This map of Aquila Resources’ proposed Back 40 mining project shows wetlands in the area of the mine site, which is only 150 feet from the Menominee River. Aquila recently withdrew from its appeal on the January 2021 denial of its wetland permit. Click on map for larger version. (Map courtesy Kathleen Heideman of the Mining Action Group)
A Michigan Circuit Court judge last month asked that a 2019 decision to approve a mining permit for Aquila Resources should be revisited, according to nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice. In the order, the judge directed that additional evidence was needed in the original permit application, including documented concerns from Michigan environmental regulators regarding flawed groundwater modeling.
The Menominee River, named after the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin, is the largest river system in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It forms the border between northeast Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is currently the focus of a struggle over a proposed metallic sulfide mine known as the Back Forty Project.
March 17, 2021
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
In a major victory for water protectors, a Michigan Administrative Law Judge has denied a disputed Wetlands Permit for Aquila Resources’ proposed Back Forty metallic sulfide mine in an exhaustive 76-page decision issued on January 4, 2021. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (now the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy or EGLE) provoked immediate controversy when it approved Aquila’s Wetlands Permit in 2018, over the objections of the agency’s own scientific staff who recommended to deny the permit.
December 10, 2020
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
Aquila Resources has submitted its Dam Safety Permit application to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). However, the company has not yet submitted an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in the event of a dam failure and the release of toxic mine waste into the Menominee River. In the absence of an EAP, the application is incomplete. This may explain why EGLE has not announced a timetable for a public hearing on the permit and a deadline for the submission of written comments.
August 20, 2020
Dear WRPC Member and Friends of the Menominee River,
Aquila Resources continues to provide misleading and inaccurate information about the status of the Back Forty project in its most recent financial report. The company’s June 2020 report states, “The Company has received the four primary permits required to commence construction and operations at Back Forty.”
However, the company has not yet submitted a revised Dam Safety Permit application since Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) rejected Aquila’s original application as incomplete and requested additional information. According to EGLE, “Aquila is not authorized to begin construction of the mine and will not be able to proceed until all permits, including the Dam Safety Permit have been approved by EGLE.”
Back Forty Mine along Wisconsin border faces insufficient funding, increasing opposition.
by Al Gedicks
July 26, 2020
![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)
The controversial proposed Back Forty open pit metallic sulfide mine on the Michigan-Wisconsin border has suffered major financial and permitting setbacks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and increasing public concerns over the safety of tailings dams to store mine waste. The proposed mine, would be located next to the Menominee River, which flows into Lake Michigan, and has raised concerns about potential pollution.
May 13, 2020
Eagle Herald
Dear editor,
Thanks to a major pollution cleanup effort by multiple federal and state agencies and citizen groups, the Lower Menominee River will be delisted or removed as an area of concern for pollution and habitat loss. This restoration work took more than two decades and cost at least $200 million, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
