Wis. budget panel to consider mining bill

MADISON, Wis. — The Legislature’s finance committee is set to hold a hearing on a contentious bill designed to jumpstart an iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin.

Gogebic Taconite wants to dig an open-pit mine just south of Lake Superior. Company officials have promised the project will create hundreds of jobs but want lawmakers to guarantee a stopping point in the state’s open-ended permit process.

Assembly Republicans have passed a measure that would require a permitting decision within a year, eliminate contested case hearings and cap application fees at $2 million. A Senate mining committee developed its own bill, but Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has chosen to drop it and move the Assembly bill instead.

The finance committee hearing is set for Friday morning in the state Capitol.