Deleted Documents Part of a Pattern of Lax Accountability and Biased Scrutiny of Dangerous Sulfide Mining Proposal

For Immediate Release, March 8, 2007

Contact:
Marvin Roberson, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, 906-360-0288
James Clift, Michigan Environmental Council, 517-256-0553

The reassignment of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s top mining regulator, Geological Survey Division Chief Hal Fitch, is essential to restoring integrity to the agency’s mine permitting process, four of the state’s leading environmental organizations and citizen groups said today.

Fitch’s sloppy oversight of the proposed Kennecott Minerals Co. sulfide mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has undermined the state’s tough new mining laws, put the U.P.’s tourism economy and natural resources at risk, and shattered public confidence in the mining permit process. The groups think the process needs to start over under new leadership.

The shortcomings imploded last week with revelations that a key consultant’s report criticizing the engineering of the mine’s support structures was deleted from state files and the public record by one or more employees under Fitch’s supervision. The report may have been shared with Kennecott prior to its suppression – a matter currently under investigation.

“Whether or not this inexcusable breach of trust was done with Mr. Fitch’s knowledge is beside the point,” said James Clift, Policy Director of the Michigan Environmental Council. “It is symptomatic of a relationship Mr. Fitch and his subordinates have with Kennecott that is compromising their ability to make objective decisions regarding this application. It has seemed from Day One that the regulators were acting more as an arm of Kennecott Minerals than the public watchdogs they are supposed to be. We have confidence that Gov. Granholm and MDEQ Director Steve Chester will find a replacement whose integrity and impartiality is beyond reproach.”

In the wake of last week’s revelations, state officials rescinded a preliminary approval for the mine, postponed a slate of public hearings and launched an independent investigation of the report’s suppression.

“We commend Mr. Chester for taking those steps, but we think the agency needs to go back to square one with this permit application,” said Marvin Roberson of the Sierra Club. “We’re left to wonder what other important data may have been censored, altered, or kept hidden from the public and Mr. Chester. A fresh start, both for the review process and for the leadership of that division, will go a long way toward restoring the trust that has crumbled.”

The mine, if approved, would create dangerous battery-acid strength liquid waste laced with toxic heavy metals. Managed improperly, or subject to lax state enforcement, the waste could contaminate groundwater and ruin numerous trout streams that flow into Lake Superior near Big Bay.

The Kennecott proposal is the first test of the state’s new mining law. It was written to regulate what are expected to be numerous new mining applications in the coming decade – all in the sulfide rock formations that create the dangerous acids.

“Other companies and Michigan citizens who care deeply about the state’s water resources are watching this permit closely,” said Clift. “What happens here will set the standard for the next generation of mining applications in Michigan.”

Groups asking for a new start with new leadership include: The League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Michigan Environmental Council, Save the Wild UP and Sierra Club’s Michigan chapter.

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