INGHAM COUNTY, MI— Protect the Porkies is suing the Michigan Strategic Fund Board for its August approval of a $50 million grant for the Copperwood mine project.
Tom Grotewohl is executive director of the environmental group. He says lawmakers denied the funding three times, and claims the board found a workaround to approve the money for Canada-based Highland Copper without involving legislators.
“They have transferred funds from a previous project from 2022 which had nothing to do with Copperwood and they seem to believe that because that funding was approved for a different project, now lawmakers don’t have to vote on it being reallocated.”
Protect the Porkies has filed a Claim of Appeal with the Ingham County Circuit Court against the MSF Board. Grotewohl says regardless of how anyone feels about Copperwood, the board’s action sets a dangerous precedent for future handouts of public money to foreign corporations, all beyond the purview of democratic governance.
Proponents of the mine say the grant was allocated legally and the appeal has no merit.
