FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Preserve the Dunes, Inc. (PTD) has filed a complaint in Trial Court of Berrien County for declaratory judgement and injunctive relief against the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and TechniSand, Inc. of Chardon, Ohio. PTD alleges that the MDEQ without legal authority amended a permit to expand sand dune mining into a Critical Dune Area at the "Nadeau Site" in Hagar Township, Berrien County, MI.
The 1989 amendments to the sand dune mining statute prohibit sand dune mining in Critical Dune Areas. There are only two exceptions to this otherwise blanket prohibition against mining critical dunes. Both were intended to allow then current operators to continue operations and to avoid a "taking" of the operator's property. PTD asserts that TechniSand was not the operator in 1989 and therefore has no right to mine this Critical Dune Area. PTD further asserts that the law does not allow expanding from a non-critical into a Critical Dune Area.
The complaint asks the court to issue a mandatory injunction against the MDEQ to require the agency to rescind and revoke the permit to the extent that it allows TechniSand to mine critical dunes, and to issue an injunction against TechniSand prohibiting it from mining critical dunes within the Nadeau Site.
In a separate action, PTD has submitted to the MDEQ and to the Michigan Attorney General documentation of numerous violations of the state sand dune mining statute by TechniSand at several mines.
PTD, a not-for-profit grass roots organization, was formed in October, 1997, to protect the fragile, irreplaceable and environmentally sensitive sand dunes of western Michigan from destruction by strip mining of sand. These are the only tall, fresh water dunes in the world. PTD is an affiliate of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council.
In eight months PTD has grown to a membership of 450 individuals. For more information about PTD, its activities and the destruction of the dunes by sand mining visit the web site at "http://www.daac.com/sosdunes/".