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 desire to be “as thorough as humanly possible” and “fully transparent” moved the director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to postpone a decision on whether to lease 120 acres of public land in northwest Marquette County to the Kennecott Minerals Company.
The move was a welcome surprise to mine opponents.
“There is no good reason for the state to allow a foreign-owned company to fence off public land for an indefinite number of years,” said Michelle Halley, an attorney for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). “The DNR is to be applauded for acting on behalf of citizens and the long-term future of Michigan.”
The NWF, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Huron Mountain Club and Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve filed suit last month against the Department of Environmental Quality alleging that the agency had failed to follow state law in issuing a permit to Kennecott.
Continued -Last week, DNR spokesperson Mary Detloff said that the agency’s staff was recommending approval of the land lease to Kennecott.
At the Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing on Thursday, DNR director Rebecca Humphries announced that the agency wanted more information from the mining company and more time to evaluate the lease proposal.
“We are dealing with highly technical information on mining and geology,” Detloff said after the Thursday meeting.
Among the issues requiring further scrutiny, Detloff said, are how the company plans to monitor the mine for cave-ins and how water will flow in and out of the mine.
“We want our permit to stand up to any scrutiny,” Detloff said, and promised that any further decision on the land lease would take place at a public meeting. No date has been set for a decision in the matter.
“Thank you for taking the time to look carefully at all of the mine plan components, and for asking Kennecott to submit the additional materials necessary for you to make a fully informed decision,” Sierra Club representative Rita Jack said in a public statement to DNR director Humphries.
Representatives from Kennecott released a statement saying that they were “optimistic” that further discussion with the DNR would result in approval for their project.
Kennecott is a foreign-owned company–purchased in 1989 by Rio Tinto, a global mining corporation based in Australia and the UK.
Mine opponents have argued that Kennecott’s proposed nickel sulfide mine will result in air pollution, acid mine drainage, and long term contamination of the environment.
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