Should the Back 40 Mine Be Allowed to Open?
Background
In late 2015 Aquila Resources, a Canadian Company, submitted mining permit applications to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality seeking approval for The Back Forty Mine, an Open Pit Sulfide mine on the bank of The Menominee River. The mine would be located 50 yards from the river and has numerous Menominee cultural sites and burial mounds in the area. Aquila Resources estimates that the mine would produce approximately 692,000 oz of gold, 801,000,000 lbs of zinc, 86,000,000 lbs of copper, 6,260,000 oz of silver and 26,000,000 lbs of lead. The mine claims on its website that they aim to protect and conserve the environment and maintain the lowest possible emissions, as well as claiming to neutralize all tailings created to prevent acidic rock damage. Additionally, they say that any water that comes in contact with mining activities will be treated at a state of the art water treatment facility and is supposed to be able to treat 63,000 gallons of water per hour. Aquila Resources says that after the closure of the mine, the open pit will be backfilled using rock from the mining process and that the area surrounding the mine would be rehabilitated. The project was given a permit that was also reviewed by the EPA and State of Wisconsin and states that the mine would meet all water quality standards for the river. At one point Aquila tried getting around needing a wetlands permit by creating protocols and precautions that would let them bypass the need for it.
There have been many critics of the mine including environmental, religious and native american groups oppose the project saying that the mine endangers the drinking water supply of everyone using the river as well as any industry utilizing the river and would harm the local wildlife in the river. The Menominee Tribe, whose origin is the Menominee River, say the mine will damage sacred cultural sites and the river itself. “If they were serious about protecting the cultural resources of the Menominee Tribe, they should have entered into an agreement with the Menominee Tribe to have The Menominee Tribe participate objectifying what those areas are to be protected, they never did that” Al Gedicks, Back Forty Mine Interview, 30 March 2022. Additionally, any profits made by the mine would be primarily moved out of state and not benefit the local population. Estimates say that the mine would produce 70 million tons of acidic waste rock and mine tailings that would need to be prevented from contaminating the local environment. One of these services to prevent contamination is a slurry wall between the mine and river, if this fails mine tailings can spill into the river creating and environmental catastrophe. “The geologist employed by The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which is just north of the proposed mine, has stated that there are already cracks and fissures in the rock that they are going to use as part of the slurry wall. And of course over time those cracks and fissures will be put under enormous pressure” -Al Gedicks, Back Forty Mine Interview, 30 March 2022. The mine had been given all 4 required permits by the State of Michigan but notably lacked the Social License to operate as the local population was not on board with the project. As the mine was on the banks of The Menominee River, The State of Wisconsin had given up the states right to object to the project during the period of Governor Scott Walker's term. In January of 2021 a Michigan Judge revoked one of the mines permit saying that Aquila’s groundwater model was not reliable enough to foresee damage created by the mine.
Current State of Controversy and Stakeholders
Currently Aquila Resources has withdrawn their permits for the Back Forty Mine. A Michigan court revoked their wetlands permit after investigation of the permit showed that the permit was not based around actual empirical evidence, but rather a computer simulation and falsified data which underplayed the negative impacts of the mine. After this Aquila withdrew their other permits, for they were useless without the wetlands permit and probably would have also been revoked due to the falsified evidence they were built upon. While this be a victory for the environmental community it is unlikely that Aquila will give up on the Back Forty, primarily due to the sales of two of their other prospective mines, the Reef and Bend properties. The sale of these two properties suggests that Aquila will continue to push for the opening of the Back Forty Mine, regardless of its environmental impacts.
However, resistance remains strong against the Back Forty Mine, especially after these recent legal victories. The Back Forty amassed massive resistance due to its location along prominent Menominee cultural sites (as the Menominee River is part of the origin story of the Menominee people) as well as to the immense danger it posed to not only local ecosystems but also to Wisconsin as a whole. Reports created by Aquila that claimed the mine would not impact any areas of significance to the Menominee were falsified, with the Menominee people pointing out that the areas that Aquila said were of cultural significance to them did not match their actual cultural sites. If the mine is created then some of the areas most at risk are those which are of vast importance to the Menominee people, making them massive stakeholders in this issue. The local population shares the views of the Menominee as well- the vast majority of the community around Stevenson disapproves of the mine, so the mine does not only not have mining licenses but it also lacks a social license as well.
