Michigan imposes new restrictions, testing requirements on UP copper mine

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between IPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

The proposed Copperwood Mine in the Upper Peninsula has received a new air quality permit from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, allowing the project to continue moving forward.

Public comment on the controversial project pushed the state’s Air Quality Division to place additional limits on the mine in the final permit, issued Feb. 27.

It requires additional testing for mine vents and emissions. The permit also covers emergency generators that run on natural gas and emit formaldehyde, which will now be limited and tested as well. And the changes allow the state to conduct testing at any time, instead of just once.

“We now need to sample that and make sure that that goes in for analysis, just like we would do our water permits,” said Wynand Van Dyk, a project director with owner and operator Highland Copper.

Copperwood would be built underground in Gogebic County, brushing up against the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and Lake Superior.

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The air quality permit is meant to ensure projects like the mine meet rules and regulations to protect public health and the environment.

Tom Grotewohl, the founder of the group Protect the Porkies, said he was disappointed the permit was issued but that additional testing is a win.

“Ideally, we would like to see no vent installed there,” he said, referring to one of the mine vents that would butt up against the border of the state park. “But we are seeing real consequences as the result of our pushback.”

The mine would emit 1,500 pounds of copper particles and less than 4 pounds of cobalt particles a year, according to Andy Drury, a senior engineer specialist with the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

While Drury wasn’t able to immediately provide context for that amount of copper, he said the cobalt emissions would be relatively low; for the project to be considered a major emissions source, it would have to emit 10 tons of cobalt a year.

“The emissions from the facility really are not very high relative to what we often see in air permitting, you know things like steel mills or power plants, things like that,” he said. “This is much smaller.”

Copper from the mine could be used in making technologies like phones and wind turbines. The project has all the permits it needs, but there are still questions about funding, including a $50 million state grant that has been in limbo after the Senate Appropriations Committee failed to pass it last year.