What does Kennecott’s UP mine have in common with BP’s Deepwater Horizon?

According to Andy Buchsbaum of the National Wildlife Federation Kennecott’s planned Upper Peninsula nickel sulfide mine, like BP’s Gulf oil wells, is a high risk underground extraction operation characterized by inappropriately cozy relations with regulators.

In a blog post titled Coming soon: Michigan’s version of the BP disaster Buchsbaum writes that acid mine drainage is the inevitable result of the mining planned by Kennecott near Lake Superior and that the state’s own experts have warned that the operation poses a significant risk of mine collapse.

What’s Kennecott’s plan if any of these disasters come to pass? It doesn’t have one. This mine was vetted and recommended for approval by the Michigan Office of Geological Survey, part of the DNRE and the state equivalent of the now-infamous U.S. Minerals Management Service.

Buchsbaum recounts some of the scandalous regulatory moves that led to approvals for the project:

Well, the head of the Survey’s mining team called the mining project “my baby” and identified Kennecott as his “customer.”

During the application process, he admitted that he concealed an expert memorandum that reported on the risk of mine collapse, after which he was suspended …. and then reinstated as head of the mining team after an internal state investigation said he was motivated by ignorance, not malfeasance. (Well, that’s a relief, right?) Another member of the state’s mining team formed a business partnership with Kennecott employees to offer mining services to the private sector (the partnership was dissolved after it became public). Finally, the Governor’s UP representative who helped her formulate her position on the mine has also left government service to work for….. you guessed it: Kennecott. The mining team recommended approval to the Michigan DEQ before it merged with the DNR to form the DNRE. And just days before that merger – perhaps to avoid tarring the new DNRE with this terrible decision – a mid-level DEQ staff member gave final approval to the operation of the mine.

The National Wildlife Federation along with the Yellow Dog Preserve, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, and Huron Mountain Club are suing the state over permits issued to the mine.