Canadian mining company Aquila Resources has proposed an 80-acre open pit copper, zinc, gold and silver mine, near the Wisconsin / Michigan Upper Peninsula border.  Dubbed the “Back Forty Mine,” the extraction pit would operate immediately adjacent to the Menominee River, home to the Menominee Tribe.  The Menominee Tribe challenged environmental permits issued for the site by the State of Michigan. On January 4th, Michigan Administrative Law Judge Daniel Pulter denied the wetland permits for the Back Forty Mine, ruling that the project is not in the public interest.  Allison Werner is the Policy & Advocacy Director at River Alliance of Wisconsin.