ACTION ALERT— an urgent message from Freshwater Future and the Mining Action Group of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition:

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is reviewing an expansion request—what they’re calling a “significant amendment” to the original permit—by Eagle Mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We have serious concerns that critical decisions are being made based on inaccurate and incomplete information. If so, the environmental impacts could be disastrous for the surrounding watershed .

Will you help ask the Attorney General to intervene and ensure that information used in decision making for this mine is scientifically sound and properly reported?

A glaring example of our concern is in the original Eagle Mine application. The mining company’s geotechnical data from their drill hole shows shows sand between the river and the bedrock (orebody). However, in the modeling submitted as part of their permit application, a clay cap is shown that didn’t exist in their drill hole samples. Inconsistent information like this makes it difficult to trust Lundin Mining. Nevertheless, the decision to permit this mine was granted. We are concerned that serious errors and missing pieces of information exist in this “significant amendment.”

Click here to send a letter to Attorney General Schuette asking him to initiate an independent review to ensure information accuracy, identify any gaps of information that should be gathered, and review modeling for inaccuracies that influence decision making.

Thank you for taking a few moments to reach out!

Sincerely,

Cheryl Kallio, Freshwater Future
Kathleen Heideman, Mining Action Group of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition

PS: The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is poised to issue permits for the “Eagle East” expansion of Eagle Mine. ACT NOW — ask Attorney General Schuette to investigate whether last year’s underground collapse at Eagle Mine indicates a general risk of geological instability!