The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced today that it is giving final approval of Rio Tinto’s proposed Eagle Mine project, located on public land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The decision comes during a time of transition for the agency. Steven Chester resigned from his post as head of the DEQ three week’s ago and was temporarily replaced by Deputy Director Jim Sygo. Today’s news release issued by the DEQ does not indicate who, at the agency, made today’s decision.
According to DEQ press secretary, Bob McCann, Jim Sygo “delegated” decision-making authority to Frank Ruswick, DEQ Senior Policy Advisor, who ”conducted the review of the case and made the decision to sign the final order.”
The DEQ had earlier approved Rio Tinto’s mining application in December 2007. The decision was appealed in a lengthy contested case hearing.
In an August 2009 recommendation, Administrative Law Judge Richard Patterson stated that Rio Tinto and the MDEQ “did not properly address the impact on the sacred rock outcrop known as Eagle Rock” and suggested moving the mine’s entry portal away from the rock. During the contested case , DEQ lawyers argued that Eagle Rock is not a place of worship because it is not a constructed building, such as a Christian church or a mosque.
In November, then DEQ Director Steven Chester requested that Judge Patterson clarify his position on the one stipulation that wasn’t fully in Rio Tinto’s favor.
Today’s DEQ decision affirms the agency’s opinion that Eagle Rock is not a legitimate place of worship, as defined under Michigan mining law, and that the religious rights of area Native Americans are irrelevant in the Eagle Mine case.
Apparently not under consideration is that the DEQ’s coordinator for review of the Eagle Mine application, Joe Maki, admitted, under oath, that neither he or his team followed a central tenet of Michigan’s “Part 632″ mining law in recommending approval of Rio Tinto’s project.
In September 2008 Steven Chester further placed the agency’s regulatory ability under question when he confessed, “We simply don’t have the kind of funding we need to adequately implement the laws we’re required to implement.”
Swept under the rug are comments made by the state’s commissioned rock mechanics expert, Dr. David Sainsbury, that the company’s mine plan was “technically antiquated, sloppy and equivalent to high school level work.” Sainsbury also insisted that the DEQ kept relevant local geological information out of his reports and repeatedly said that Kennecott’s conclusions regarding the ability of the mine to not collapse “are not considered to be defensible” and does “not reflect industry best practice.”
Michigan’s machiavellian contested case process is interesting in that the DEQ makes the final decision on whether or not the agency, itself, appropriately followed applicable law. So, while Director Chester made a decision in 2007 to approve Rio Tinto’s mining application, oddly enough it is Chester who was expected to make a final decision on whether or not his earlier approval followed the law.
The DEQ will no longer exist as an agency as of January 17, when it will be re-combined with the Department of Natural Resources to form the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The new agency will be headed by the DNR’s current director, Rebecca Humphries.
Rio Tinto, which also issued a press release today claiming that, with final state approval, the company would begin constructing the mine this year, with production expected to commence in 2013. Legally, the company must still obtain amendments to its mine plan, submitted to the DEQ, as well as permits from the Environmental Protection Agency before it can mine.
Click HERE to read the DEQ’s final decision.
LSMN
Eve Divine
doncorvette
[...] further information, please read Gabriel Caplett’s Article, for complete story This entry was written by savethewildup and posted on January 14, 2010 at [...]
[...] Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, has shamelessly and underhandedly given its final approval for Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Mine project, a nickel and copper sulfide mine on the Yellow [...]
[...] Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, has shamelessly and underhandedly given its final approval for Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Mine project, a nickel and copper sulfide mine on the Yellow Dog [...]
[...] Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, has shamelessly and underhandedly given its final approval for Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Mine project, a nickel and copper sulfide mine on the Yellow Dog [...]
TheDEQ and Kennecott have been in bed with each other, in my opinion. TheDEQ has done all that it can to assist Kennecott with whatever they want. The sacredness of Eagle Rock doesn’t mean much to them, the water quality doesn’t mean much to them, the dollar sign does. I am sickened that the DEQ cannot stand up to protect our public lands. I wonder, because I have no proof, if some people have benefited $$ from their relationship with Kennecott. It wouldn’t be the first time in Kennecott (Rio Tinto’s) history.
[...] Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, has shamelessly and underhandedly given its final approval for Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Mine project, a nickel and copper sulfide mine on the Yellow [...]