Examples show sulfide farce

By Al Gedicks

At the recent public hearings on Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Project metallic sulfide mine, company officials cited Kennecott’s Ladysmith (Wis.) mine as a model of responsible mining. This is sheer nonsense.

Neither the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources nor Kennecott disputes that there is water pollution at the mining site. Public records show that the Flambeau (Wis.) Mine has polluted Stream C, a state navigable water that flows directly into the Flambeau River, with levels of copper that exceed the state’s water quality standards. At the recent contested case hearing on Kennecott’s application for a Certificate of Completion for the Flambeau Mine, Dr. John Coleman of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission testified that all the copper readings in water discharging to Stream C between 1999 and 2005 exceeded what the Department of Natural Resources estimates is the level of concern for discharge to waters such as Stream C, and on average exceeded the level that was considered allowable under the wastewater discharge permit that was in place during mining.

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