December 22, 2010
A Headwaters News article on Orvana Minerals (trying to open a copper mine next to Lake Superior, near Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park):
According to Anderson, other efforts to protect the environment will likely include the use of a “continuous miner” machine that would grind the rock below the surface—reducing dust emissions at the surface—and gravity-feed it to a conveyor system, a process he describes as “the most economically or green” method available. Anderson says countries “more advanced” than the United States are already using this mining method and seems to lament the weaknesses in federal and state environmental laws, including Michigan’s “Part 632” mining law that regulates nonferrous, or non iron ore mining in the state. Read the rest of this entry »
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Law, Michigan, Mining News, Orvana | Tagged: black river, copper, lake superior, Michigan, Orvana, part 632, Porcupine Mountains, presque isle river | 
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Posted by LSMN
March 9, 2010
In February, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a strong condemnation of the environmental review of PolyMet’s proposed NorthMet mine. The project, and its environmental review have been heartily endorsed by state and federal politicians, including US Senator Al Franken and US Representative James Oberstar.
According to EPA statistics, PolyMet’s “draft environmental impact statement,” (DEIS) is incredibly incompetent. Less than 0.4% of all such reviews obtain such a bottom-of-the-barrel rating.
Disturbingly, PolyMet’s amateurish DEIS was conducted by a firm working with Aquila Resources to develop a zinc-gold mine on the Menominee River, in Michigan. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Aquila, Law, Minnesota, PolyMet | Tagged: Aquila, EPA, Law, Minnesota, PolyMet | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
March 3, 2010
The latest from Charles Duhigg’s “Toxic Waters” series in the New York Times shows that, while Clean Water Act violations are rapidly rising, enforcement actions are declining at the same quick pace. Part of the problem comes from recent US Supreme Court decisions that have exempted many of the nation’s waterways from protection under the Clean Water Act.
Not many are getting the message. A recent editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune supporting PolyMet’s controversial NorthMet project claims that environmental laws are strong and are vigorously enforced. Only four days after the Tribune’s confident editorial, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a strong critique of the environmental review of PolyMet’s project, giving it the lowest possible rating, “environmentally unsatisfactory-inadequate,” and recommending the mine “must not proceed as proposed.” Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Health, lake superior, Law, Minnesota, PolyMet, water pollution | Tagged: lake superior, Law, Minnesota, PolyMet, public health, water pollution | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
February 11, 2010
Leave a Comment » | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, Michigan, wildlife, public land, economy, water pollution | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, Law, civil disobedience, Michigan, Eagle Mine, water pollution, public land, wildlife | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
January 25, 2010
PolyMet plans to purchase this processing site; reportedly, Cliffs would maintain a roughly 7% stake in PolyMet's proposed NorthMet project
Three groups today announced their intent to file a lawsuit against Cliffs Erie, a subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources, for ongoing water pollution from previous taconite iron mining at three sites on Minnesota’s Iron Range. PolyMet Mining Co. plans to utilize two of the sites in order to dispose of wastes from its proposed metallic-sulfide NorthMet project. As part of a purchase agreement, Cliffs would maintain a roughly 7% stake in the project. The other Cliffs site, at the old Dunka Mine, is closer to Franconia Minerals and Duluth Metals’ proposed sulfide projects.
A news release issued by the Center for Biological Diversity noted that, “according to Cliffs Erie’s own monitoring reports, there are numerous ongoing violations of water-quality laws relating to management of the former LTV tailings basin. PolyMet’s proposal for its copper-nickel mine is to pile its own tailings waste on top of those from a former taconite mine that are still polluting.” Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Cliffs Natural Resources, Duluth Metals, Law, Minnesota, PolyMet, water pollution | Tagged: cliffs, Duluth Metals, Law, Minnesota, PolyMet, water pollution | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
January 24, 2010
Jack Parker - Baltic, Michigan
It seems that, in their haste to push the permits through in the absence of a director for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Kennecott conveniently forgot several factors which will eventually render the permits void.
1. Mining experts for the NWF and for the DEQ agreed that the February 2006 application was not acceptable.
If you have trouble believing that just read the one-page Executive Summary of Sainsbury’s report, which was suppressed by the DEQ, and has now been restored to their site, but has subsequently been ignored.
The application should have been rejected almost four years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | DEQ, economy, Law, Michigan, Native American, Rio Tinto | Tagged: deq, economy, Law, metallic sulfide mining, Michigan, native american, Rio Tinto | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
January 15, 2010
Dept. rules that sacred rock is ‘not a place of worship’
by Eartha Melzer, Michigan Messenger
A member of the Summer Cloud drumming group performs during a 2008 ceremony at Eagle Rock
Two days before the DEQ ceases to exist and a week after its director stepped down, DEQ moved to wrap up a long standing fight over permits for a planned nickel sulfide mine by concluding that only buildings may be considered “places of worship.”
A rock that is sacred to Anishnabe people need not be considered when issuing a mining permit because state law only recognizes buildings as places of worship, the Department of Environmental Quality announced Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »
9 Comments | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, Michigan, indigenous, public land | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, Law, Michigan, native american, yellow dog plains, Eagle Mine, public land, deq | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
January 14, 2010
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. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, Michigan, public land | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, Law, Michigan, Eagle Mine, public land | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
December 19, 2009
Jack Parker – Baltic, Michigan
Here are some comments on the Humboldt Mill permit.
First, we must thank Hal Fitch for his promise to respond to all written comments. We appreciate the gesture.
I read the newspapers and watched WLUC-TV6 coverage of the event, but didn’t learn much.
I saw a lot of empty seats and heard that the majority of those present were in favor of the project. I have heard nothing more in the past week. But two especially strong points were presented and not reported.
1. Speaker Teresa Bertossi, independent, quoted Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven Chester who has freely admitted that budget restraints and pressure to handle more projects have left the department underfunded and undermanned. We can understand that, and we commiserate. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | DEQ, Law, Michigan, Rio Tinto | Tagged: deq, Law, metallic sulfide mining, Michigan, Rio Tinto | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
December 15, 2009
After addressing pollution concerns at the former Cliffs-Dow site, the Marquette City Commission took public comment on a proposed anti-ballot initiative resolution [read Marquette City Resolution Opposing Water Mining Ballot Initiative]. The “MiWater” ballot initiative would place greater restrictions on metallic sulfide and uranium mining activities in Michigan. Despite offering unanimous support for the resolution, commissioners presented a fairly diverse argument in their opposition to the MiWater ballot initiative. The majority of citizens providing public comment outlined various arguments in support of the ballot effort.
New commissioner David Saint-Onge questioned why the City was considering the resolution.
“As a new guy on the commission, I’m not so sure why this issue comes before us, to be honest with you, why we’re taking the amount of time that we’ve taken to address this issue – not that it’s not important,” said Saint-Onge. “I do believe that there are some portions of the resolution that’s being offered this evening that are unnecessarily inflammatory.” Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Eagle Mine, Kennecott-Rio Tinto, Law, uranium, water, Michigan, workers, economy, lake superior, water pollution | Tagged: Rio Tinto, Kennecott, water, pollution, yellow dog plains, Eagle Mine, water pollution, workers, uranium, cameco, humboldt, deq, politicians, economy | Permalink
Posted by LSMN
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