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A Canadian mining company wants to build a copper mine right next to Michigan’s favorite state park. The waste would be stored upstream of Lake Superior, with no guarantee the copper would ever stay in the United States. One man decided to fight back. This is the story of Tom Grotewohl and the 460,000 people standing behind him.
Links:
Protect the Porkies Website: https://protecttheporkies.com
Sponsor:
The National Wildlife Federation fights to protect Michigan’s beautiful wildlife and forests. Learn more at https://nwf.org/greatlakes
Follow the National Wildlife Federation: Great Lakes here: https://www.facebook.com/NWFGreatLakes/
Porcupine Mountains Under Threat: One Man’s Fight to Stop a Copper Mine Next to Lake Superior
The Porcupine Mountains hold the largest remaining old growth forest east of the Mississippi River. MLive ranked them Michigan’s favorite state park. CBS News named them among the most beautiful in the country. Hundreds of thousands of visitors make the trip every year to hike the trails, stand at the Lake of the Clouds overlook, and connect with a landscape that has never been logged, thinned, or touched. Now a proposed copper mine threatens to change that forever.
The Copperwood Mine and What It Means for Lake Superior
Highland Copper Company, a junior mining firm based in Toronto, wants to build the Copperwood Mine directly adjacent to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The company has never owned or operated a mine. Copperwood would be their first. Because the ore grade is only 1.45 percent copper, 98.55 percent of everything extracted becomes waste containing mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead. That amounts to over 40 million tons of toxic material stored in a 320-acre tailings basin upstream from Lake Superior, the largest source of surface freshwater on Earth. A 2024 model by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission found that a dam rupture could send a flood of mine waste surging into Lake Superior in as little as 21 minutes.
Protect the Porkies: A Movement Born in the Woods
Tom Grotewohl lives next door to the state park. He worked in the entrance booth, sold tickets, and gave trail advice. Then he started hearing sounds from the adjacent property that were not birdsong and waterfalls. When he went looking for answers, he discovered the Copperwood proposal and realized no one was telling the full story. He built a website, launched a petition, and put the information out there for people to make up their own minds. The response was overwhelming. Protect the Porkies has gathered over 460,000 petition signatures and the support of more than 100 organizations. The campaign helped defeat a $50 million state taxpayer grant to the mining company three times through the Michigan Legislature.
North Country Trail and Upper Peninsula Conservation at a Crossroads
The stakes extend beyond the mine itself. Before mining can begin, the project requires a 25-mile power grid extension, cell tower installation, and upgrading County Road 519 into a heavy industrial road. State legislators have acknowledged that this infrastructure would lay the foundation for data centers and other heavy industries long after the mine closes in 11 years. The North Country Trail, the longest national hiking trail in the United States, runs within 500 feet of the proposed tailings basin. Conservation advocates argue that protecting the corridor between the Presque Isle River and the Black River is essential to preserving the ecological integrity of the region for future generations.
