MARQUETTE, MI— Reactions to the Michigan Strategic Fund’s decision to grant $50 million dollars for the Copperwood Mine in Gogebic County are mixed.
Tom Grotewohl is director of Protect the Porkies. He says the MSF was able to avoid having to secure legislative approval for the grant by using money set aside for general use in 2022. He says it was denied three times by the Senate Appropriations Committee, only to be approved by a business coalition.
“Now, the Michigan Strategic Fund, a body of unelected businesspeople, has forced it down our throats by using a loophole allowing them to allot money which was set aside four years ago and does not need to pass through elected officials in government.”
Grotewohl says his group will investigate whether the move might be unconstitutional.
CEO of economic development organization InvestUP, Marty Fittante, says the grant will help bring good-paying jobs and hope to a region that’s had some real economic struggles. He notes in 2004 the state passed what were called the strongest mining standards in the country.
“You had a big stakeholder group that was at the table to work through what really would make meaningful and stringent environmental standards to be able to mine nonferrous metallic mineral in the state.”
Copperwood Resources plans to complete feasibility studies for the mine in the first quarter of 2027.
