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Sulfide Mining

•  Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company, Marquette County
• What is the Sierra Club doing about the sulfide mine(s)?
• Coaster Brook Trout
• Current Permit Status

Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company, Marquette County

Kennecott was the first to apply to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for a mine permit under Michigan’s new Part 632 Nonferrous Metallic Mineral Mining Law.  They also applied for a groundwater discharge permit, an air quality permit, and to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) for a surface land use lease and for a mine reclamation permit.  They applied to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for a federal underground injection control permit, under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.  Under these permits, Kennecott would build the first mine in Michigan to be regulated under the new Part 632 law, in order to mine nickel and copper from sulfide ores beneath the Salmon Trout River on the Yellow Dog Plains in northern Marquette County. 

Current Permit Status:  Despite widespread and overwhelming opposition, the MDEQ granted all three environmental permits to Kennecott.  Likewise, the MDNR granted the surface land-use lease to Kennecott pending approval of all other permits, and has approved their mine reclamation plan.  Kennecott has yet to receive their Underground Injection Control Permit from the USEPA. USEPA held a public meeting on October 22, so that the public could ask questions about the permit application.  No hearing dates have been scheduled yet pending USEPA making a proposed decision.

If built, this mine wouldn’t be like other Michigan mines.  Sulfide ores react chemically with water and air to make sulfuric acid, and if anything at all goes wrong, could cause great harm to streams and rivers, and maybe even Lake Superior.  

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What is the Sierra Club doing about the sulfide mine(s)?

We learned that sulfide mining has never been done anywhere without harm to water and land.  There was no applicable law in Michigan to regulate mining in sulfide ores, so our staff and volunteers participated in the working groups that wrote both the Part 632 Non Ferrous Mineral Mining Law that now governs all non-ferrous mining in Michigan, and the MDEQ rules to apply the new law.  We strongly pushed for many aspects of the law that may not have been included, such as the need for thorough Environmental Impact Assessment, as well as many other components. 

Meanwhile, the Michigan Sierra Club Water Sentinels began an intensive water quality monitoring project on the Salmon Trout and Yellow Dog Rivers, and Cedar Creek.  (See information about the Yellow Dog Water Sentinels here, or contact Rita Jack. ) 

The Sierra Club has requested and testified at hearings, collaborated with our allies to offer permit and public comment workshops, plus submitted extensive comments to the state agencies on every aspect of the Kennecott permits.  You may download the Sierra Club's comments on the Kennecott Eagle Project here.    

In February 2006, the Sierra Club submitted a petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Coaster Brook Trout on the federal endangered species list  (see details below).   

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Sierra Club and Huron Mountain Club Jointly Seek Protection for the Coaster Brook Trout

On February 23, 2006, the Sierra Club and the Huron Mountain Club jointly petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to list the Coaster Brook Trout as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act.  The Coaster was once prevalent in Lake Superior, but now has a resident breeding population only in the Salmon Trout River.  Habitat degradation by logging and road building upstream from spawning grounds have caused numbers to decline.  Now, there is the new threat of an acid-generating mine at the headwaters of the Salmon Trout.  For these reasons, the Sierra Club and the Huron Mountain Club petitioned the USFWS to federally list the species as endangered. 

Download the Sierra Club and Huron Mountain Club Petition and more information about the Coaster Brook Trout here.  

After the Sierra Club brought a lawsuit against the Bush Administration for failing to act on the Coaster petition, finally on March 19, 2008, the USFWS announced a positive 90-Day Finding, meaning they found that the petition has merit, and deserves consideration.  Public Comments have been requested for the Final Decision and after the Sierra Club found errors in the original notice, the comment period was extended to September 8, 2008.  We expect the final decision this December.  You can download Sierra Club and Huron Mountain Club’s original petition here, the Club's February 2006 press release, as well as the USFWS’ News Release about the 90-Day finding, the USFWS 90-Day Finding, and the USFWS Coaster Petition Fact Sheet.  For questions about any of these materials, contact Sierra Club Forest Policy Specialist Marvin Roberson, or call the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter office at 517-484-2372. 

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Update May 5, 2008:   

For Immediate Release, May 5, 2008
Contact:Marvin Roberson (906) 360-0288

SIERRA CLUB CRITICIZES USFWS BACK PEDALING ON HEARING FOR THREATENED COASTER BROOK TROUT

            The Sierra Club today chastised the US Fish and Wildlife Service for changing their mind on holding hearings on the proposed listing of the Coaster brook trout as an endangered species. The Sierra Club is one of two organizations petitioning the federal agency to list the Coaster brook trout under the federal Endangered Species Act. 

            The Sierra Club and the Huron Mountain Club filed this petition with the USFWS in 2006 to declare the Coaster Brook Trout, a large, very rare trout which reproduces in only one stream on the south shore of Lake Superior, as Endangered. March 20 of this year, the USFWS published a notice in the Federal Register noting a positive preliminary finding on the petition, asking for comments by May 19, and asking for requests for a public hearing by May 5.  Dozens responded asking for a hearing. However, May 2, 2008, the USFWS released a letter “To Interested Parties” claiming that the offer of a hearing was “in error”, and stating that there would be no such hearing.

            According to Marvin Roberson, Forest Ecologist with the Sierra Club, “We call on the US Fish and Wildlife Service to make good on their offer of a hearing on this matter.  While it may have been made “in error”, whatever that means, it was in fact made, and many groups and individuals responded in the manner and time specified in the Federal Register Notice”.

            Roberson further noted that there is no prohibition which would keep the USFWS from holding the hearing they offered, and further noted that this letter claiming the offer had been made “in error” came over 40 days after the original Notice, and only after numerous written requests for a hearing.
Download the Sierra Club's response letter to the US Fish & Wildlife Service and a PDF of the above May 5, 2008 press release.

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