Testimony at DEQ Public Meeting in Stephenson, MI – January 9, 2019

My name is Jon Saari. I am a Board member of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition, and a resident of Marquette. MI. I am opposed to approving the Mining Permit Amendments to the Aquila Back Forty project.

In my testimony for the wetlands permit hearing I focused on the exact arithmetic of impacts to wetlands, both direct and indirect; they totaled 28.39 acres of the 93 acres of wetlands on the mine site. We and our experts did not believe the company’s estimate, and indeed the number has since been revised upward to about 55 acres. We were told that any change in this number would force Aquila to start over. That hasn’t happened.

Instead of “aligning” the mining facilities to minimize the wetlands impact, Aquila and its engineers have introduced us to the concept of “feasibility design.” It seems to argue that if it costs the company more to construct a tailings pond safely or to protect wetlands, they need not do it. Feasibility, meaning money, determines the design.

This latest version of the mine plan greatly expands the mining facilities to the east. Approximately 222 acres have been added to the mine footprint, mainly it seems to increase capacity for tailings and waste rock. Where is the increased rock coming from? The size of the pit is roughly the same, so the company must be hedging its bets about the future of this mine. The life of the mine in this permit is seven years, but on the ground it seems to be anticipating an additional nine years of underground mining.

So the alignment in this new plan is preparing for a longer and deeper future mine. The requirement in the wetlands permit to seek the least damaging alternative to the destruction of 55 acres of wetlands fell by the wayside. As we argued in that hearing, relocating some facilities onto the uplands of the eastern area would have minimized that destruction. But this idea was dismissed; in the language of “feasibility design” it was not feasible due to transportation costs.

The company and its engineers plow ahead with their own logic. The Michigan DEQ has to fit all this complexity into its regulations. The third party in this contest is the public stakeholders — the native ancestors, the landowners, the river protectors, the environmental advocates. May they finally be listened to.