Submitted by Michigan LCV on Wed, 05/09/2012 – 9:18am
In the same week that the Huron Mountain Club has made headway in opposing the ever-controversial Kennecott Eagle Mine, the DEQ has gone ahead and unleashed another sulfide mine on the Upper Peninsula, giving mining companies the right-of-way instead of considering the voices of the citizens who live there.The environmental damage from sulfide mining goes much further than just digging a hole in the ground and taking resources. When exposed to water or air, the waste products from sulfide ore create acid mine drainage, a form of sulfuric acid. Acid mine drainage then seeps into nearby lakes and streams, killing aquatic plants and animals and completely poisoning wetland ecosystems. It has decimated thousands of miles of waterways across the country, and according to Save the Wild UP, there has never been a sulfide mine that hasn’t polluted the surrounding watershed.The Huron Mountain Club (HMC) has shown that citizens and organizations are serious about protecting the U.P.’s treasured natural areas from sulfide mining. HMC has not given up the fight against Kennecott since the DEQ issued the Eagle Rock sulfide mine permit in 2007, Michigan’s first. Just this past week, HMC filed a federal lawsuit to halt the construction of the Kennecott Eagle Mine until the company obtains necessary permits from the Army Corps of Engineers. Although District Judge Robert Holmes Bell rejected the request for injunction, a hearing is scheduled for June 6th. While an immediate halt to the mining process would have been preferred, at least the hearing will give U.P. residents a voice. Now, as members of the Huron Mountain Club await their chance to stand up against Kennecott, the DEQ has ignored the strong opposition to sulfide mining by approving a permit for another sulfide mine in the U.P.
The DEQ, the regulatory agency that is responsible for ensuring environmental protection, has quickly and haphazardly approved a permit to Orvana Resources US Corp., a Toronto based mining company, for a sulfide mine in Ironwood and Wakefield Townships. Already, we are witnessing the same opposition across the UP as we did (and still are) when the Kennecott Mine permit was approved in 2007.
The Orvana permit specifies that the Company’s plans will meet all necessary criteria to operate the mine (named the Copperwood Mine) in a responsible manner, and that it complies with the standards set forth in Michigan’s mining law. There is only so much that this law can prevent though, and in this case, it’s doubtful that it will really protect Michigan’s forests and waterways from the devastation of sulfide mining, especially since the long term effects of acid mine drainage are difficult to predict.
There are a number of problems with the proposed Orvana Copperwood Mine, but the most concerning, perhaps, is its proximity to Lake Superior. The mine will sit on land that is less than 2 miles from the shores of Lake Superior, and at some points, mining will occur within 200 feet of the Lake. Since acid mine drainage is an inevitable effect of sulfide mining, it is extremely likely that sulfuric acid will leach into nearby rivers and streams that feed directly into Lake Superior.
In addition to the danger of contamination from the initial mining process,Orvana Resources plans to store its waste in a tailings pile on the mine site instead of backfilling it into the mine. Backfilling waste is considered to be industry standard, and it minimizes long term damage to the surrounding environment. Backfilling would also decrease the risk of subsidence of land surface, another serious risk of sulfide mining that could lead to further groundwater contamination and runoff into Lake Superior. Instead of this more responsible option, Orvana’s permanent tailings pile would cover over 300 acres, destroy 8,000 feet of streams, and pose an ongoing risk of contaminants seeping into the surrounding soil and water. There is also question on whether the planned waste collection system will underlie the entire tailings pile. If it does not, it will be in violation of Michigan’s mining law.
The location of the Copperwood Mine is problematic for another reason; it is within the territory that the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and several other tribes retained in the Treaty of 1842. Placing a sulfide mine on this traditional land will threaten cultural resources.
Fortunately, this permit is only the first step in the process. The DEQ needs to issue additional permits to Orvana, including permits for water discharges, air emissions, inland lake & stream modification, and wetland impacts before construction of the mine could begin. We can only hope that the DEQ seriously considers the environmental impacts of the Copperwood Mine when deciding whether to go even further and issue these permits as well. If not, it looks like we’ll need to get prepared to fight the Kennecott Eagle Mine fight all over again.
Photo courtesy of michiganradio.org.
It’s irresponsible to make these comments about the inevitable doom that Copperwood will cause without looking back at what the White Pine operations resulted in as far as acid mine drainage and destroying Lake Superior. Backfilling waste is not an industry standard. There are factors including size distribution and general viscosity of the backfilled material that need to be taken into account. White Pine was not backfilled and is essentially the same deposit as Copperwood will be mining. It is a chalcocite ore, yes an evil sulfide, and White Pine never resulted in the devastation that is being predicted for Copperwood despite being many times larger. Fortunately Save the Wild UP and its likes have about as much understanding of science as this writer appears to have. There needs to be a catalystfor any chemical reaction to occur, including the acid mine drainage. That catalyst is missing in this case, meaning that White Pine didn’t and Copperwood won’t cause acid mine drainage.