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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 21, 2006
CONTACT: Cynthia Pryor, (906) 360-2414
Michelle Halley (906) 361-0520
Mine opponents considering legal options
MARQUETTE – Despite last week’s decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals, the mining permit application submitted to the state by Kennecott Minerals is still on hold, according to those involved with the case.
Cynthia Pryor, Executive Director of the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve (YDWP), said attorneys in the case have indicated that application review and action will remain on hold for at least 42 days after the Court of Appeals decision.
YDWP is one of the three plaintiffs in the case challenging the permit application for a proposed mine in northwest Marquette County. Joined by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Huron Mountain Club, the groups asked the courts to intervene after the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality deemed Kennecott’s application administratively complete. While a judge in Ingham County Circuit Court stopped further review of the application until a hearing could be held, the Court of Appeals overturned that decision, leaving opponents of the mine to consider their next steps.
“The 42-day window gives us time to evaluate our options,” Pryor said, including appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court in that list of options. “Kennecott and others are premature in their declarations that this project is again moving forward.”
Michelle Halley, National Wildlife Federation attorney, offered the legal explanation for the continued stay.
"Michigan Court Rule 7.215(F)(1)(a) states that a Court of Appeals decision does not become effective until the time to file a leave for appeal at the Michigan Supreme Court runs out or until the Michigan Supreme Court disposes of the case. That means that the Court of Appeals decision is not yet effective and the Circuit Court's stay is still in effect,” Halley explained.
Since the Court of Appeals did not stipulate an effective date, YDWP and others have a window of time in which they are allowed to consider their options or perhaps appeal to the higher court.
“This continues to be an issue of an incomplete and deficient application,” Pryor said. “As citizens, we have a right and a responsibility to review and comment on a complete application. With 91 areas of deficiency identified by the DEQ, this is clearly not a complete application and therefore, our right to comment on it has been compromised.”
Halley voiced her agreement, suggesting that it was illogical to ask members of the public to spend time and money commenting on an application that could change significantly at any time. “The logical and correct reading of the statute is that the public has a right to comment on an administratively complete application. That means the company should provide all of the information required by the laws up front so that everyone is working from the same information,” she noted.
Meanwhile, YDWP and other organizations opposing the mine are urging continued and close scrutiny of the mining application and the other documents required by law before the proposed project could move forward.
“Given the tremendous impact this project could have on the U.P. and Michigan as a whole, we will continue to challenge both Kennecott and the state, demanding that all questions are answered, all possibilities addressed, and every risk met with a satisfactory contingency plan. Our community deserves nothing less,” Pryor noted.
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