February 14, 2007

The Department of Environmental Quality announced today that it has reached an agreement with O-N Minerals, operator of the Port Inland quarry in Schoolcraft County near Manistique. The agreement will allow DEQ to issue a permit under the wetlands regulations that will allow quarrying operations to continue while protecting and preserving valuable natural resources.

The agreement with O-N Minerals Port Inland operations will ensure expansion of the quarry and continued extraction of dolomite and hi-cal stone products. The quarry expansion will impact surface wetlands totaling 42 acres of forested and shrub/scrub wetland habitats; however, to compensate for the habitat loss, the company will place a permanent conservation easement on 357 acres of property near the quarry, including a rare wooded dune and swale wetland complex. In addition,
O-N Minerals will also permanently protect, by conservation easement, another 276 acres of wetland and buffer area adjacent to Lake Huron near their Cedarville Michigan operation. These coastal wetlands include rare limestone pavement (alvar) lakeshore, an imperiled wetland ecosystem type in Michigan.

"This is a tremendous agreement for the future of Michigan's wetland resources," said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester. "The company's agreement to place 633 acres under permanent conservation easement should preserve the ecological integrity of these valuable wetlands indefinitely."

"This approach represents a good balance between the needs of our operations to supply our customers and the protection of our valuable ecosystems and natural resources," said John Abbitt O-N Mineral's Port Inland General Manager. "This agreement will facilitate future production at Port Inland which will allow O-N Minerals to service our customers with high quality limestone products, continue to employ residents of the state of Michigan, and fuel the Michigan economy while contributing to the preservation of habitats in our environment, which benefits everyone."

Under the agreement, both protected parcels will remain under company ownership and control but will be protected from development and alteration through conservation easements. The agreement also provides for a management and stewardship plan for both parcels to include a survey for threatened and endangered plant species, monitoring for and control of non-native invasive plant species, and documentation of compliance with the provisions of the conservation easement. The inclusion of management and stewardship plans for wetland preservation easements is relatively new to Michigan, and is a first in the Upper Peninsula.

Editor's note: DEQ news releases are available on the department's Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

"Protecting Michigan's Environment, Ensuring Michigan's Future"

Revised February 14, 2007 by Pat Watson