The Presque Isle River flows into Lake Superior near the Copperwood deposit. The current mine access road is a short drive from the Presque Isle Campground in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Advance)

As a controversial mining project in the western Upper Peninsula works to renew a critical wastewater permit, environmental advocates are calling on regulators to take a deeper look at how the permit may affect nearby wildlife.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy opened public comment on April 15 for an application renewing the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for the Copperwood Mine under development in Gogebic County.

Protect The Porkies, an organization opposing the mine due to its proximity to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and Lake Superior, is calling on residents to “shatter the record” for public comments, arguing that state environmental officials and the mine’s operator failed to consider a population of endangered fish downstream from where wastewater would be discharged.

While public comment was initially slated to close today, Scott Dean, EGLE’s strategic communications advisor, said the department would be extending the public notice period for at least another 30 days due to substantial interest in the permit. EGLE is also in the process of scheduling a virtual hearing on the matter, Dean said.

If the permit is renewed, Protect the Porkies says the mine would be allowed to discharge up to 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day into Namebinag Creek, just over half a mile upstream from a population of redside dace.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources lists the redside dace as an endangered species. According to Michigan State University Extension’s natural features inventory, populations of the fish have been identified in six counties across the state: Gogebic, Hillsdale, Lenawee, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne.

“Neither Michigan’s environmental regulatory agency EGLE nor the mining company have made it sufficiently clear to the public what steps, if any, are being taken to protect the redside dace and its habitat,” Protect the Porkies founder Tom Grotewohl said in a statement.

In a statement, Jay Roberts, an environmental scientist for the mine’s operator Highland Copper, said an endangered fish study was undertaken as part of the permitting process.

“We intend to follow the recommendations of that study and are confident that there will be no impacts from our project,” Roberts said. “Public reports will be made available annually to confirm this.”

When asked for a copy of the study, a spokesperson for Highland Copper told Michigan Advance the documents were publicly available online, but declined to specify where it could be found. In a follow up email, the company directed Michigan Advance to EGLE, which was unable to provide the study.

As a condition of its mining permit, Highland Copper is required to monitor flora, fauna, fish and wildlife habitats, and biodiversity during mine operations, including threatened and endangered species.

While the wastewater discharged into the creek would be subject to several filtering processes, including reverse osmosis treatment, ion exchange and chemical treatments, Protect the Porkies argues that the treated water would be of a different quality from the water in the stream, potentially bringing harm to the fish.

The group points to the draft permit where EGLE notes that water treated through reverse osmosis can have corrosive properties.

If demineralized water can strip necessary minerals from humans who consume it, Grotewohl questioned how this water would impact fish who swim and breathe in it.

A 2018 feasibility study for the Copperwood Mine suggested the treated water would obtain “natural” characteristics – sediment, dissolved minerals and dissolved oxygen – by the time it reaches the main branch of the creek where the fish have been found. Grotewohl argued this would dilute the water within the habitat, carrying concerns for microbes and organisms further up the food chain like the dace.

In concert with Clean Water Action, an advocacy group focused on protecting clean water, Protect the Porkies is calling on EGLE and Highland Copper to either cite a study showing the wastewater will have no negative impacts, or to conduct their own.

Dean told Michigan Advance that the proposed discharge is located in West Branch Namebinag Creek and is not expected to impact the redside dace, as the fishes’ observed range is located upstream from where the west branch and Namebinag Creek meet.

The permit was developed to protect water quality standards and designated uses of the West Branch Namebinag Creek, Dean said, noting that this includes protections for all coldwater fish and other indigenous aquatic life.

A review of the receiving water near the discharge was completed as part of the initial permitting process, and is re-evaluated each time a permit is reissued.

“As part of the review, a search is conducted for information to determine if the receiving water near the discharge location is a habitat or breeding ground for an endangered, threatened, or sensitive species,” Dean said, noting that EGLE determined the proposed permit was protective of the existing uses.