The Redside Dace lives in a creek near the proposed Copperwood mine.
The mining company wants to discharge treated water into its habitat.
Environmentalists want block the required permit, which is up for renewal.
There is a three-inch fish that can leap twelve inches high, from a babbling brook to overhead branches, and snatch its insect prey before it drops back into the water.
It’s the Redside Dace, a protected species in Michigan. There’s a colony of them in Namebinag Creek near the proposed Copperwood mine site in the western Upper Peninsula.
Redside Dace on the hunt. Photo: Jon Clayton/Ontario Nature.
The Redside Dace requires cold, pristine waters – clear, not cloudy, because the fish relies on eyesight to spot its insect targets. It is also very sensitive to chemical pollutants.
Those attributes make it an “indicator species” – if its population declines, that’s a sign that the environment is under stress.
The health of a watercourse is at stake
A dispute about the colony's habitat has delayed regulatory action on a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater permit for the mine. The original permit was issued in 2012 and is essential for the mine's future operation, if the mine is built as planned. It is now up for renewal.
The issuing agency is the Michigan Dept. of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). It didn't see the permit renewal as a big deal at first. It planned to act on a routine basis without a public hearing.
Then Protect the Porkies got to work. The environmental advocacy group activated its network and encouraged environmental advocates to object to the permit and demand a public hearing by "setting a record for the most comments ever received on a NPDES permit."
The effort paid off. Public input forced EGLE to extend the comment period for 60 days and schedule a hearing for July, according to Protect the Porkies.
“We are calling for them to: 1) conduct and present research showing that their exact quality of wastewater will not negatively harm the Dace or its environment across a 10-year time frame, and 2) a new survey to be conducted to show exactly where Redside Dace populations are located, and 3) deny the damn permit and send them back to Toronto,” said Tom Grotewohl of Protect the Porkies in an email.
Wastewater characteristics are hotly debated
The Copperwood mine would generate as much as 500,000 gallons of wastewater a day, and Highland Copper Co., Inc., the mine owner, plans to discharge that water into Namebinag Creek.
It would include water pumped from the underground mine, mill process water, seepage from the tailings storage facility, treated sewage, and surface runoff from the mine site, according to a regulatory filing by Highland Copper (Filename: Application_HPZ-VXSN-P3YYS v2.pdf).
The mining company promises to build an elaborate water treatment facility to clean the discharge water up to state environmental standards before it goes into Namebinag Creek.
Environmental advocates reject those assurances. They have several arguments:
EGLE has ignored its own biologist, who has recommended stricter limits on the release of pollutants into Namebinag Creek.
The permitted level of dissolved solids is too high; it should be lowered to match the natural stream water.
The proposed water treatment chemicals are themselves toxic; it’s not clear how they’ll be neutralized because the design of the plant is not yet complete.
The wastewater will be demineralized by reverse osmosis; that can leave it corrosive and hazardous to the environment.
Highland Copper Co., Inc., the mine developer, has released a statement that addresses those concerns. The company says:
The water release point will be about a mile upstream from Namebinag Creek, where the Redside Dace has been observed.
Discharged wastewater will be treated to remove contaminants and conditioned to restore appropriate hardness, alkalinity, pH stability, and overall ionic balance comparable to the natural receiving water chemistry. It will absorb “natural water inputs” and further assimilate into the environment as it flows downstream.
Water quality and aquatic life will be monitored and publicly reported on the EGLE MiEnviro website.
Redside Dace (Clinostomus Elongatus) sampled from Namebinag Creek during a site survey completed in 2010. Photo: Orvana Resources US Corp.
“As with other endangered species, we look for ways that the Copperwood project can coexist and have minimal impact,” Highland Copper CEO Barry O’Shea said in an email. “In keeping with Michigan state legislation, Copperwood will ensure that discharged water will be both clean and conditioned for aquatic life.”
Small fish, big impact, for now
Public opposition has put Highland Copper and Michigan regulators on the back foot, for now, whatever eventually happens with the permit. This, in itself, is considered a "win" by environmental advocates.
“In seemingly endless battles such as ours, it’s important to take these opportunities to relish small but important victories,” a Protect the Porkies email said. “Even if the permit is eventually approved, it will likely include increased protections for the Redside Dace and its habitat. And delay is a victory in itself, by drying up funding for the project and undermining investor confidence.”
Research for this post was supported by Google Gemini Pro.
