Mining Confusion, Sowing Distrust

Steven Huyser: Honig Dune Grass and Lake Michigan ~Enlarge

An article in today's Detroit News summarizes the fiasco that Michigan government's review of an Upper Peninsula mining project has become.

From the start, what is now the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment has bent every procedure and twisted every rule to overlook the mine's harmful impact.  The latest offense to open government was its approval last month, on the final day of the life of the former Department of Environmental Quality, by a staffer below the level of director.

Granted that Michigan is in desperate need for jobs, sustainable employment is more valuable than hit-and-run mining. More important, the environmental impact of the mine on wild lands, a sacred Native American site, and Lake Superior raises troubling questions. The opposition to this mine is not a matter of downstaters trying to preserve their U.P. pleasure grounds at expense to people who need jobs in the area.  There is abundant local opposition.

At the very best, this review process has damaged the reputation of Michigan's official resource protectors. At the worst, it has left a legacy that will take centuries to undo.