Posted on 02/01/2016 12:31:40 PM PST by MichCapCon
The Marquette County Road Commission announced that it has filed a lawsuit formally challenging a decision by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to block construction of a county road (CR 595) that would shorten the route between a new minerals mine and a processing facility. The suit was filed July 10 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
“The EPA, in its objection to the construction of County Road 595, has once again overstepped its bounds and demonstrated its politically motivated agenda,†said Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba. “The agency, without reason or merit, has hamstrung the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from issuing a wetlands permit for County Road 595 simply because it did not fit the agency’s agenda."
“Instead of doing its job and approving the project, the EPA has instead opted for political theater,†Casperson continued. “By blocking County Road 595’s construction, the EPA is doing nothing to improve the access of emergency, commercial, industrial, and recreational vehicles to a key area of northwest Marquette County. From elected officials at the state and local levels, to job providers and labor organizations, to conservationists, public safety officials and the general public, nearly everyone agrees County Road 595 would improve the way of life of county residents."
County Road 595 is a proposed 21-mile road that would connect the Eagle Mine with its ore processing facility at the Humboldt Mill. The new road would shorten the round trip between the mine and the mill by 78 miles. Supporters of the project point out that the road would divert nearly 100 commercial vehicles per day from local roads, including those near schools.
Those opposed to the EPA’s decision claim the road would increase traffic safety by eliminating more than 1.5 million miles of semi-truck traffic from local communities and school zones annually and cut fuel consumption by more than 464,000 gallons each year.
“We believe our position that they did not follow the law will be upheld and we will be given a chance to build a very important road for Marquette County,†Jim Iwanicki, engineer manager of the Marquette County Road Commission, told reporters.
Earlier this year the Michigan Legislature gave its bipartisan support to the Marquette County Road Commission in the dispute. Senate Resolution 9, sponsored by Casperson, and House Resolution 13, sponsored by Rep. John Kivela, D-Marquette, backed the road commission. Each resolution was passed by its respective chamber.
“I applaud the road commission for moving forward with this lawsuit,†Kivela said. “Building of County Road 595 is sensible from so many perspectives, including that of public safety, the environment and the economy, and supported by an overwhelming group of interests, individuals, stakeholders and elected leaders, including all the U.P. legislators, U.S. Congressman Dan Benishek, R-Michigan, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan and retired U.S. Senator Carl Levin.â€
Casperson gave a heads-up about the upcoming County Road 595 lawsuit with comments he made in an article last month about the EPA wanting a study on the potentially harmful effects of barbecues and grills.
The policy and legal environment that made the Eagle Mine possible was put into place by a 2004 law signed by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm after being passed with no opposing votes in the House or Senate. It was the product of a consensus between the Democratic governor, environmentalist groups, mining companies, and local officials. Within a short time, however, state environmental groups were taking actions to obstruct the mine. In the past the Marquette Mining Journal reported remarks from Casperson that the EPA has an "agenda" about the mine, not the road.
Most of Michigan is low-lying. I look for the EPA to usurp property rights there in a wholesale manner.
Example: Flint needs new pipes more that Michigan needs more roads.
EPA must be abolished; most of the supporting legislation must be repealed.
At least it is still legal to mine in Michigan.
The socialist (democrat party) hellhole called Flint, MI needs to solve its own problems, not inflict them on the rest of the State.
#6 is for you.
It’s a swamp - breeding ground for mossies ....
I thank God daily that I live in the most conservative state in the union, Alabama, and have a great conservative senator, Jeff Sessions. My RINOcrat congresscritter Mike Rogers of AL is a loser, but I would take one hundred Jeff Sessions’ in the senate.
Total loss of perspective. Completely arbitrary.
In an area of South Carolina where good jobs are very scarce, a judge decided that in order to approve an environmental impact study for a gold mining company, 4300 acres of land had to be given to a nature conservancy to ameliorate the loss of 30 acres of wetlands. Again, completely arbitrary rule by judge. Landowners adjacent have no rights.
We have had Fish and Game deny or delay for years repair to existing roads. They would rather a road fail and fell into a creek or river than fix it and prevent it. Once it fails, it takes years to get the approvals to restore the road.
Thank you for referencing that article MichCapCon. Please bear in mind that the following critique is directed at the article and not at you.
Patriots, please bear in mind that, just as with Obama, corrupt Congress, not the constitutionally undefined EPA, is the real problem with this Michigan road issue imo.
More specifically, the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to interfere with 10th Amendment-protected INTRAstate issues such as the example of this thread.
Also, note that even if the states had constitutionally granted the feds the specific power to interfere with INTRAstate road building, the Founding States had made the first numbered clauses in the Constitution, Sections 1-3 of Article I, to clarify that all federal legislative / regulatory powers are vested in the elected members of Congress, not in the executive or legislative branches, or in non-elected bureaucrats such as those running the EPA. So Congress has a constitutional ”monopoly” on federal legislative powers whether it wants it or not.
But by unconstitutionally delegating federal legislative / regulatory powers to bureaucrats like those running the EPA, again, powers that that states have actually never delegated to Congress in this example, corrupt Congress is wrongly protecting federal legislative powers from the wrath of the voters in blatant defiance of Sections 1-3 referenced above imo.
And just as with Congress letting lawless Obama steal both state and federal legislative powers so that last-term Obama can do Congresss unconstitutional legislative work for it, Congress is likewise turning its head to the EPAs actions for the same reason imo.
In other words, by letting non-legislative branch members do its dirty work for it, corrupt lawmakers are keeping their voting records clean in order to fool low-information patriots into reelecting them.
Remember in November !
When patriots elect Trump, Cruz, or whatever conservative they elect, they need to also elect a new, state sovereignty-respecting Congress that will work within its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers to support the new president.
Also, consider that such a Congress would probably be willing to fire state sovereignty-ignoring activist justices.
A freeway in our county being widened had a wetlands and protected species (of tree) issue. It was easily solved by planting new trees of the endangered species and creating new wetlands through runoff retention ponds. Costly but not difficult.
socialism has not only arrived, it has virtually taken over..
the only way to defeat is is to...
identify it..
call it out...
ensure the citizenry acknowledges it..
and then ignores it...
based upon permanent records..
trump is a socialist..
ban me if you must..
The EPA outlived its usefulness decades ago.
What began as a "good idea" for the ultimate benefit of human beings, slowly degenerated into a totalitarian thoughtless Agency unelected and unaccountable, practicing the worst kind of manipulation, pushed into excesses by mindless activists and enabled by an exploding bureaucracy hell bent into inventing work never envisioned by anyone else to justify its gigantic size and unaccountable power.
If reason prevails and a conservative wins the presidency, this agency should be among the first to disappear, or to be reduce to the size that was envisioned when it was first created, roughly cut by 80%.
And to avoid repeating the same mistake, any "science" cited to justify their arbitrary decisions MUST NEVER AGAIN BE ALLOWED TO BE DONE "in house."
Abuses have been the EPA's most abundant "service."
I thought mines were outlawed by the Geneva Convention. ;-D
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