Another Water Grab?
Potential Potash Mine Angers Residents.
Just six miles from Nestle’s wells, Michigan Potash, a Colorado-based company, is seeking permits to drill 11 injection wells for a potash mining operation.
"It requires 1,200 gallons per minute of fresh, clean water – drinking water – to create these potash cavities,” Ford said.
A permitting hearing was held before the Environmental Protection Agency in January, but no decision has been made.
The application also is being reviewed at the state level by the Department of Environmental Quality.
Ford said that at least two other companies have tried unsuccessfully to operate potash mines in the same area.
"A lot of our roads got destroyed, the air quality was terrible, there are times when your eyes burn,” he said.
“You worry about what that stuff’s doing to the environment, truck traffic, and noise, and then the water pollution."
Their analysis has concluded the aquifer cannot sustain the intended water withdrawals, and that permanent damage to the environment would result.