A $2 billion cleanup in Lake Superior to address pollution from historical copper mining is still in the works.
Stamp sands are a waste byproduct from processing copper, and off the Keweenaw Peninsula, they cover 1,426 miles of shoreline and lake bottom, partially suffocating a natural reef.
A plan to dredge all stamp sands from the bay and truck the material to a nearby landfill is still in its early stages.
Stephanie Swart, the Lake Superior coordinator with the state's environmental department, said federal officials are currently monitoring fish populations in Buffalo Reef.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the midst of designing a coal dock jetty to block the sands from further destroying the reef. Swart said the design should mostly be completed next year.
"Even if we lose this reef, there's another reef that's south of Buffalo Reef and there are still beaches that don't have stand sands, and it's just going to keep going down the coastline," Swart said.
Swart said around 40% of Buffalo Reef, which stretches 2,200 acres in its entirety, is no longer being used by fish because of the stamp sands.
"The goal is to protect the reef, which is really an important tribal and cultural resource," Swart said. "And it's also a really large source of lake trout and lake whitefish to Lake Superior."
Swart says cleanup will likely take decades in order to remove 12.7 million cubic yards of stamp sands.
Editor's note: The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is a sponsor of WCMU. We report on them as we do with any other organization.
