Mine opponents to deliver environmental justice petition in Lansing

Upper Peninsula residents and others will caravan to Lansing on Thursday to rally at the state Capitol and formally petition the governor to authorize an environmental justice review of plans to construct a nickel mine on the Yellow Dog Plains on state land leased to the Kennecott Minerals Co.

Opponents say that the state has violated the principles of environmental justice by failing to meaningfully involve local residents in decisions about the mine project. They say that the project will contaminate the surrounding water with acidic mine drainage and that they will bear the burden of future remediation costs.

The group also warns that the mine will eliminate public access to the woodland parcel leased to the company and that this will compromise the hunting, gathering and ceremonial use rights retained by members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

State mining law requires that “Residential dwellings, places of business, places of worship, schools, hospitals, government buildings, or other buildings used for human occupancy all or part of the year” be taken into account when permitting a mine.

The permits for Kennecott were finalized this January when DEQ senior advisor Frank Ruswick determined that only buildings can be considered “places of worship” under state law.

In a 2007 executive order Governor Jennifer Granholm directed the (then) Department of Environmental Quality to draft an Environmental Justice Plan to help the state fulfill its constitutional responsibilities to conserve and protect natural resources and treat people fairly. A draft environmental justice plan was issued by the Department of Environmental Quality last December and describes a process through which citizens may petition for review of state actions. The plan has not yet been formally adopted.

In April Kennecott began clearing land in preparation for mine construction, touching off a new wave of activism against the project.

For a month tribal members and others have attempted to block mine construction by occupying an area known as Eagle Rock, a traditional ceremonial site within the boundaries of the land leased to Kennecott.

Last week police raided the encampment and two members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community who refused to leave were arrested for trespassing.

Legal efforts to block permits for the mine are also moving forward. The National Wildlife Federation, Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, Huron Mountain Club, and Keweenaw Bay Indian Community are appealing the state permits granted to Kennecott.

On Wednesday the Washtenaw County Circuit Court in Ann Arbor will hold a hearing to determine whether the groups’ appeal should be heard in Lansing or in Ann Arbor where the Michigan headquarters of the National Wildlife Federation is located.

Kennecott has stated that the mine will provide hundreds of local jobs.