Wisconsin senators unveil new mining bill

MADISON, Wis. — Senate Republicans on Monday unveiled a softer version of a bill to help an iron mine open in far northwestern Wisconsin, restoring a challenge process and creating a new tax that would help local governments pay for damage the mine might cause.

The new bill puts legislators under the gun. Assembly Republicans passed their own bill last month; now the two houses must find common ground on an incredibly complex, sensitive issue before the legislative session ends in mid-March. Complicating the dynamics even further, four GOP senators face recall efforts against them, forcing them to tread lightly.

“We know we have a fairly aggressive timeline to meet with the potential closing of the spring session,” said Sen. Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, chairman of the Senate mining committee that developed the bill. “It’s going to take a Herculean effort from members of the committee to put their noses to their grindstone.”

A company called Gogebic Taconite wants to dig a huge open-pit mine in the Penokee Hills just south of Lake Superior. The company has promised the project would create hundreds of jobs that will last for generations, a prospect that appeals to Republicans hungry to deliver on campaign job-creation promises. Conservationists, though, fear the mine would pollute one of the most pristine regions in the state. The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose reservation lies just north of the mine site, is particularly concerned runoff from the mine could contaminate their beloved wild rice beds.

Gogebic Taconite officials have put their plans on hold, though, saying they want legislators to guarantee a stopping point in the state’s complex, open-ended mining permit process. Republicans have been scrambling for most of the last year to come up with a bill that would streamline the process for the company.

Assembly Republicans passed a bill during the last week in January that would require the Department of Natural Resources to approve or deny an application within a year. If the agency doesn’t make a decision by then, the application would automatically be approved.

The measure does away with contested case hearings, semi-judicial proceedings to challenge DNR decisions during the process, a key tool for environmentalists. The legislation also blocks citizen lawsuits alleging permit violations and caps application fees at $200 million.

The bill also splits revenue from a state tax on ore sales between local governments and the state 60-40. Currently, 100 percent of the revenue goes to local governments to help them repair damage mining equipment might cause to public infrastructure such as roads.

Senate Republicans have been moving more slowly. The GOP holds only a one-vote majority in that chamber, and four Republican senators face recall drives over their support for Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s contentious law stripping public workers of their union rights. Forcing them to support a divisive mining bill might hand Democrats even more ammunition on the campaign trail.

Their bill steps back from some of the more contentious provisions in the Assembly legislation.

The Senate measure restores contested case hearings. It retains the year approval timeline but allows the DNR and the applicant to extend the deadline as many times as they wish by mutual agreement. And in a nod to local officials upset with the Assembly bill’s revenue split, it creates a new tax on mineral sales and divides it 70-30 between the locals and the state.

A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, had no immediate comment. Gogebic Taconite President Bill Williams said he hadn’t seen the bill early Monday evening and had no immediate comment. Democratic leaders in the Assembly and Senate didn’t immediately return messages.

Amber Meyer Smith, government relations director for environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin, said in a statement both bills are terrible.

“Unfortunately, the environmental rollbacks contained in the Senate bill are practically identical to those in the Assembly bill,” she said. “We urge the Senate to stand with the majority of Wisconsin residents who oppose weakening environmental protections for mining by starting over.”

The mining committee already has scheduled a public hearing for Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in southwestern Wisconsin, some 300 miles from the mine site just south of Lake Superior.

Assembly Republicans took waves of criticism for scheduling a hearing on their bill in a Milwaukee suburb hundreds of miles from the site. They ultimately decided to hold a second hearing up north.

Kedzie said he still wants to hold a northern hearing as early as next week in Ashland. He said he wants to gather input from across the state. The Platteville area has a rich history of mining, the school turns out mining engineers, and offers a large venue, he said.

“This,” he said, “is a starting point for the discussion.”