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08/24/2006
A serene scene in jeopardy?Mining plan at U.P. wetlands area stirs opposition
This is the headwaters of the Salmon Trout River, near where Kennecott Minerals Co. wants to mine for nickel and copper in the Upper Peninsula’s Marquette County. BIG BAY — The sun beat down on a quiet place called the Yellow Dog Plains, a melange of forest, tall grasses and marsh tucked between Marquette and Houghton near the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula. A faint breeze blew and insects hummed, but stillness dominated the secluded Upper Peninsula spot. That serenity could change if state officials approve a plan for a 90-acre sulfide mining operation proposed this year by Kennecott Minerals Co., which owns about 1,600 acres in the region. The company discovered an estimated $4.2 billion underground deposit of nickel, iron and copper directly beneath a wetland area here, including the main branch of the Salmon Trout River — the only known stream in Michigan where the sensitive coaster brook trout returns from Lake Superior to spawn. "Water is a key issue at this site and has been fundamental in the design of this mine," said Stephen Donohue, a consultant hired by the mining company. He and project manager Andrew Ware stood near the proposed mining site, called Eagle Rock, and described advanced technology used to locate and define the ore body. They also discussed plans for enclosed buildings for crushing high-grade rock, mine collapse prevention engineering, pollution controls and wastewater treatment for the proposed mine. The risk, beyond a contaminating mine collapse, is that metal and sulfide particles in the air and on the ground would be washed into nearby wetlands by rainfall, a pollution process that eventually can lead to acid rain. Also, any disturbance to the Salmon Trout River could decimate the small remaining local population of coaster brook trout, estimated at less than 300 fish. "Lake Superior has a long-running reputation for hosting brook trout with a diverse history, in that they don't just live in the stream. They spend part of their lives out in the lake," said Casey Huckins, an associate professor at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. The fish suffered a population decline in the late 1800s and early 1900s, presumably from over-fishing, Huckins said. He studied the local population since 2000 and said the research team never counted more than 160 spawning coaster brook trout in any given season. There is a great interest in rehabilitating the fish in the region, Huckins said. His research began before the mining operation was proposed and is funded by the Huron Mountain Club, a private organization founded more than a century ago as a hunting and fishing club by the elite society of Detroit and Chicago. It evolved into an exclusive wildlife and primary forest refuge, where membership typically remains in the same family for generations. Club member Philip Power gave a group of a dozen journalists a tour of the otherwise restricted club property to talk about the club's concerns with and opposition to the nearby proposed sulfide mining operation, an opposition joined by the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve nonprofit group and many residents of the community. The Salmon Trout River flows through the club's private land holding and is where Huckins does his stream side research. Summer Cohen works as a tribal historic preservation officer for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and is a member of a Wisconsin tribe. She said her research shows the exact spot where Kennecott wants to mine is a historic and sacred place for local tribal members. "From what we know, people have long gone there to make offerings and have ceremony," Cohen said. She said there is a specific oral history about a trickster spirit linked to a place on top of Eagle Rock, as well as unmarked ancestral burial sites throughout the area. "Tribal members are not happy with this. That is the consensus," Cohen said. Joe Maki is a geologist with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and assigned to review the proposed project. A contested case hearing and other litigation on the proposal is pending, so state officials cannot finish an evaluation with recommendations. "We are not taking any action on the permit right now," he said. Before the review process was halted in court, Maki said officials needed clarifications from company officials on 91 points. "So now we're just waiting," he said, for the legal entanglements to sort out and the mine proposal review to resume. Coming Friday: Strategic forest fires
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