Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 15, Number 3 • Fall 2007
Lake Superior
Basin Update
Acid Mining Action Update
Are We Going To Allow Acid Drainage Into Lake Superior?
Though it is deemed one of the most serious threats to water
quality by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Michigan’s
Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) continues to
consider a metallic sulfide mine proposal in the Yellow Dog
Plains near Marquette, Michigan. The mine, called the Eagle
Project, would be blasted underneath the headwaters of the
Salmon Trout River, which flows into Lake Superior.
Acid mine drainage from sulfide mining has already polluted
more than 12,000 miles of rivers and streams and over 180,000
acres of lakes and impoundments in the U.S. There has never
been a metallic sulfide mine in a water-rich area that did not
pollute its watershed. 1 And acid mine drainage often continues
years after the mining is complete – acid mine drainage still
seeps from mines worked by Romans prior to A.D. 476!
Ninety percent of the closest township residents oppose the
mine - over 5,000 Marquette residents signed petitions in
opposition. The MDEQ’s own consultants found significant
aspects of the proposal “faulty and unfounded”. Even so, and
despite that fact that MDEQ had not received or reviewed all the
input from the ongoing public comment period, the MDEQ made
the “draft” decision to approve a series of permits to the
Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company for its “Eagle Project”.
MDEQ needs to know the outrage over their taking such a
premature position against our Great Lakes way of life. Voices
are needed from throughout the Great Lakes! To speak out for
the Yellow Dog Plains and pristine waterways, write or email the
MDEQ and insist they act responsibly by denying Kennecott’s
proposal. In addition to your personal comments, you can cite
the following reasons:
- Even with the best plans in place, there has never been
a metallic sulfide mine that has not polluted its watershed
across the United States. (1)
- Risk to the survival of the Coaster Brook Trout is too high.
According to the Michigan Department of Natural
Resources, the Salmon Trout River in northern Marquette
County is thought to be the only location for natural
reproduction of the Coaster Brook Trout in Michigan.
- Risk to the federally endangered Kirtland’s warbler,
recently found in the area, is too high.
- Acid mine drainage and the mine’s roof caving in are dire
concerns that have not been addressed. Heavy metals
leaking from sulfide mines are toxic to people, wildlife,
and the environment.
- The expected release of 20 tons/year of heavy metals into
the air will surely poison the Yellow Dog and Salmon Trout
rivers and endanger human health. The poisonous plume
could easily extend for miles and be deadly to pines and
conifers.
- The use and destruction of state forest lands for the mine’s
facilities is unprecedented and unacceptable. One hundredtwenty
acres would be bulldozed clear of all life, fenced,
and unavailable to the public until the year 2042. The
facilities would include ore crushers, diesel generators,
water treatment plants,waster water ponds,waste rock
facilities and other mine facilities-turning this state forest
land into an industrial waste land.
Send comments by October 17 to DEQ/DNR
Kennecott Comments, Office of Geological Survey,
P.O. Box 30256, Lansing, Michigan 48909-7756,
DEQ Kennecottcomments@michigan.gov.
Many thanks to the dedicated people and organizations,
including Yellow DogWatershed Preserve and Save the Wild UP,
who continue to work hard on saving one of the last wild places
in the Midwest.
(1) Kuipers & Associates and Buka Environmental. 2006. Comparison of Predicted
and Actual Water Quality at Hardrock Mines. www.mine-aid.org/.
For more information, visit http://www.savethewildup.org/
and http://yellowdogwatershed.org/html/mining.html.
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