By the end of June, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is scheduled to issue a "proposed decision" on a permit application from Kennecott Minerals Company to open a sulfide-based nickel mine north of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula. The sulfide-based project is controversial because of risks of acid leachate from sulfide reactions and because the proposal is located on the Yellow Dog Plains, a resource-rich area that hosts rare species of trout in the Salmon Trout River.

Procedural timelines established in the state's new sulfide mining law and rules require the DEQ to make a preliminary decision on whether to grant or deny the permit by late June. After issuing this proposed, or draft, decision, the DEQ will host a second round of public meetings and take additional comments before issuing a final decision.

The preliminary decision was originally anticipated by June 13, but several new issues have arisen that may further delay the process.

First, a legal appeal by the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and tribal members and the nearby Huron Mountain Club challenged the DEQ's original decision regarding the completeness of Kennecott's permit application. The groups contend the DEQ should not have processed the permit application because it did not contain all the required information. The appeal resulted in a decision by the Ingham County Circuit Court Judge that the DEQ should delay the preliminary decision on a Kennecott Minerals permit application until the court conducts a hearing on June 22.

Additionally, the discovery in early June of an unknown number of federally-endangered Kirtland's warblers on the Yellow Dog Plains near the mine site could mean additional habitat studies might be required. Kennecott's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) must fully address habitat and species impacts, particularly risks to endangered species.

The EIA contained in the permit application, which relied on just one year of flora and fauna surveys, indicated that no warblers were located in the mine's potentially impacted area.

MEC, the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation and other groups have consistently said that Kennecott's permit application should be denied because of serious deficiencies such as this. The group's concerns include the completeness and validity of the EIA, definition of the impacted area of the mine, adequacy of the financial assurance to remediate accidents, and proof that the proposed technologies can prevent leaching of pollutants into ground and surface waters.

The DEQ took public comment on the application at a series of meetings in April and took written comment on the draft decision up to May 16. After the preliminary decision is announced in June, the DEQ will schedule another round of public comment.

Complicating matters further, the U.P. was recently named one of the Top 10 summer travel destinations in the world by Sherman's Travel and was listed on MSN.com's travel web site. The announcement highlights the disconnection between leaders who want to promote the region's strong eco-tourism potential and those who continue looking to short-term, extractive industries to support the U.P. economy.