11/16/2018- A Menominee City Council member has taken matters into his own hands to get answers about the Michigan DEQ’s issuance of a wetlands permit for the Back Forty Mine. After agency representatives failed to attend a city council meeting as requested, Councilman Frank Pohlmann submitted a list of ten questions to the MDEQ about their April Findings of Fact report that states, in part, that the mine has a high likelihood of having adverse impacts to the groundwater and that the project doesn’t demonstrate activities protective of long-term water quality. Pohlmann then distributed to responses to these questions to the city’s Judicial and Legislative/ Personnel and Labor Committee for review. While the city council has long-resisted taking an official stance on the mine, Pohlmann says he feels there is some value to it.
Councilman Bill Plemel disagrees and even takes it a step further, stating he’s not convinced there’s as much public opposition to the issue as is being purported.
Pohlmann has asked that his correspondence with the MDEQ be made available to all council members and is hopeful the full council will take up further discussion on the matter in the future.