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.
A coalition of groups has filed legal appeals against the state agency that granted a permit for a controversial nickel and copper mine in the Upper Peninsula.
The National Wildlife Federation, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Huron Mountain Club and Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve filed an administrative appeal with the state and a civil suit in Ingham Circuit Court against the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The coalition claims that the agency did not follow the state’s new mining law when it approved the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co. permit on Dec. 14.
Kennecott is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, a global mining company that wants to enter the nickel market and supply the Chinese steel industry.
“The amount of air pollution that will result from mining operation exceeds the standards set by the Clean Air Act,” said attorney Bruce Wallace, “Kennecott and the MDEQ did not properly measure the amount of air pollution that the mine will create.”
Continued -Mine opponents also charge that the MDEQ failed to take into account the mine’s potential impact on drinking water wells in the area and that the agency failed to adequately examine the mine’s proposed waste water treatment system, monitoring system and plan to back-fill the mine.
The group also claims that the MDEQ failed to fully evaluate the potential for the mine to injure the environment.
The 3,300-member Keweenaw Bay Indian Community claims the proposed mine could adversely affect treaty rights by degrading natural resources in and around the Escanaba River State Forest, the Salmon Trout River, the Yellow Dog Plain and Lake Superior.
No dates have been set for hearings in the matter.
“The lawsuit was not unexpected,” MDEQ spokesman Robert McCann said.
“We are confident in the decision that we made,” McCann said. “It was the only decision that we could make. We are a regulatory agency. Based on law we were required to issue permits.”
The MDEQ permit went into effect on Jan. 1, but McCann said that mine development cannot begin until Kennecott receives approvals from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
On Thursday the MDNR is expected to decide whether to approve Kennecott’s request for an exclusive, 40-year lease on 120 acres of state land to be developed as part of the mine.
A representative for the EPA’s Water Division said the agency plans to hold public hearings on a water permit required for mine operations sometime this spring.
Mine opponents say concerns about the impact of the mine have multiplied in recent weeks; immediately following MDEQ approval of Kennecott’s permit, the company announced plans to explore six additional mine sites in the area.
Kennecott representatives were not available for comment.
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