For Immediate Release

February 28, 2008

Also see the Mining Journal article

Click here for the AP article 

Contact:

Michelle Halley, National Wildlife Federation, (906) 361-0520

Peter Dykema, Huron Mountain Club, (202) 282-5773

Paul Townsend, Huron Mountain Club, (313) 886-3487

John Baker, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, (906) 353-4106

Cynthia Pryor, Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, (906) 360-2414

Suit challenges legality of DNR, Kennecott lease

A failure by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to follow state law will be challenged before the Ingham County Circuit Court as a result of a suit filed today by opponents seeking reversal of a land lease with Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company.

It has been three weeks since the MDNR granted approval to the unprecedented lease that grants KEMC, a for-profit company with no ties to Michigan, exclusive use of 120 acres of state-owned land for a period of decades. KEMC is planning to construct surface facilities for a sulfide mining operation on the Marquette County property. Those challenging the decision say it violates the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, the Michigan Revised Judicature Act, and Michigan’s public trust doctrine.

Acting as co-petitioners in the suit, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Huron Mountain Club and Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve are asking the court to declare the surface lease void, find that the conduct related to the surface lease would pollute, impair or destroy natural resources, and therefore instruct the MDNR and KEMC to halt any conduct related to the surface lease.

“The State of Michigan has never issued a lease of state lands similar in scope to this one in terms of the amount of land at issue, the period of years, the risky nature of the proposed activity and the long-term implications. This decision is a pivotal one for the future of Michigan’s public lands and this flawed decision cannot go unchallenged,” said Michelle Halley, attorney for NWF.

Halley and co-petitioners say that, by entering into the surface lease, MDNR violated its duty under state law to refrain from authorizing conduct that is likely to pollute, impair or destroy the air, water or other natural resources, or the public trust in those resources, if there is a feasible alternative. KEMC owns land in the vicinity that would meet the criteria of a feasible alternative.

The same petitioners have also filed suit challenging the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to grant mining, groundwater and air permits for the same project. The first of those challenges will be heard by an administrative law judge on April 28, 2008.