No Surprises: Michigan Court OKs Kennecott Public Land Lease
Below article from a Yellow Dog Summer press release
The Ingham County Circuit Court has given the Michigan Department of Natural Resources the go-ahead to issue a surface use lease to Rio Tinto/Kennecott for its proposed Eagle Project mine. While not surprised with the go-ahead, Yellow Dog Summer opposes this political decision. The proposed lease allows the private, foreign-owned company to fence off 120-acres of public land for over 40 years. The proposed lease area contains the entirety of Eagle Rock, considered a culturally-significant and sacred location to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
Yellow Dog Summer has been tracking funding and enforcement problems at the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). In January, the Governor announced that the DEQ would have to relinquish wetland authority to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), due to a lack of adequate enforcement. Area citizens concerned with a lack of wetland oversight at the proposed Eagle Project mine had previously expressed concerns to the EPA regarding the DEQ’s unwillingness to comply with wetland and Clean Water Act laws.
Recently, the DEQ’s spokesman, Robert McCann said that the agency is ill-equipped to enforce laws protecting water quality in the state: “You can put all the laws on the books you want to, but if you don’t have the resources to properly enforce them, you cannot meet your obligations.”
In September 2008, DEQ Director Steven Chester said "We simply don't have the kin d of funding we need to adequately implement the laws we're required to implement."
- - - For more information, or to conduct an interview, please contact Gabriel Caplett at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (906) 226-6649 - - -