“Earmark” Request May Revive $50 Million Copperwood-Related Grant

• $50 million earmark would fund Copperwood mine infrastructure

• If approved, the money would be included in fiscal 2026 state budget

• Funding would go to Wakefield Township in Gogebic County

Michigan state Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) has asked the state legislature to approve a one-time, $50 million infrastructure grant to Wakefield Township to help support the proposed Copperwood mine in the western Upper Peninsula, according to the Keweenaw Report and other sources.

This after a Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) grant for the same purpose stalled in the state Senate Appropriations Committee – twice – last year.

The MEDC grant would have paid for infrastructure improvements, such as roads, power upgrades and enhanced telecommunications, but not for the construction of the mine itself.

Markkanen now wants the same amount of money included as an earmark in the fiscal 2026 state budget, which takes effect Oct. 1. Unlike the proposed MEDC grant, earmarks are not subject to a merit-based competitive review process.

“This new proposal is in every way identical to the one we defeated twice last year – the requested 50 million taxpayer dollars would fund the industrial road, the power grid expansion, and the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for Copperwood to advance,” said Tom Grotewohl of Protect the Porkies, in a May 12 subscriber email.

Markkanen’s $50 million earmark request does not mention the Copperwood mine by name but authorizes the same expenditures as the MEDC grant, and references an unnamed economic development opportunity “to create hundreds of good-paying jobs to support local families and bolster the national supply chain and defense capabilities.”

Highland Copper Co., Inc., which is attempting to develop the Copperwood mine, has made similar arguments in favor of public investment in the project.

Wakefield Township supervisor Mandy Lake referenced the mine directly in a May 1 news release about the Markkenan spending request.

“The people of Wakefield Township and the Western Upper Peninsula are squarely behind the Copperwood Project. It will create jobs and opportunities while balancing the environment,” Lake said.

“This funding will pay for critical infrastructure investments that our communities can’t fund on their own. We thank the legislature for moving this forward and ensuring the western Upper Pensula has a future,” said Ironwood Township resident and Copperwood site manager Mike Foley in the same news release, which was distributed by InvestUP, a private regional economic development agency.

InvestUP also sent a separate letter of support for the grant, which was incorporated into Markkenan’s directed spending request.

In the letter, InvestUP CEO Marty Fittante said “the dire demographics of the area” justified the grant, citing declining job opportunities, population loss and low incomes in Gogebic County, where the Copperwood mine would be located, and in neighboring Ontonagon County.

A similar letter of support was submitted by the Upper Peninsula Collaborative Development Council, which represents local economic developers in the 15 UP counties.

Protect the Porkies, a grassroots environmental organization, is opposed to the mine – and Markkanen’s earmark request.

“Far from being ‘good for the community,’ this infrastructure would disrupt both sensitive wildlife and humans in search of peace and quiet in nature, and it would serve exclusively to enable and advance the proposed Copperwood mine,” said Tom Grotewold, a Protect the Porkies spokesperson, in his May 12 email.  

The proposed underground mine would be located close to Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the western Upper Peninsula. Site development would include an ore processing mill and a 230-acre tailings disposal basin.

Highland Copper, and state and local public officials, were given an opportunity to comment on this report.