An expert review of historical and modern Flambeau Mine technical reports and environmental monitoring data published in 2019 concluded the following:
“In short, the Flambeau Mine is the poster child for a severely-flawed permitting and oversight process that has likely generated long-term public liabilities.” [i]
The regulatory agency for the Flambeau project was and continues to be the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), with decisions coming out of the Department’s central offices in Madison, Wisconsin. While those currently in positions of authority within the DNR have an obligation to ensure the reclaimed mine is properly regulated, it was the decisions made by their predecessors in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s that have set the stage for the “long-term public liabilities” referenced above.
Deer Tail Scientific (DTS) has assembled a case study that provides, in tabular form, an easy-to-navigate list of DNR missteps in regulating the Flambeau Mine project. The report, fully-referenced, draws heavily on environmental monitoring reports submitted by Flambeau Mining Company (FMC) to the Wisconsin DNR and reports authored by outside consultants.
The information, organized under Tabs 1-19 in the report’s Discussion section, includes not only an overview and summary table of the primary findings (Tabs 1-2), but 14 discreet and detailed examples of Flambeau Mine regulatory failures (Tabs 3-16), a comprehensive reference list (Tab-17), various figures (graphs, diagrams and photos) illustrating the significant degradation of groundwater and surface water quality at the Flambeau Mine project site (Tab-18), and the credentials of cited experts (Tab-19).
The case study also includes a series of appendices with: (a) background information on the Flambeau Mine; (b) information regarding exceedances of Wisconsin groundwater quality standards at the reclaimed Flambeau Mine project site; (c) copies of Wisconsin DNR process documents associated with the Department’s December 2022 decision to certify that FMC had successfully completed its reclamation of the mine; and (d) a 2023 memo sent by DTS to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking assistance in correcting for errors made by the Wisconsin DNR in its administration of the Clean Water Act at Flambeau.
This case study has been provided by Deer Tail Scientific in the hope that, by relaying the information to the public, current Wisconsin DNR regulators, government officials and tribal sovereign nations, perhaps similar problems can be avoided if/when new mining projects are permitted in the future.
To access the case study, please click on the following citation or the below image of its cover:
Wisconsin’s Flambeau Mine: A Case Study in Regulatory Mismanagement, compiled for educational purposes by Laura J. Gauger, Deer Tail Scientific, Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.A., March 2023.
Deer Tail Scientific has issued both electronic and print editions of Wisconsin’s Flambeau Mine: A Case Study in Regulatory Mismanagement. The electronic edition includes live links to all referenced documents. The print edition includes an electronic disc inside the back cover with copies of those same documents. To request a copy of the print edition, please contact Deer Tail Scientific (deertailscientific@gmail.com).
On a related matter, DTS submitted a fully-referenced letter to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in February 2023 asking the Agency to “address and, through whatever mechanism [deemed] appropriate, correct for a repeated failure of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to properly implement the terms of the federal Clean Water Act at the reclaimed Flambeau Mine project site near Ladysmith, Wisconsin.” To access the DTS letter and follow-up documents, please click on the following citations:
Request for EPA assistance in dealing with Wisconsin DNR mismanagement of NPDES program at Flambeau Mine project site, Deer Tail Scientific, Feb 2023.
UPDATE: Wisconsin DNR mismanagement of NPDES program at reclaimed Flambeau Mine project site, Deer Tail Scientific, Oct 2023.
EPA response to Laura Gauger regarding Flambeau Mine reclamation site, Tera Fong (Director, EPA Region 5 Water Division), April 2024.
Follow-up letter/report to EPA regarding WDNR mismanagement of NPDES program at reclaimed Flambeau Mine, Laura Gauger, June 2024.
Any additional documents that may be issued by DTS, FMC, the Wisconsin DNR or EPA in response to the above materials will be posted below and/or to the Archive Updates page of a website created by Deer Tail Scientific to house its collection of Flambeau Mine documents and photos: Flambeau Mine Archive; https://flambeauminearchive.wordpress.com/archive-updates/.
While the above issue regarding the implementation of the Clean Water Act at the Flambeau Mine project site is specific to surface water management, Deer Tail Scientific also issued a report in 2023 that outlined perceived problems with the Wisconsin DNR’s regulation of groundwater contamination emanating from the backfilled Flambeau Mine pit. To access the report, please visit the following page on the Deer Tail Scientific website: Flambeau Groundwater Standards.
[i] Robert E. Moran, Ph.D. (Michael-Moran Associates, Golden, CO; remwater.org), May 2019 (posthumous). Flambeau Mine: Water Contamination and Selective “Alternative Facts,” 116 pg.
Deer Tail Scientific 