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A Canadian mining company acquired land not far from Baxter State Park, in an area where metallic mining is not currently allowed. They have since sought rezoning approval from Maine’s Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) to pursue a proposed mine extracting minerals such as zinc, lead and copper from this land.
It’s all very bureaucratic, and necessarily so. But essentially, Wolfden Resources Corporation is asking the LUPC to allow them to do something they can’t currently do on the parcel they are seeking to rezone. The LUPC has certain guidelines they must follow when considering this request, including an assessment of both potential positive and negative impacts, but ultimately the onus is on Wolfden as the applicant to convince the LUPC that their proposal merits this rezoning.
We aren’t convinced that this proposal meets a critical part of the LUPC’s decision-making criteria for such a zone change, which requires substantial evidence that, “The proposed land use district has no undue adverse impact on existing uses or resources or a new district designation is more appropriate for the protection and management of existing uses and resources within the affected area.”
The fundamentals and history of metal mining — especially for communities left dealing with the cleanup — would seem to run contrary to this requirement, especially in a region that is home to pristine waters and is a growing outdoor recreation area.
In its talk of a “state of the art” mine, Wolfden has essentially promised to set a standard higher than the rest of the mining industry. But they also acknowledge that the financial success of this project could include the involvement of bigger players in that same industry. Those pieces don’t add up to us, and would seem to set the region up to be part of an experiment without clarity about who is actually controlling that experiment. While we appreciate additional details Wolfden Vice President of Development Jeremy Ouellette provided in a conversation with the BDN editorial board, we remain unconvinced that the project’s environmental promises and economic realities line up.
We are not the only ones who are unconvinced.
“Wolfden’s proposal for redistricting to allow a mine in the Pickett Mountain area will have undue, adverse impacts on water quality of important tribal waters and fisheries,” Dan Kusnierz, water resources program manager at the Penobscot Nation, said in written testimony to the LUPC.
“Mining is an industrial use with vastly different (and some irreversible) potential impacts on water quality and rare species than timber harvesting,” Baxter State Park Director Kevin Adam wrote to the LUPC. “A rezoning that would allow Wolfden’s proposed mining within this landscape, with its irreplaceable and largely protected natural treasures, represents a risk that is of great concern to [Baxter State Park] and may present undue adverse impacts on existing resources.”
All of this should add up to the LUPC rejecting the rezoning request. LUPC members are meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13 and slated to deliberate on the project. LUPC sign-off would be an initial approval allowing the company to then move on to a review by Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). It would not constitute final approval for the project.
Do we think mining in general is totally incompatible with Maine and shouldn’t happen here at all? No. We’ve heard Wolfden and mine proponents talk about the critical role that various minerals play in our society, including how they help power the shift to greener sources of energy, and the need to mine stuff here. It is not an unconvincing argument. Even with some philosophical agreement with that principle, however, how and where any mining gets done still matters a great deal.
We understand the appeal that 275 jobs have, and the positive impact this can have for the local economy, at least in the short-term. But we again agree with Kevin Adam from Baxter State Park that, “Adding jobs to this region is undoubtedly important; however, this mining project runs counter to the economic plan that the Katahdin Region has been developing.”
We’ll also say this: If public outcry from vocal opponents is able to doom every proposed project or piece of infrastructure in Maine, we’re in trouble. We won’t ever be able to build the things we need to power our lives or grow our economy. The collective response in this state cannot be “not in my backyard” at every turn.
But let’s consider this particular project, and this particular backyard. To us, the obvious conclusion is that such a mine does not belong in the backyard of tribal lands and vital watersheds, or in Baxter State Park’s backyard. It’s not the right proposal for the region, especially considering the LUPC’s guidelines related to “no undue adverse impact on existing uses or resources,” and it does not deserve rezoning approval.
