June 2019 Newsletter
June 5, 2019
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
Aquila Resources has failed in its attempt to prevent the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River from challenging the company’s wetland permit in a contested case hearing. Aquila argued that the Coalition did not have legal “standing.” That means Coalition members did not have enough interest in the Menominee River to file suit. The judge ruled that the people that will be affected by this project have the right to challenge the permit issued by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) in June 2018.
Contested Case in Lansing, MI begins on June 3, 2019
The Coalition, along with the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and Tom Boerner, are challenging EGLE’s former director Heidi Grether’s approval of the wetlands permit that was issued with over 28 single-spaced pages of conditions, overriding the decision reached by EGLE’s own Water Resources Division to deny the permit. This permit is not “effective” until all its conditions are satisfied. The case hearing is scheduled for June 3-14. Tax deductible donations to support the Coalition’s legal expenses can be sent to: Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc. P.O. Box 475, Marinette, Wisconsin 54143.
Consolidated Public Hearing Scheduled for June 25th, 2019
The consolidated public hearing on three pending Aquila permits has been set for Tuesday, June 25, 2019 from 5:30 to 9:00 pm CST at the Stephenson High School gymnasium W 526 Division Street, Stephenson, MI 49887. This is the last chance for the public to express their concerns about the Back Forty project within the permit review process.
The three permits involved are the Mining permit amended application, the air quality permit and the tailings dam safety permit. The Part 315 Dam Safety permit is available for review on EGLE’s website at: https://miwaters.deq.state.mi.us/. Written comments must be received by Friday, July 5, 2019. Send comments to EGLE, Water Resource Division, Marquette District Office, 1504 West Washington Street Marquette, MI 49855.
Rally and Press Conference Before the Public Hearing
At 3:00 pm the Menominee River Water Protectors will hold a rally outside of Stephenson High School. At 4:00 pm, there will be a press conference in the Stephenson High School library with speakers from the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the Coalition to Save the Menominee River, the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition (UPEC) and the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council.
Aquila’s proposed tailings dam is the Achilles heel of the Back Forty project
Aquila’s response to the January 25, 2019 Brazilian tailings dam disaster that has claimed 270 lives has been a full-page ad in the March 2, 2019 Eagle Herald that never mentions the Brazilian disaster but presents false and misleading claims about its proposed tailings dam next to the Menominee River (see the April 3, 2019 WRPC newsletter for an extensive analysis of this ad). You can also view many of the letters to the editor of the Eagle Herald in response to Aquila’s ad at WRPC’s Facebook page http://www.Facebook.com/WisconsinResourcesProtectionCouncil
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the company responsible for the January 25 tailings dam failure has evacuated more than 400 people living in the immediate vicinity of its “upstream” design Sul Superior dam at the Gongo Soco mine in southeastern Brazil. This is the same construction method now being proposed for the Back Forty project. The 280-foot-high dam is one of the company’s nine remaining dams built via the cheaper “upstream” method. Engineers now believe the dam to be so fragile that any small vibration could cause it to come crashing down.
Aquila and their lobbying group continue to deny the track record of upstream tailings dams
Nathan Conrad, the executive director of the advocacy group, Natural Resources Development Association, who represents Aquila Resources, criticizes environmentalists for highlighting catastrophic mining accidents that have occurred in other countries (“Mining can bring Wisconsin’s economy, environment together, Madison Capital Times, May 7, 2019).
I responded to Conrad’s omission of the facts about tailings dams in the U.S. or abroad:
https://madison.com/ct/opinion/mailbag/al-gedicks-pro-mining-column-omits-facts-on-tailings-dams/article_b412411d-e762-5c77-839b-03f9fcec989e.html
Dave Blouin of the Wisconsin Sierra Club has also responded to Conrad’s justification for repealing Wisconsin’s Prove it First Mining Moratorium Law:
https://madison.com/ct/opinion/column/dave-blouin-mining-industry-offers-false-promises-of-safety-prosperity/article_dab9238c-ca8b-5317-b22b-631d62fdd0d1.html
U.S. Congressman Mike Gallagher Urges Wisconsin DNR to review Aquila’s permits
During former Governor Scott Walker’s administration, the DNR did not review the Back Forty mine permits and allowed the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality to assume exclusive jurisdiction over the Menominee River, an interstate waterway. This effectively deprived Wisconsin residents and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin of any real voice in the mine permitting process. Now U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher has requested the DNR, “as the state’s top defender of our fresh water and natural resources, to prioritize reviewing the mine’s permits.” In so doing, Rep. Gallagher joins Sen. Tammy Baldwin and many Wisconsin legislators in a bipartisan demand for a critical review of Aquila’s mine permits.
This permitting process is far from a done deal. Aquila’s prediction that mine construction will start in 2020 is pure fantasy.
Stay tuned,
Al Gedicks, Executive Secretary