In the 9 years since it was formed, TechniSand has developed a record of repeated failures to deliver on its promises and commitments, poor reclamation practices, and violation of the conditions of its permits. Many are documented on this web site. For example see the summary (988k Adobe Acrobat file) of our first years communications with the DEQ regarding violations . . . Here we have listed some of the more important violations in one place.

1. TechniSand dredged a lake at the Nadeau Pit (see aerial photgraph) for over five years without a permit from the Land and Water Management Division (LWMD) of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). It was not until Preserve the Dunes notified the LWMD of this violation that they began to correct this serious violation of the law (Part 301 of the Natural Resources Environmental Protection Act).
2. When a permit to dredge was issued, TechniSand was barred from dredging closer than 500 feet from Rogers Creek and directed to monitor water tables levels and the elevation of Rogers Creek. Within less than six months TechniSand was mining within 460 feet as revealed by an aerial survey photograph made for Preserve the Dunes. Our complaint to LWMD led to an order to fill in the excessive excavation. When monitoring data was delivered to the LWMD, it was clearly inaccurate or fabricated. The level of Rogers Creek was reported to be constant within one-hundredth of a foot for an entire year -- which residents of the area knew was a false report -- Rogers Creek was at the lowest flow level that anyone could remember.
3. TechniSand mined the buffer area adjacent to Thunder Mountain Heights Association property, removing a significant part of a tall dune and all of the trees, shrubs and other flora. This was done by mistake but was caught by Preserve the Dunes just as the company was ready start mining Thunder Mountain Heights' private property.
4. The DEQ ordered TechniSand to develop and implement a restoration plan. Preserve the Dunes and the adjacent land owners complained that the restoration plan was inadequate. But the implementation does not even comply to the plan. Smaller and fewer trees were planted than specified. Some species were omitted altogether.
5. Last fall TechniSand once again encroached on the buffer -- this time above Rogers Creek. Since it did not immediately abut private property, no special restoration was made. Sand blew over the crest to be washed down into Rogers Creek - a natural trout stream already being endangered by the mining operation.
6. TechniSand has used cell units that have never been placed in active status for uses not allowed by law or the permit. They have used these cells to haul sand and to move mining equipment in violation of the law. They have stripped the plants from cells and then used the land to stockpile what has been called topsoil.
7. Even worse, TechniSand has mined cell units already in interim reclamation status. This was documented in a aerial photograph taken six months after interim status was achieved.
8. The company has used reclaimed land (cell unit 1) to store unused mining equipment until Preserve the Dunes reported this violation.
9. The mine was open to use by off-road vehicles and was accessible by small children in violation of the conditions of the permit and the special conditions of the mining permit. This creates an unsafe condition and leads to damage of any reclaimed areas. Fencing and signage were added after Preserve the Dunes complaints to the DEQ.
10. The company has failed to plant trees at the density specified in the Progressive Cell Unit Mining and Reclamation Plan.
11. TechniSand first applied for use of 14 acres of the mine area as a Plant Site. In the next year they applied for and were granted an additional 5 acres. Then within the next few years they proceeded to use nearly 30 acres as Plant Site. Unlike cell units, no conformance bond is required for the Plant Site. The story of this illegal use of the land is told in detailed and illustrated is told elsewhere on this web site.
12. TechniSand bought the Nadeau Site in 1991. At that time they committed to implement the reclamation plan of the previous owner. Instead they waited to do any restoration until an adjacent land owner began complaining in 1998 despite being ordered to do so by the DEQ several years earlier. They planted beach grass. Most of it died. The reclamation plan also called for trees to be planted. But no more work has been done. We are left with mostly dead beach grass on a barren hillside.
13. Technisand shows a photograph of the Nadeau Pit as an illustration of their reclamation efforts. The photo shows an area reclaimed by the previous operator. A ground level panorama and other photographs shows what we found at the site. Reclamation efforts actually made by TechniSand have only been made after significant pressure from Preserve the Dunes. Still none of the efforts approaches compliance with the reclamation plan.
14. The law requires that subsurface slopes be graded to a slope of 1:6 to a depth of 10 feet. When the water table dropped due to the proximity of the lake to Rogers Creek, it was revealed that TechniSand had installed a slope of 1:6 at the very edge of their lake, but within a few feet, it steeply dropped off at a slope between 1:1 and 1:2.
15. TechniSand reports their excllent reclamation at the Lost Dunes Country Club in Bridgman. Yet the owner of the club who bought the land from TechniSand was quoted in the Chicago Tribune Magazine as saying "Some firm spends a couple of decades operating a sand mine and what's left isn't pretty. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. It was 252 acres and a mess, overgrown, with two lakes." Not exactly a glowing report of "excellent reclamation."
16. TechniSand states that reclamation takes 2 to 3 years. They have not mined the Busse Site in Covert, MI for three years. The areas that the company mined have been "reclaimed" by hydroseeding and planting 8 inch high white pine seedlings. The trees have died. The sand is 50 percent bare. The Garlanger Property has not been mined for over five years. Little if any reclamation has been done there.

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P.O. Box 581, Riverside, MI 49084
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