Also, as an open pit sulfide mine, the Back Forty has the potential to release harmful byproducts of the gold mining process like cyanide and sulfuric acid. This potential is almost certain to be a reality, due to cracks in the bedrock and slurry wall and how these mining byproducts can seep through the ground and these cracks into the Menominee River. Furthermore, if the Menominee River is contaminated then Green Bay and Lake Michigan will be contaminated as well, and the various heavy metals and toxic byproducts of the mine will be released throughout Wisconsin. While local communities are those who will experience the catastrophic effects of the Back Forty Mine the worst, it will impact all of Wisconsin.
Finally, the only stakeholders who stand to gain anything from the Back Forty Mine are investors who are so far removed from the issues resulting from the Back Forty they are not going to feel its effects. The Back Forty is projected to produce only one ounce of gold for every 79 tons of mining waste, but the only people who will feel these slim benefits are the mining company Aquila Resources and its investors. Furthermore, there is an unemployment rate of only 1.6% in Stephenson, so it is unlikely that there will be many new jobs created by this mine, so there will be very few benefits of the mine felt by the local community. The profits of the mine will be going to Aquila Resources and its investors, and it is very unlikely that much of that money will go to the local community. The people who are benefiting from the Back Forty are those who are so far removed from its effects that they will not have to deal with the consequences. The local community will suffer the consequences of the mine while the company and its investors profit.
Solutions
The solution to stopping the creation of the Back Forty Mine of the Menominee river is to educate the public and bring together multiple groups of opposition. The public needs to amass opposition and avoid “psychology of inevitability.” Even though the corporation controlling the mine has power and money, the public should avoid the feeling that there is nothing they can do. But in the past, communities have been able to oppose the creation of mines. Native American tribe groups hold more power than the average groups because of their sovereign status. In the past, groups of Native American tribes in the state of Wisconsin have created an opposition against mining projects. Dr. Al Gedicks was able to work with the Mole Lake tribe to stop the creation of an Exxon mine. They created an impact study by evaluating material management and the long-term effect of the mine. Using the support of the public allied with the Mole Lake tribe and other tribes in Wisconsin the mine eventually pulled out of the project. Exxon returned land and resource rights to the Native American Tribe. Many of the groups opposing the Back Forty mine, such as the Menominee tribe, are worried about the lasting effects of the toxic waste from the mining process. Dr. Gedicks explains that when the public is involved in protecting the land that will be affected, “that becomes the basis expanding the circle of opposition and that is the whole strategy of successful opposition projects.” He also explains that the other groups need to be involved outside of the local community. In order to end the controversy, the Menominee tribe could use more support from groups in Wisconsin. The possible toxic waste from the mine can flow through the Menominee river into Wisconsin, eventually into Lake Michigan, a large source of drinking water in Wisconsin. If groups in Wisconsin joined the opposition against the mine, they would be able to make a bigger opposition against it.
The people surrounding the mine are the people who will be greatly affected by its lasting effects. The people, most importantly the people of the Menominee Tribe, should have input into the mine approval. The social license of the people in the area allow them to have some legal opposition against the mine’s approval. We believe that the public’s opinion involving mines is the most important when the mine is gaining approval. They are the people that will feel the effects and environmental changes. If the slurry wall were to break, if the seepage pool full of toxic tailing was to overfill from rain or snow, and if the tailing were left behind it would impact the surrounding communities, not the people running the mine. The public is the most impacted by the mine’s creation; therefore, they should get the more say when the mine is getting approved. The Back Forty Mine on the surface may seem to have lucartice benefits, but the impact on the environment and on the Menonminee tribe should not be ignored.
Sources
“Back Forty Mine.” River Alliance of WI, https://wisconsinrivers.org/back-forty-sulfide-mine/. Accessed 1 Apr. 2022.
“Back Forty Mine Homepage | Aquila Resources Inc. | Menominee Michigan.” Aquila Resources, http://backfortymine.com/. Accessed 1 Apr. 2022. http://www.noback40.org/. Accessed 1 Apr. 2022.
Kaeding, Danielle. “Michigan Judge Denies Permit For Back Forty Mine On The Banks Of The Menominee River.” Wisconsin Public Radio, 5 Jan. 2021, https://www.wpr.org/michigan-judge-denies-permit-back-forty-mine-banks-menominee-river.
“Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Prevails in Another Legal Victory Against Back Forty Mine.” Earthjustice, 29 Apr. 2021, https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2021/menominee-indian-tribe-of-wisconsin-prevails-in-another-legal-victory-against-back-forty-mine.
“The Back Forty Mine.” Sierra Club, 1 July 2019, https://www.sierraclub.org/wisconsin/back-forty-mine.
And thank you to Al Gedicks for allowing us to interview him