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MARQUETTE — Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have asked the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company for a 30-day extension before making a final decision on whether to grant several permits for the company’s proposed nickel and copper mine on the Yellow Dog Plains.


Kennecott filed its more than 8,000-page permit application for the mine with the state in February 2006. State officials issued a preliminary approval for the mine earlier this year. Public comment was solicited with a final decision originally scheduled to be made by Wednesday.


But DEQ spokesman Robert McCann in Lansing said Monday his agency and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources are still working to get all the necessary information coordinated before making final decisions.


“There won’t be a decision this week,” McCann said. “Nobody is ready to make a go of it at this point.”


DEQ Director Steven Chester said the delay is due to the DNR receiving some new information on the mining reclamation plan.


“They need some more time to take a look at it,” Chester said. “We’re going to take another 30 days, up to Dec. 14.”


Chester said it is very important for the DEQ and DNR to make sure they have their information coordinated and are “on the same page” about the reclamation plan before a decision is issued.


Kennecott Project Manager Jon Cherry said mining company officials are discussing the issue with the state, but are not opposed to an extension.


“We’re not opposed to this delay,” Cherry said today. “Because in an effort to ensure the public process is followed, that is a very important part of this process.”


At the same time, Kennecott wants the decision on the application made soon so the benefits of the project will not have to wait to be realized, he said.


“There are a lot of people in the community that are counting on these jobs and are ready to go to work,” Cherry said.


There are five actions under consideration by the DEQ and DNR involving the mine. Approval of all five of the actions is required for the mine to begin operating.


Michelle Halley, an attorney with the National Wildlife Federation, said she thinks it is “interesting” the DEQ is seeking an extension. In her conversations with agency officials, she said it was unclear to her exactly what the DEQ would do during the extension period.


Halley said she believes the state should take more time because it has not realistically been able to seriously consider the roughly 4,000 comments from the public the agency received on the proposed decision.


“It’s impossible,” Halley said.


The comments from the National Wildlife Federation, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and Huron Mountain Club alone totaled about 1,000 pages of highly technical information, Halley said.


The items being considered for final approval by the state include a DEQ air use permit, DEQ groundwater discharge permit, DEQ nonferrous metallic mineral mining permit, a DNR surface use lease for metallic mineral mining facility and a DNR metallic mineral lease.

 

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