Revolving Door
Marquette, MI – Matt Johnson, director of the Governor’s Office for the Upper Peninsula, has resigned from his post and now works for Rio Tinto, the parent company of Kennecott Minerals. The company has an office in Ishpeming, MI, and is seeking to develop a nickel-copper mine on the Yellow Dog Plains, in addition to other mineral projects in the area.
Johnson was the Governor’s contact on metallic sulfide mining in the UP, since 2003. According to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) documents, Johnson assisted in coordinating the Governor’s involvement in the formation of Michigan’s new nonferrous metallic mining laws and kept her informed on updates from the DEQ, the company and citizens.
Speaking for the Governor in a 2005 visit to the Keweenaw Peninsula, Johnson said, "We believe that the mining laws, because they're some of the strongest in the nation, will balance economic development and environmental protection.”
According to the Governor’s press secretary, Liz Boyd, Johnson’s “role was to facilitate communication . . . We’re disappointed to lose Matt. He was a great asset to the governor and to this office… we wish him the very best in his new role."
Boyd reiterated the Governor’s stance on the DEQ’s approval of Kennecott’s mining plan, maintaining that “the Department of Environmental Quality handled this permit application appropriately and followed the letter of the law.”
In a recent contested case on the DEQ’s approval, Joe Maki, a geologist with the DEQ’s Office of Geological Survey and Mine Review Team leader for the review and recommended approval of Kennecott’s application, acknowledged that the DEQ did not apply a central tenet of Michigan’s metallic mining law in considering Kennecott’s application. Maki affirmed that neither he, nor his mining team, required Kennecott to provide a mine plan that “reasonably minimizes actual or potential adverse impacts on air, water and other natural resources,” a legal requirement.