LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY BANDS OF ODAWA INDIANS

LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY BANDS OF ODAWA INDIANS

7500 ODAWA CIRCLE

HARBOR SPRINGS, MI 49740

DECLARATION 082210-002

Statement in Opposition to the Frontier Energy Project Because of the

Devastating Impact on Tribe’s Culture

A Declaration is a formal written public statement in support or

opposition of an issue or matter. One or more Tribal Councilors may sign

onto a Declaration as individual Councilors. A Declaration shall not

obligate or commit the Tribal Council in any manner. Declarations do

not require formal action by the Tribal Council.

The Waganakising Odawak is a nation of citizens with inherent sovereignty and right to

self-governance; and

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians is a federally recognized Indian Tribe

under Public Law 103-324, and is a party to numerous Treaties with the United States the

most recent of which being the Treaty of Washington of March 28, 1836 (7 Stat. 491) and

the Treaty of Detroit of 1855 (11 Stat. 621); and

In accordance with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Constitution:

“IN THE WAYS OF OUR ANCESTORS, to perpetuate our way of

life for future generations, we the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa

Indians, called in our own language the WAGANAKISING ODAWAK, a

sovereign, self-governing people who follow the Anishinaabe Traditions,

Heritage, and Cultural Values, set forth within this Constitution the

foundation of our governance.

We will work together in a constructive, cooperative spirit to

preserve and protect our lands resources and Treaty Rights, ... In keeping

faith with our Ancestors, we shall preserve our Heritage while adapting to

the present world around us...” and

Page | of 3

Declaration 082210-002

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Tribal Government and staff have been

active in work to protect the environment for both our present citizens and coming

generations through approval and implementation of a body of tribal laws and

regulations; and

The Tribe has concerns about the potential impact that Frontier energy project will have

on land, air and water impacting the culture of the Tribe; and

This project will take wood from approximately a 150 mile radius. This radius would

encompass 80 percent of the public lands with in the 1836 Ceded Territory Treaty area

which the Tribe uses for hunting for subsistence and gathering of medicines; and

The Tribe has a concern as to whether the use of hard woods to sustain the Frontier

energy project will impact the wildlife and plant medicines found within the forests; and

The Tribe has concerns about the amount of water that will be used to sustain the Frontier

energy project along with the potential discharge of water into the Munuscong Watershed

that may contain containments; and

The Tribe is concerned about the potential toxics that might be emitted into the air by the

Frontier energy project including such contaminants as NOx, CO, VOC, PM, SO2, and

other Toxic Air Contaminants already in the area; and.

The undersigned Tribal Councilors declare that they understand the sacred relationship

between the Tribes the lands and waters of their Ancestors and declare that the Frontier

energy project will have an impact on the cultural traditions of the Tribe and without

further information we are unable to support this project.

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Tribal Councilor Regina Gasce Bentley

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Declaration 0822 10-002

Tribal Councilor Rita Shananaquet

Tyi6ay Councilor <Jehn ett John Bett

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Tribal Councilor Julic Shany

Tribal Councilor Gerald _y. Chidkida

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ribal Councilor Mel Helo L. fic >ofna

Tribal Councilor Belinda ardwett

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Tribal Counoilor Marvin PF Mulholland

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A copy of this Declaration is on file at the Tribal Council Legislative Office.

Page 3 of 3

Declaration 082210-002

Department of Energy

Golden Field Office

1617 Cole Boulevard

Golden, Colorado 80401-3393

July 22, 2010

Mr, Ken Harrington, Chairman

Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians

7500 Odawa Circle

Harbor Springs, MI 49740-9692

Dear Mr. Harrington,

The U. 8. Department of Energy is proposing to provide Federal funding to Mascoma Corporation for the

final design, construction, and operation of a celiulose-to-ethanol biorefinery near the City of Kinross,

Michigan in Chippewa County. Frontier Renewable Resources, LLC, a joint venture between Mascoma

Corporation and J.M. Longyear, LLC, would develop and operate the proposed facility. The proposed

facility is intended to further the government’s goal of rendering cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with

corn ethanol by 2012. .

The proposed biorefinery would utilize approximately 1,440 bone dry tons per day of hardwood

pulpwood to eventually produce up to 40 million gallons per year of anhyrdrous ethanol. Co-products,

such as the lignin and spent cullose from the process, would either be sold or used to produce steam and

electricity in a biomass boiler. Feedstock would consist of hardwood pulpwood within the Michigan

counties with a 150-mile radius of the site.

