In September 2011, the MCRC voted to move forward with a modified routing to CR 595; the new route was to pass to the west of Brocky Lake instead of the east to address concerns from the public. The new route decreased the length by while adding another creek crossing. The EPA and local environmental groups opposed the road, while Humboldt Township officials supported it. As part of the permitting process the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) held public hearings in 2012 about the CR 595 project. In drafting its application, the MCRC said that the purpose of the project is: To construct a primary county north–south road that  Hearings were held by the DEQ on February 15, 2012, and a decision at the state level was due by June 15, 2012. The EPA was to make its decision on the federal level based on input from the USFWS, the DEQ and the CoE; the CoE, USFWS and EPA all submitted comments that were extremely critical of the CR 595 proposal. EPA had recommended that the road commission re-examine two alternative routings; one would add a crossing of the Yellow Dog River immediately downstream of Pinnacle Falls, which the MCRC said would entail high construction costs. The second alignment would increase the length of the road by . In May 2012 the EPA filed a formal objection to the project which gave the MCRC until July 22 to address its concerns. Until the objection could be cleared, the DEQ could only issue a state-level permit for the project which would then require federal approval from the CoE, similar to the situation encountered by the Woodland Road proposal in 2010. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) expressed concerns over the potential for vehicle–wildlife accidents but also that these concerns could be minimized. The department expressed a willingness to work with the MCRC to address these concerns through consultations over several recommendations. In related news, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced a Transportation Economic Development Fund grant that would pay to reconstruct CR 601, which connects M-95 with the Humboldt Mill, and Co. Rd. AAA. The grant money was being provided to the MCRC, with local matching funds provided by Kennecott, to upgrade the two roads to "all-weather" status. Additional improvements were to include a left-turn lane for southbound traffic turning onto CR 601 from M-95 and the flattening of a small hill on CR 601. By the end of May 2012, the DEQ had lodged an objection to the CR 595 permit application; however, the MCRC was working to address it to receive the permits by the following July.