Here are some comments on the Humboldt Mill permit.
First, we must thank Hal Fitch for his promise to respond to all written comments. We appreciate the gesture.
I read the newspapers and watched WLUC-TV6 coverage of the event, but didn’t learn much.
I saw a lot of empty seats and heard that the majority of those present were in favor of the project. I have heard nothing more in the past week. But two especially strong points were presented and not reported.
1. Speaker Teresa Bertossi, independent, quoted Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven Chester who has freely admitted that budget restraints and pressure to handle more projects have left the department underfunded and undermanned. We can understand that, and we commiserate.
In the present context, with the Kennecott applications, Mining Team Leader Joe Maki did not have the help he needed. His team did not have the expertise to evaluate legal and technical issues. He said as much in court. We understand their predicament.
2. Speaker Cynthia Pryor, Yellow Dog Plains Preservation, forcefully read from a long and detailed list of items wherein Kennecott had not met the requirements of Part 632 of the Michigan Mining Law by failing, in each instance, to demonstrate that their plans could be carried out successfully, either by demonstration or with documented evidence that similar plans had been used successfully elsewhere, in similar circumstances. (The alternative would be – “Just trust me.”)
In the first instance the punchline would be: Extenuating circumstances notwithstanding given that the evaluating agency was not qualified then no permits should have been issued, and all permits and agreements must be revoked.
In the second instance it was shown that Kennecott had not met the requirements of the law, so the application should have been turned down as administratively incomplete at a much earlier date, and it should be rejected forthwith. MDEQ must uphold the law.
We ask, therefore, for those lapses to be corrected: That the application be rejected and the permits and agreements revoked immediately. Thank you.
I’m still pro-mining, but only if it’s done right.
Jack Parker
Baltic