The proposed project site comprises a 355 acre plot of land in Kinross Township of Chippewa County,

Michigan, Township 45 North, Range 01 West, Sections 21 and 28. It lies approximately one-half mile

northeast of Kinross. The attached Site Location Map (Figure 1) provides an overview of the general

property and access to area roads. Frontier plans to construct the plant on approximately 50 acres located

within the southern 160 acres.

The proposed site is adjacent to the former Kincheloe U.S. Air Force base in Kinross. The site is

predominantly wooded with no existing structures and limited unpaved trails. A snowmobile trail runs

along thé west boundary of the property and cross a small portion of the northwest corner. ‘Figure 2

presents the Site Location Map with a 2005 Aerial Photo.

An environmental assessment (EA) is currently being prepared for the proposed Project by the

Department’s Golden Field Office to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.

DOE will include correspondence with your tribe in an appendix to the EA. This letter as well as the

draft EA, when it is available, will be posted in the DOE Golden Field Office online reading room:

http://www.eere.energy.gov/yolden/reading room.aspx. At this time we anticipate a 15-day public

comment period for this proposed project. You will receive a notice of the availability of the draft EA.

Please contact DOE if you would like to receive a hardcopy of the draft EA.

DOE is initiating consultation and requesting information your tribe may have on properties of traditional

religious and cultural significance within the vicinity of the proposed facility and any comments or

concerns you have on the potential for this proposed project to affect those properties, This information is

being requested to aid in the preparation of that Environmental Assessment and to meet our obligations

under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and the Native American Graves Protection

Federal Recycling Program & Printed on Recycted Paper

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and Repatriation Act of 1990. If you have any such information, require additional information, or have

any questions or comments about project, please ct me at the following address:

Ms. Kristin Kerwin

U.S. Department of Energy

1617 Cole Boulevard

Golden, Colorado

Email: kristin. kerwin@go.doe.gov

Phone: 303-275-4968

Please provide your comments within 30-days of receipt of this letter. Thank you in advance for your

consideration.

Sincerely,

Kawadrin Low

Kiistin Kerwin

NEPA Compliance Officer

Attachments

Figure 1.. Site Location Map

Figure 2, Site Location Map with a 2005 Aerial Photo.

CC: Ms. Winnay Wemigwase, Director

Cultural Preservation and Archives

Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians

7500 Odawa Circle

Harbor Springs, MI 49740-9692

a July 28, 2010

Mr, William Presson

Acting Permit Section Supervisor .

Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment Air Quality Division

P.O. Box 30260

nsing, MI 48909-7760—

—

RE: PTI # 166-09: Frontier Renewable Resources, LLC, Kinross, MI

Dear Mr. Presson,

Lam writing on behalf of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB)

Environmental Services Department (ESD) to express the LTBB ESD’s concerns with the

proposed Permit to Install #166-09 Frontier Renewable Resources wood to ethanol biorefinery in

Kinross, Michigan.

The LTBB ESD requests that the MDNRE Air Quality Division deny the current permit to install

due to the potential natural resource impacts resulting from permitted activities, The scope and

magnitude of air, water, forest, and other environmental impacts posed by Frontier Renewable

Resources distinguish the proposed facility as requiring a comprehensive environmental review

prior to individual permitting actions, such as the current Air Quality Division PTI #166-09, as

established under Michigan’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The LTBB

ESD requests that the MDNRE investigate and disclose the full range of environmental impacts

associated with the proposed Frontier Renewable Resources operation on the shared air, water,

and forest resources of the federally-recognized Tribes in Michigan and the State of Michigan.

Frontier Renewable Resources is proposing to build one of the first commercial scale wood-toethanol facilities in the United States. There is no existing emission dataset available for many

‘of the processes included in PTI 166-09. Emission data from corn ethanol production has been

used in lieu of missing emission data, yet many of the processes and materials in Frontier’s plan

are very different from those used in corn to ethanol plants. There is inadequate information for

permitting this commercial scale facility, where large quantities of criteria and hazardous air

pollutant emissions are expected, yet incalculable.

The Frontier Renewable Resources facility is proposed to be located within the northern range of

the 1836 Treaty of Washington ceded territory. Through the 1836 Treaty of Washington, the

ancestors of five federally-recognized Tribes in Michigan ceded over thirteen million acres of

land to the United States government, while reserving the rights of occupancy and

responsibilities to manage the natural resources within the ceded territory. The forest, water, and

air resource uses proposed by Frontier Renewable Resources threaten the health and resilience of.

the 1836 Treaty ceded territory and the exercise of treaty-reserved rights of LTBB citizens.

