Menominee Indian Tribe News



Menominee Indian Reservation, Wis. – The Menominee Indian Tribe is disappointed by the decision by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to issue a wetlands permit for Aquila Resources’ open pit sulfide mine project that will endanger a crucial interstate waterway of the Menominee River and will jeopardize the Tribe’s ancestral homelands and sacred sites.

“Our Tribe maintains our stance against this open pit mine project, and we made our objection throughout the permitting process,” said Menominee Indian Tribal Chairman Cox. “We are not surprised by the issuance of the wetlands permit by Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, but we are surprised that many of the concerns raised by the public, tribes, and EPA were not addressed. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has made minimal efforts to communicate with the Tribe on our concerns of tremendous impact to our cultural resources.”

This permit will allow mine developer Aquila Resources, Inc., to fill and excavate Menominee River wetlands for a large, open-pit mine and industrial minerals-processing facility on the banks of the Menominee River, which borders Wisconsin and flows into Lake Michigan.

The site is located within an expansive Menominee cultural landscape that includes Tribal burial grounds, ancient agricultural sites and ceremonial sites of significance to the Menominee Tribe, some of which have already been deemed eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Tribe has filed a lawsuit against the United States Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to allow the State of Michigan to oversee the Clean Water Act federal permitting process, asserting permitting fill and excavation on the Menominee River and its wetlands cannot be delegated to a state under the Act.

The Menominee Tribe remains adamant, committed, and responsible to protecting our sacred sites and the people, the wildlife, and the water on the Menominee River.




2018mideqwetlandspermit642018 final.pdf





Print Friendly and PDF