June 2022 Newsletter
June 14, 2022
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
In July 2009 Aquila Resources President and CEO Tom Quigley told the Lake Township Board, in Menominee County, Michigan that the company expects to receive mining permits for the controversial Back Forty metallic sulfide mine next to the Menominee River in 2010 and begin production as early as 2012. Ten years later Aquila Resources is bankrupt and the mining permits have either been overturned or withdrawn thanks to the combined public education and legal challenges by the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin.
Another prediction from the new owner of the Back Forty Project
Now the Gold Resource Corporation (GORO) of Denver, Colorado has acquired the assets of Aquila Resources and has asserted that they will have all the permits for the Back Forty Project in hand by the end of 2023 and begin production by early 2024. This prediction is based upon the false narrative that GORO President and CEO Allen Palmiere presented to GORO shareholders on September 8, 2021. When an investor asked about risk factors that GORO might encounter in Menominee County, Michigan, Palmiere replied: “The key takeaway on this particular project is that it has, in fact, been fully permitted before.”
Aquila Resources never had all the permits for the mine
On April 7, 2022, Dale and Lea Jane Burie from the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River and I met with Allen Palmiere and Chief Financial Officer Kim Perry in Menominee, Michigan. I confronted Mr. Palmiere about this misrepresentation and explained that Aquila Resources only had one legally valid permit – the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the discharge of 1.52 million gallons of water back into the Menominee River per day. Other permits were under legal challenge in contested case proceedings. They also never had a Dam Safety Permit that is required by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) before mining can begin. Mr. Palmiere continued to defend his misrepresentation and denied that a Dam Safety Permit was required.
GORO agrees to a public forum on the new mine design
After a two-hour discussion, Mr. Palmiere agreed to participate in a public forum after their economic feasibility study and new mine design are completed. The panel at the public forum will consist of GORO representatives, our panel of scientific experts and other notable guests. The news media will be invited and the public will be able to ask questions after the panel presentations. GORO expects the feasibility study to be completed by the late fall of 2022. In the meantime, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin has petitioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) to re-examine the navigability of the Menominee River.
The ACOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should exercise federal authority over Clean Water Act permitting decisions, including the Menominee River and adjacent wetlands
The Menominee Nation filed a lawsuit in November 2018, arguing that the state of Michigan did not have the initial authority to grant Aquila Resources a wetlands permit. Rather, the EPA should have been making that decision. That’s because the Clean Water Act only allows the EPA to delegate its authority to a state if the waterway is a non-navigable, intrastate waterway. If the waterway is a navigable waterway and is used for interstate commerce, then the EPA cannot delegate its authority and the proper permits need to come from the EPA. However, the ACOE determined in the early 1980s that only a small portion of the Menominee River (towards the Bay of Green Bay) was a navigable waterway used for interstate commerce. Thirty-five years later, the tribe says the river is in fact used in interstate commerce, and should be under federal jurisdiction. Last year, the Menominee Nation petitioned the ACOE to re-examine the navigability of the Menominee River.
URGENT CALL TO ACTION from the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River and those opposing the Back Forty Mine: The ACOE has agreed to re-examine the issue of navigability and use in interstate commerce.
We are NOW IN THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD, regarding the Navigability of the Menominee River. This designation would give the ACOE oversight of any proposed mining activity on the Menominee River.
DEADLINE: June 20, 2022
WHAT TO DO. Go to jointherivercoalition.org and click on the button that says SEND LETTER TO U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS. Please enter your name, address, email, and any personal comments; then click SUBMIT to include a pre-written letter to the ACOE, requesting designation of the Menominee River as a “Navigable Water.”
Save the date: Saturday, July 23, 2022, 12 Noon to 6:00 pm at Stephenson Island
This year’s Water Celebration will feature live music, several guest speakers and an interstate bridge walk. Bay Cities Radio will do a live broadcast of the event and do on-site interviews with the guest speakers. The event will celebrate the successful opposition to Aquila’s mine permits and the ongoing efforts to protect the Menominee River from GORO’s sulfide mine proposal.
GreenLight Metals has applied to Marathon County for exploratory drilling for gold
In May 2022 GreenLight Metals applied to Marathon County for a permit to conduct exploratory drilling on the Reef gold deposit on privately held land in the town of Easton near the Dells of the Eau Claire County Park. The Reef deposit is roughly 12 miles east of Wausau in Marathon County.
There are concerns about the drilling fluids used to lubricate the drilling process. They are untested and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources does not know if these compounds contain PFAS. Chemicals injected into shallow groundwater increase the likelihood of widespread groundwater contamination. Local residents have expressed their concerns in letters to the editor that can be read at www.middlewisconsin.org
Stay tuned,
Al Gedicks, Executive Secretary
