to the Menominee River has no social license to operate and that this is a financial risk to investors (see enclosed Action Alert to urge Divestment from Aquila Resources). You can read my recent letter to Orion Mine Finance Group at: http://www.wrpc.net/letters/963/
To assist the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River in Marinette, WI in their efforts to educate the Marinette City Council about sulfide mining I prepared a short (9 page) primer on sulfide mining and the Back Forty project. The first two pages are enclosed. The complete document is available from the wrpc website: http://www.wrpc.net/articles/what-you-should-know-about-aquila-resources-back-forty-project/
The next stop of the “Save the Menominee River Speaking Tour” is in Madison, WI on July 17, 2017 at Madison’s Central Library, 201 W. Mifflin St. from 5:30-8:00pm. Speakers on the environmental and cultural impacts of the proposed Back Forty mine will include Menominee community organizer Anahkwet (Guy Reiter), Menominee tribal elder Ada Deer, former head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Assistant Secretary of Interior to President Clinton and myself.
Keep circulating those petitions to Preserve Wisconsin’s Mining Moratorium Law. Senator Tiffany will introduce repeal legislation in the fall and we’re ready for a fight on this.
Stay tuned,
Al Gedicks, Executive Secretary