I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Kennecott Eagle Minerals, the Rio Tinto subsidiary that is working to develop a nickel and copper mine on the Yellow Dog Plains west of Marquette, has withdrawn its request for a permit to build a 22 mile long road to transport ore to a processing facility.
The planned Woodland Road drew objections from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which noted that it would impact numerous wetland areas. The company chose to withdraw their permit request on the very day that the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources and Environment was due to issue a decision on it.
The Marquette Mining Journal reports:
Because Woodland Road officials were still working to resolve concerns expressed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding wetlands mitigation and route alternatives analysis, Woodland Road officials decided to pull their application to allow work on those issues to continue, according to Kennecott spokeswoman Deb Muchmore.
Woodland Road plans to re-submit its application for the road at some unspecified point in the future after the EPA concerns have been addressed.
Earlier this year, the EPA, along with other federal agencies, issued a federal objection to the DNRE issuing a permit for the project. Woodland Road had 90 days to address concerns before the DNRE was set to rule on the permit.
This is the second time in recent months that the company has withdrawn a permit request shortly before a regulating agency was due to issue a decision.
In March, just as the EPA was preparing to announce a decision on the company’s application for waste water permit for the mine, Kennecott withdrew its application stating that a design modification had eliminated the need for a federal permit. EPA has not yet determined whether it will accept Kennecott’s argument on this issue.
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