$50M for Copperwood Mine

This proposed $50 million grant would have gone to Highland Copper to support the Copperwood mining project. This project planned to mine copper next to and potentially underneath the Porcupine Mountains State Park. This state park located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is the only designated wilderness area in Michigan and the largest old-growth forest in the Midwest. The project is proposed to leave behind over 30 million tons of toxic mine waste next to the shores of Lake Superior and operate for only 11 years. If this toxic mine waste were to spill out from the tailings dam where it would be stored, it would eventually reach the nearby Lake Superior, leaching toxic chemicals into the body of water which contains 10% of the world’s surface freshwater.