WAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI— $50 million for Wakefield Township public infrastructure hangs in the balance as Michigan lawmakers try to agree on a budget by October 1.
Proponents of the grant say it would enable private investment and job creation across the western U.P., like construction of the Copperwood mine. They say the potential impact it would have on the economy is similar to prior mining investments that supported local suppliers, small businesses, and the community.
Critics say the money is different clothing for a Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve grant for the Copperwood mine that was halted twice last year.
Tom Grotewohl is a Wakefield Township resident and the founder of the Protect the Porkies campaign. He says the purpose of the money is the same: to fund the power grid, cell towers, and heavy industrial road upgrades next to Porcupine Mountains State Park for the advancement of the mine. He says this grant, however, wouldn’t be paid back to the state.
"For the SOAR grant, whose recipient would have been the mining company, the mining company would have had to have reimbursed that $50 million to the state of Michigan. By naming Wakefield Township as the recipient, there is no longer the reimbursement clause. So, in fact, this is an even worse deal.”
Grotewohl says Highland Copper, which has never operated a mine before, says Copperwood would create 380 jobs, up from 250 jobs a few years ago, without evidence to back up those projections. He says the company hopes to coincide construction of the mine with closure of Marquette County’s Eagle Mine and hire laterally from that employee pool.
Environmentalists say the project is opposed by more than 200 residents, over 70 community organizations, and a petition of over half a million signatures.
