U. S. Deptartment of Interior Report

The Exxon/Rio Algoma Mine proposed for the Crandon, Wisconsin area.

On December 2, 1994, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources received a copy of comments made by the United States Department of Interior to the U.S. Army Corps of engineers about he mine Exxon/Rio Algom wants to locate south of Crandon next to the Mole Lake Indian Reservation in Forest County.

If, after you read the following recommendations and conclusions of the Department of Interior, you would like to take action to protect Wisconsin's precious people and natural resources please come to one or both of the meetings with the Army Corps in Madison and Crandon. Madison's meeting will be on January 31st, Concourse Hotel, 1 W. Dayton Street, from 3:00-9:00 p.m. The Crandon meeting is at the Crandon City Hall, 3:00-9:00 p.m. on February 7th.

If you can not attend either of the meetings, you can send in your written statement until February 27, 1995. Statements should be addressed to: District Engineer, St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers, 190 5th Street East, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-1638, Attention: David L. Ballman, Regulatory Branch. Your statement will be added to the public record.

U.S. Department of Interiors recommendations and conclusions to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the proposed Exxon/Rio Algom's Mole Lake mine:

1. The proposed Crandon Mining Company project "may have a substantial and unacceptable impact on aquatic resources of national importance.
Accordingly, the Department of Interior objects to the issuance of a permit for this project at this time.
2. Under the authority of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Department has determined that this project may have "a direct and adverse effect on the values for which the Wolf River was included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System."
3. The Department believes that the issuance of a permit for the proposed mine could potentially result in a diminishment of Indian interests in exchange for benefits for the general public. "The courts have held that federal agencies cannot subordinate Indian interests to other public purposes except when specifically authorized by Congress to do so."
4. The proposed project is highly complex and potentially could have "significant adverse impacts on fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, Indian trust resources and other Indian interests."
5. There has been substantial controversy regarding this project, "both in the counties surrounding the site and throughout the state."
6. The interested tribes should be "formally involved int he process of defining environmental impacts and impacts to Indian trust resources." Furthermore, the Department recommends that the Corps of Engineers be the sole lead agency for the federal EIS "so that the impacts to Indian trust resources can be appropriately assessed in a federal forum. The state does not have the authority to assess impacts to Indian trust lands and thus should have no role in doing so."
7. There has been inadequate compliance to date with the National Historic Preservation Act which "requires consultation with all Tribes with cultural connections to the affected cultural resources."
8. There is also an environmental justice issue here. "Even if the mining company makes substantial financial commitments for restoration of this site, there will be more than likely be damages not provided for with financial assurances. The neighbors, particularly the tribes, will receive a relatively meager proportion of the short-term economic benefit, but by virtue of the location of their lands, will inherit the brunt of the environmental problems and economic bust cycle. It seems unfair that a large and powerful, but temporarily involved interested party can reap the benefits, but leave the majority of the costs to less powerful interests who cannot reasonably move the area to escape the long term costs."
9. "We are concerned about the number of reports stating that there are no proven cost-effective technologies for the acceptable long-term mitigation of potential impacts associated with reclamation of high sulfur was rock...we believe that the proposed management of acid mine waste and drainage should either be designed for guaranteed protection of the resources in perpetuity, or the project be postponed until such technology is available."