(MI) The Detroit News – Federal officials dealt a setback to opponents of a proposed nickel mine in the Upper Peninsula Monday by declining to place a trout species that spawns in the area on the endangered species list.
Conservation groups looking to block Kennecott Minerals Inc. from mining 160 acres of state land near Marquette had hoped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would designate the Coaster Brook Trout for federal protection. That designation may have forced Kennecott to revise its permit applications seeking state approval for the project.
But three years after the Sierra Club and Huron Mountain Club petitioned for the trout to receive endangered species status, the federal government announced Monday it would not do so. More