A major concern of the LTBB ESD is the 150 mile radius from which Frontier is planning to

extract hardwood resources for years to come, with a proposed average of 2,800 green tons of

hardwood resources consumed daily; this 150 mile radius covers a significant portion of

Northern Michigan and closely aligns with the boundaries of the 1836 Treaty Ceded Territory.

The LTBB mainiains rights and responsibilities over much of the forest resources that Frontier

Renewable Resources plans to use at the proposed facility, The magnitude of proposed forest

use by Frontier would limit the ability of Northern Michigan forests to store carbon, and studies

have shown a link between forest degradation/deforestation and increased greenhouse gas

emissions.

Prior to 2007, based on Frontier Renewable Resources’ proposed emissions of 101 tons per year

(ipy) of nitrogen oxides, 132 tpy of carbon monoxide, and 119 tpy of volatile organic

compounds, the facility would have been classified as a major stationary source of criteria

pollutants under Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) regulations. Although Frontier

seems to be in compliance with the post-2007 regulations, the LTBB ESD is extremely

concerned with the criteria, hazardous air, and toxic air pollutant emissions allowed in the permit

to install:

If Frontier is to be granted approval of a permit to install, the LTBB ESD would like to the see

the following actions/recommendations be requested of Frontier to further minimize any

negative environmental impacts:

- The LTBB ESD would like Frontier to provide more detailed information on the six

boilers that form a “nested” PSD minor stationary source. Since the projected emissions rate of

95 tpy of carbon monoxide is only 5 tpy below the threshold of a major source (100 tpy), the

LTBB ESD is concerned that the PSD major source threshold could be exceeded.

-Similarly, the LTBB ESD would like more detailed information on how Frontier plans to

maintain compliance with toxic air contaminant allowable emission rates, since estimates show

1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane at 90% of the allowable monthly rate.

-The LTBB ESD would like further clarification on the annual acrolein impact from

dispersion modeling. It is understood that acrolein testing is not included in the monitoring

requirements due to the test detection limit being higher than the expected emission

concentrations. However, the assumption that actual acrolein emissions “should be” lower than

estimates based on VOC and acetaldehyde emissions testing needs further explanation.

- The LTBB ESD would request that the evaporators used in solids separation employ :

controls to reduce criteria and hazardous air pollutant emissions from residual contamination in

the solids and water. ;

- The LTBB ESD would also request that the MDNRE Air Quality Division require

controls for VOCs on EUDRYER. The uncertainty in emissions estimation from this source

requires caution, in light of the magnitude of planned use and subsequent potential for emissions,

-The LTBB ESD would also request the MDNRE Air Quality Division require baghouses

on the lignin storage building, wood chippers, and processing center.

Tn addition, the possible expansion of the Frontier Renewable Resources facility to 80 million

gallons of ethanol per year and placement of a co-generation facility were included in the

Frontier Renewable Resources site plan (EvalForm Memo Fields for 166-09). This possible

expansion would double the size of Frontier’s operation and most likely make Frontier

Renewable Resources a major source. Frontier's current pursuit of a PSD minor air permit with

this doubling expansion in mind may be an effort in circumventing the Prevention of Significant

Deterioration process, a violation of the PSD provisions of the Clean Air Act. The LTBB ESD

requests that the MDNRE Air Quality Division and US EPA Region V investigate this issue to

ensure that the PSD provisions of the Clean Air Act are rightfully observed.

Furthermore, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Environmental Services

Department requests that the MDNRE deny the current air permit to install, conduct a

comprehensive assessment of the impacts of the proposed facility, and share that information

with the federally-recognized Tribes in Michigan. The MDNRE Air Quality Division may not

have the authority to directly regulate water, forest, and other natural resource uses; however,

MDNRE does have the authority to assess air, water, and forest resource impacts from the

proposed facility and to make permitting decisions informed by such an environmental impact

review.

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Environmental Services Department seeks to

work cooperatively with the State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources and

Environment in ensuring the health and strength of our shared natural resources.

Sincerely,

Michael Holmes Rachel Smolinski

Air Quality Specialist Environmental Services Director

Environmental Services Department Environmental Services Department

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

7500 Odawa Circle 7500 Odawa Circle

Harbor Springs, MI 49740 Harbor Springs, MI 49740

* (231) 242-1573 (231) 242-1571