DNR Approves Kennecott’s Lease WITH STIPULATIONS

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Last night (Thursday, February 7th), at an Natural Resources Commission (NRC) meeting in Lansing the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) caved in to Kennecott and failed to achieve its mission of protecting Michigan‘s natural resources. The Director of the DNR, Rebecca Humphries, granted final approval of the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company’s (KEMC) Mining and Reclamation Plan and Land Use Lease, but with stipulations that Kennecott cannot break ground until all contested cases have concluded.KEMC was seeking to construct surface facilities for a sulfide mining operation on 120 acres of state-owned property on the Yellow Dog Plains in northwestern Marquette County. The Director’s decision came one month after a refusal to grant Kennecott’s lease because of a failure to provide information on a number of critical questions.

Sufficient information is still lacking. Kennecott has failed to address subsidence concerns and leak prevention. These failures, aided by the State’s inadequate monitoring fees (a mere $4,000.00 a year), leaves the State of Michigan vulnerable to pollution and economic burdens.According to Michelle Halley, a lawyer for the National Wildlife Federation, “Experts tell us that this project is still fatally flawed, making the DNR land-lease approval even more appalling.”Although Kennecott officials continue to spin the situation to the public by claiming that they remain on track and will break ground in May, this is certainly not a done deal.Kennecott still has to obtain an underground injection permit from the Environmental Protection Agency and lawsuits and contested cases are on-going in regards to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality permits related to the Eagle Project.

Even with this lease Kennecott cannot begin construction.“As much as we were disappointed with the decision late yesterday at a meeting of the Michigan NRC to grant the permits to Kennecott for its sulfide mine ground operations on state-owned land, we take solace in the fact that Director Humphries indicated that Kennecott cannot begin operations or break ground until the courts make a decision regarding the challenges concerning the DEQ permits” said Dick Huey, co-founder of Save The Wild UP.Save The Wild UP would like to remind citizens that this is not over and urge you to continue your efforts to protect our clean water.According to Dick Huey, “This gives us more time to take the case to the people. As Director Humphries herself said, “Time and history will judge us.” She is right. We are already judging her and right now we regard her stewardship as sorely lacking and misguided.“It is our intent to take full advantage of the time we have to make sure that ultimately Michigan history is not written by those who do not have this state’s interests — its laws, its natural resources, or its people at heart. If the DNR will not fulfill its mission to protect Michigan‘s natural resources, we are confident that in the long run the people of Michigan will.”

Please Click on the following links to read moreNWF Press Release: DNR grants “corporate welfare” to mining company

The Mining Journal Article

Forbes

The FreePress

The Northwind

One thought on “DNR Approves Kennecott’s Lease WITH STIPULATIONS”

  1. I suppose there are plenty of things to criticize about this decision but, why isn’t the responsibility of funding monitors given to kennecott? Shouldn’t personal responsibility be extended to corporations? An appropriate amount of money could be placed in a state account and paid out to an independent monitoring organization. Instead we have corporate welfare, business as usual.