CR 595 – Under Construction? | Mining Action Group

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CHAMPION – Save the Wild U.P. (SWUP) has released over 300 geotagged photos of bulldozing and road construction along the previously-defeated CR 595 route which was proposed as a direct route from the Lundin Eagle Mine near Big Bay to the Humboldt Mill along U.S. 41 near Champion in Marquette County, Michigan.

The photos were taken after SWUP was alerted to major road construction taking place at the remote headwaters of the Mulligan Creek by a member of the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve’s RiverKeeper program.

Construction along this route included multiple instances of wetlands impacts, including unpermitted culvert installation and wetlands dredging and filling, with no evidence of a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit – a permit required by law to alter or destroy wetlands during the permitting review of the CR 595 proposal.

SWUP President Kathleen Heideman is outraged. “We’ve already been through an administrative process during which three federal agencies determined that the CR 595 development should not occur. If that’s what’s occurring now – if the construction happening out at the Mulligan Creek is just a backdoor for building CR 595 after all – then this is illegal,” said Heideman.

“The EPA’s decision was very clear: no CR 595 route should be constructed. Now the Mulligan Creek and its fragile headwaters are being gouged, dredged, driven-through, filled, and degraded – it is absolutely obscene. We’re demanding that the MDEQ, EPA, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers get involved up here — boots on the ground — pronto,” said Heideman.

In 2011, a Wetland Delineation Report was conducted on the CR 595 corridor for the Marquette County Road Commission, delineating the wetlands boundaries in the area.

“None of the contractors, logging companies, MDEQ, or the Marquette County Road Commission can claim they did not know there are wetlands here. There is a 742 page report clearly outlining the wetlands surrounding the CR 595 route, including the Mulligan Creek,” said retired chemistry professor and SWUP board member Gail Griffith.

Botanist Steve Garske, who also serves as Secretary for SWUP has personal experience with the area, said, “When I traveled through the proposed CR 595 route in 2009, I saw hundreds of narrow-leaved gentian plants beside the road in the Mulligan Creek headwaters area, as well as a population of the rare Farwell’s milfoil in at least one of the streams near the road. At that time, the CR 595 route was a rutted 2-track, a snowmobile trail. This gentian is rare in Michigan – it occurs in only three counties in the state. When they bulldozed this new, unpermitted road they undoubtedly buried, destroyed, or otherwise degraded colonies of this protected species, a clear violation of state law.”

“This is an egregious wetland fill. No attempt has been made to control erosion. The black silt fencing used in every other road construction project is nonexistent here. Already several of the culverts are completely plugged with sand, and sand and silt are washing down into the streams and wetlands – and no evidence of permits exists for multiple poorly-installed culverts,” said Garske.

“Any new roads being constructed in this environmentally sensitive area should be reviewed as part of a network of related actions. We need to stop the creeping incrementalism – a new bridge here, new culverts there, wetland destruction along the way. Cumulative impacts must be considered. That’s precisely what makes the CR 595 proposal a bad deal for taxpayers and environment. We will continue to report on this issue – democracy must not take a back seat solely for a haul road connecting the Eagle Mine to the Humboldt Mill,” said Alexandra Thebert, SWUP executive director.

According to the one current permit granted by the Michigan DEQ (posted at 46.69° N and 87.9° W), only “snowmobile trail”-related bridge work is authorized. Bridge materials are documented in the photographs on the north end of the snowmobile trail near the Yellow Dog River by a site where a contractor is currently “replacing” a series of culverts installed during the late 1990s – no permits are visible for multiple culvert installations.

Save the Wild U.P. was formed in 2004 to protect the U.P.’s unique communities, lakes, and lands from the hazards of sulfide mining, which threatens to contaminate the Lake Superior Watershed with acid mine drainage.

SILT IN THE SALMON TROUT, JULY 2014, COMMENTS.
1. Note to Paul Schumacher, who observed that the road work was being done by the MQT Road Commission, not by Kennecott. In fact Kennecott/Rio Tinto paid for the work on “their haul road” so they and the RC are both responsible.
2. The breach occurred on July 14th and we are just hearing about it, two weeks later. Where are our watchdogs? Was the incident intentionally hidden from the public?
3. The incident clearly illustrates that Kennecott lied in the permitting proceedings when they asserted that the mining project would have no environmental effects beyond their fence line. It is, of course, not the only example. It follows that they should have applied for a permit for the haul road, and that required a study of environmental impact – which they did not do. There is no valid permit, therefore the roadwork must stop. DEQ please enforce your law.
4. By constructing without a valid permit they have willfully committed the felony of presenting false information in permitting proceedings – which means that all construction must stop, and prosecution must begin, as written in Part 632.
5. The mine operators must be held responsible for all damage done, just as I would be if I had created the breach. It is not unlikely that they will have to undo or recompense for the “improvements” already made, since they were made illegally.
6. This looks like an excellent opportunity for Superior Watersheds to boldly step in and do something positive for the Salmon Trout watershed – immediately. To enforce existing laws as written. That is their reason for being. Right?

7. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave: when first we practice to deceive!” (Sir Walter Scott, Marmion.) Well said, eh?

Jack Parker, Baltic MI 49963, July 31st 2014.

One thought on “CR 595 – Under Construction?”

jack parker on August 5, 2014 at 1:13 pm said:

SILT IN THE SALMON TROUT, JULY 2014, COMMENTS.
1. Note to Paul Schumacher, who observed that the road work was being done by the MQT Road Commission, not by Kennecott. In fact Kennecott/Rio Tinto paid for the work on “their haul road” so they and the RC are both responsible.
2. The breach occurred on July 14th and we are just hearing about it, two weeks later. Where are our watchdogs? Was the incident intentionally hidden from the public?
3. The incident clearly illustrates that Kennecott lied in the permitting proceedings when they asserted that the mining project would have no environmental effects beyond their fence line. It is, of course, not the only example. It follows that they should have applied for a permit for the haul road, and that required a study of environmental impact – which they did not do. There is no valid permit, therefore the roadwork must stop. DEQ please enforce your law.
4. By constructing without a valid permit they have willfully committed the felony of presenting false information in permitting proceedings – which means that all construction must stop, and prosecution must begin, as written in Part 632.
5. The mine operators must be held responsible for all damage done, just as I would be if I had created the breach. It is not unlikely that they will have to undo or recompense for the “improvements” already made, since they were made illegally.
6. This looks like an excellent opportunity for Superior Watersheds to boldly step in and do something positive for the Salmon Trout watershed – immediately. To enforce existing laws as written. That is their reason for being. Right?

7. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave: when first we practice to deceive!” (Sir Walter Scott, Marmion.) Well said, eh?

Jack Parker, Baltic MI 49963, July 31st 2014.