Task force seeks input on cleanup of mining waste that threatens Lake Superior's Buffalo Reef

With a project estimated to cost more than $2 billion on the line, the Buffalo Reef Task Force — made up of state, federal and tribal groups — is accepting public comment on how it should proceed with cleaning up mining waste that threaten important reefs in Lake Superior.

The goal is to clean up stamps sands, mining wastes from the copper mines that were deposited at a milling site in Gay, a town in Keweenaw County. The stamp sands threaten spawning habitat and recruitment areas for Lake Superior white fish and lake trout near the Buffalo Reef as winds and water push them down the shore.

More than half of the reef's 2,200 acres are polluted. The stamp sands leach pollutants including copper, and make the shoreline look like the surface of the moon, as one expert told The Detroit News in 2022, stunting growth. The task force, set up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is made up of members from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the first to notice the magnitude of the pollution; Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission; Michigan Department of Natural Resources; Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy; U.S. Army Corp of Engineers; and the EPA.

The task force is focusing on a proposal to construct a landfill upland to dispose of the sands, but that would be expensive: A news release from the DNR estimates that it would cost more than $2 billion over the life of the project. That money would go toward buying property, building the landfill and "and finding an agency committed to owning and maintaining associated project features, such as a jetty to stop stamp sand migration in Lake Superior."

Final alternative plans, also studied by the task force, looked at building a barricade in the lake to contain the stamp sands or otherwise hauling the sands to the tailings basins at the former White Pine Mine located in Ontonagon County. But those also proved difficult.

The cost of dredging and placing materials at the mine tailings basin was significant, especially taking into consideration that it was not feasible to truck the sands on roads that already exist and that infrastructure for freighter access was not in place, said Jay Parent, district supervisor of EGLE’s Water Resources Division in Marquette, in the news release. In the other alternative, the two-mile revetment would have to be "maintained forever."

The plan to build a landfill "is the lowest cost alternative," Parent said in the release.

The task force is accepting public comment on the plans as well as the alternates through March 1. Comments will be discussed by the task force and considered. They can be directed to to Stephanie Swart, Great Lakes Management Unit, Water Resources Division, at SwartS@Michigan.gov. They also can be mailed to EGLE, Water Resources Division, Great Lakes Management Unit, P.O. Box 30458, Lansing, MI 48909-7958.

In the meantime, the DNR said efforts continue to help minimize the threat from the stamp sands. Harbor dredging, for example, from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, one of the groups involved in the task force, and others has helped to keep the waterway open for recreation. Other efforts include removing a 25-foot-tall bank from the Lake Superior shoreline in 2019.