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Greetings!
Here are three important news items that will interest you.
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PTD needs your financial support. We are filing a friend of the court brief with the Michigan Supreme Court - described in this newsletter. We are approaching the time for a renewal of the sand dune mining permit at the Nadeau Site. This may well require significant expenses on our part.
Donations can be sent to PTD, P.O. Box 164, Riverside, MI 49084 or made with credit card or PayPal by selecting the Donate button below.
Remember we are a 501(c)3 organization and all donations are tax deductible.
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On Again, Off Again, On Again
Supreme Court Rejects Defendants Request for Leave to Withdraw Appeal
We reported in the February 15, SOS Dunes News that the Michigan Supreme Court had agreed to hear an appeal in a case - Anglers of the AuSable, Inc. et al v. DEQ and Merit Energy Co. In doing so, the court asked for briefing on whether the court had ruled correctly in PTD v. DEQ and TechniSand and in Michigan Citizens v. Nestle Waters. The court further invited other interested parties to "move the court for permission to file briefs amicus curiae." We asked permission, received it and Phil Neal began preparation of the brief. In May, we learned that the defendants had
submitted a motion to dismiss the case for mootness. Merit Energy claimed to have stopped those actions which the suit had been filed to stop; therefore there was no issue to be resolved. (We assumed that business interests had pressured Merit to withdraw from the case because they feared reversal of the earlier referenced rulings, which had been cited in numerous suits in the intervening years.) Phil Neal stopped work on the brief. And then, I was literally writing up these events for this newsletter when I was notified by Phil that the defendants motion to dismiss was denied. So we are back at it again. There appears a real chance that our loss before the Court in 2004 will be reversed! |
TechniSand Requests Permit Extension
Hagar Township to Consider Request
Nadeau Site - Hagar Township - March 2010  |
Technisand was to have completed mining of the Nadeau Site in Hagar Township by July 1. Evidently the mining company forgot there were any time limits on the permit.
Technisand has a record of similar oversights and memory lapses. For example, they dredged in the Nadeau Pit in Covert for three years without a Land and Water Management Permit permit. Several years later they forgot to renew until after the permit expired, and had to apply for a new permit from the DEQ.
After being contacted by the township, Technisand asked Hagar for a two year extension, until July 1, 2012 for mining and another one and a half years to restore the property ending December 31, 2013. Ask yourself: if the township grants this extension, what will it do in two years if the miners request another year or two, or if at the end of the reclamation period, the site is not satisfactorily restored? It seems that Technisand will just take whatever time suits it.
In 2001, when the township originally denied TechniSand's application for a permit, TechniSand responded by threatening legal action against the township for $20,000,000. They just bullied the township into submission. An agreement was negotiated and a consent judgment was entered with Berrien County Circuit Court in January 2002. The company was to have 8 1/2 years to complete mining - followed by two years for reclamation. The entire process that led to the permitting agreement and the terms were reported in the January 2002 SOS Dunes Newsletter.
In September 2002 the Michigan Court of Appeals enjoined Technisand from mining. The injunction was lifted in August 2004.
It will be very surprising if the township does not grant TechniSand whatever extensions are requested - without any benefit to the township. We will see at the next board meeting at 7:00PM on July 12.
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Locations of Lyme Grass Documented
The Nature Conservancy has published a report documenting the presence of Lyme grass along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Michigan. It includes description of the grass, map locations, GPS coordinates and a discussion of control.
This perennial grass can grow to 2-4 feet in height. Each evergreen leaf is blue-green in color and about 12 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Flowers are dense spikes that are blue-green in early summer and turn beige later in the year.
Leymus arenarius is an invasive grass of coastal beaches and dunes where it appears to be spreading quickly and outcompeting the native flora. It competes with and poses a threat to native plants along the Lake Michigan shoreline, including several species of conservation concern.
The blue leaves stand out clearly among the green leaves of the native American dune grass (Ammophila breviligulata). Lyme grass also has bigger seeds, tougher blades with rigid pointed tips and stiffer seed stalk.
Lyme Grass  |
Impacts & Habitat
This plant is an ornamental grass native to Europe and Asia. It spreads primarily by underground stems (rhizomes), but also reproduces by seed.
This grass can grow in most habitats, although it prefers well-drained sandy soil and full sun. It can handle extremes of heat and cold, and it is drought resistant. This plant is sold as an ornamental, and is used to control erosion. However, it can quickly become invasive on dunes.
Lyme Grass and Marram Grass.  |
Control
Mechanical removal is not effective because new plants sprout from rhizomes and root fragments left in the soil. Treating the stems with a glyphosate solution in early spring before other native species emerge is effective. Grass specific herbicides can be used but will also kill native grasses. Repeated applications may be necessary to kill all plants.
Planned Programs
TNC has now received a significant grant for 2010-11 from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation under the president's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Most of the funds are being directed to local land conservancies to target specific invasives on the coast. For Lyme grass, the work this year and next year is focused from Saugatuck north to Ludington where Land Conservancy of West Michigan is targeting this species on private lands.
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"These dunes are to the Midwest what the Grand Canyon is to Arizona . . .
once lost, the loss would be irrevocable." Carl Sandburg
Sincerely,
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