Preventing BP North

July 2, 2010

Nobody knows better than Phil Power that Michigan needs money, jobs and economic growth.

The former newspaper publisher devotes much of his life these days to trying to make those things happen. But he thinks what’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico proves the danger of risking the environment to make a few bucks — and fears that a proposed sulfide mine in the Upper Peninsula could convert Michigan into BP north.

Power is both an environmentalist and a businessman. He’s been vice-chair of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for years. As a member of the University of Michigan’s governing board of regents in the 1990s, he spurred the school to make it easier to transfer new technology into the real world.

A pro-growth Democrat, he built a successful newspaper chain from scratch and then sold it five years ago to start a “think and do tank,” the non-profit, non-partisan Center for Michigan. (Full disclosure: this columnist serves as one of its unpaid advisors.) One of the Center’s main priorities is to bring people together to try and discover what kind of Michigan they want — and how to get there.

The Center is also interested in economic growth. Mr. Power is committed to seeking various forms of new development. But he is convinced that risking the environment isn’t the way to go.

And he believes a mine that is about to be opened in the Upper Peninsula threatens Michigan with the potential for a disaster that could be as devastating locally as the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico.

“You can see that every day on your TV screens, but something eerily similar is going on far from the cameras near the tiny village of Big Bay,” on the Yellow Dog plains of the western UP.

What he’s talking about is the proposed Eagle Prospect Mine, which is about to be excavated beneath the Salmon Trout River.

After years of arguing, the state granted permission for the Kennecott Minerals Corporation to excavate. Kennecott believes there may be as much as $5 to $10 billion in nickel and copper ore there, and is now nearly ready to dig.

The company, a subsidiary of the London-based mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, vows to take every possible safety precaution. It says it will restore the area afterwards, and spend close to half a billion to develop the site.

Governor Jennifer Granholm supports the mine, largely because it will create much-needed jobs. But Power thinks Michigan is asking for disaster. He admits the mine will create jobs…

“But under the best of scenarios, it would employ maybe 200 workers — many from out of state — for less than a decade.” In return, “it would bring big-time industrial development to one of Michigan’s most pristine wilderness spots and threaten long-term tourism, fishing and hiking resources — perhaps forever.”

That matters personally to the 72-year-old Power, a former chair of the Michigan chapter of the Nature Conservancy who heads for his cabin in the UP every chance he gets. He is also a fisherman — and is upset that the mine is to be dug under the headwaters of what is one of Michigan’s best trout streams, which is “one of the world’s last remaining spawning sites for the Coaster Brook Trout.”

The fish, much-prized by sportsmen, is a large and tasty variant of the native speckled trout. The problem is that this is a “sulfide mine.” Digging it involves blasting through sulfur-laden rocks which — if exposed to air and water — will produce “acid mine drainage,” which includes sulfuric acid and highly toxic dissolved heavy metals, like copper and nickel. If that gets in the river, the fish will die.

“Every such sulfide mine ever opened has produced long-term acid mine drainage,” Power says. He doesn’t believe Kennecott has a disaster plan for the environmental damage, any more than BP did.

He also claims the permit process was flawed, noting that an aide to the governor who helped her decide to support the mine later left to work for Kennecott. Another got involved with an abortive business deal with the firm.

Nevertheless, the mine looks likely to happen, though Kennecott is still awaiting a permit from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Phil Power has a bad feeling about all this.

“In the Gulf of Mexico oil spill scandal, it has become clear the agency with regulatory oversight of the offshore drilling industry was captured by the very industry it was supposed to regulate.”

He fears the same thing is happening in Michigan.

He’s still hoping for a last-minute reprieve, and notes that Kennecott has yet to obtain a needed federal permit to inject treated water from the mine into groundwater.

But regardless, Power intends to keep fighting. “I told my wife, Kathy, that I’d be damned if I’d go to Florida and lie on the beach while my state goes to hell,” he said.

“I’m in it for my grandchildren’s Michigan.”

Veteran journalist and national Emmy Award winner Jack Lessenberry teaches at Wayne State University, serves as Michigan Radio’s senior political analyst and writes regularly for several publications. He also serves as The Toledo Blade’s writing coach and ombudsman and is host of the weekly television show Deadline Now on WGTE-TV in Toledo.