Regulators Recommend Route for Rio Tinto Road

Headwaters has obtained more information on developments with Rio Tinto’s proposed Woodland Road/595 ore hauling route.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment one of the alternatives to the original hauling plan, the “Sleepy Hollow” route, would limit impacts on water quality and wildlife and may satisfy federal and state guidelines.  The Sleepy Hollow route would start at the Eagle Mine and head down county roads Triple A, 510, the Red Road, Sleepy Hollow, and the Wolf Lake road, connecting with M-28/US-41 in Humboldt Township.

According to a February 28 email Jerry Fulcher told Marquette County Road Commission engineer Jim Iwanicki to consider pursuing this route.

“There was concurrence by our division and the EPA with the evaluation that the Sleepy Hollow route . . . appears to be the best of the alternatives evaluated as compared to the previous Woodland Road proposal,” wrote Fulcher.  “It would appear that your best solution to coming up with a permittable project is to use this alternative.”

According to an email written by the DNRE’s Mike Smolinski, “of the 3 or 4 presented in the “red road alternatives analysis” it was apparent that the “Sleepy Hollow” route had the likely hood of having the least impacts to both streams and wetlands because of existing roads and a large portion of the red road going through a sandy plains area dominated by jack pine.”

According to a fact sheet distributed several weeks ago by the EPA, County Road 595 “would follow the same general route as Woodland Road with construction to be paid for by Kennecott.”

“EPA and MDNRE staff informed the Road Commissioner that the level of review would be equal to that of Woodland Road, and if the same road is proposed, it would most likely receive a federal objection based on the same factors that determined the Woodland Road response.”

Rio Tinto (through Woodland Road LLC) withdrew its application for the Woodland Road last spring after the EPA issued an objection letter to the project for not following the federal Clean Water Act and other guidelines and before the state DNRE was obligated to deny the permit.

According to the EPA fact sheet, since then the agency has been working with state regulators and the company to locate alternate routes to the Woodland Road “that include improving existing roads rather than bisecting wilderness.”

Jim Iwanicki says the Road Commission sent a letter to various state and federal legislators on Friday urging support for the ore hauling project because it is “in the best interests of the community,” would provide economic benefits to industry, have recreational benefits and keep the driving public safe.

For Iwanicki the failure of the Silver Lake Dam, nearly a decade ago, is still fresh in his mind.  The dam failure temporarily isolated the town of Big Bay, due to road closures.

“I would like to see something that is west of all the dams,” said Iwanicki.  “That is one of the advantages to building that road.”

According to Iwanicki the DNRE is working on hauling options with Rio Tinto and his department continues to negotiate an agreement with the company.

This post was written by

Gabriel Caplett – who has written 106 posts on Headwaters - Community Journalism for the Great Lakes.

Gabriel Caplett is a writer and market farmer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

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