Wisconsin gets another chance for Gogebic Taconite iron mine

It is not often a state gets a do-over, but it looks like Wisconsin will have another opportunity to woo Gogebic Taconite to open an iron mine--with its 700 good paying jobs--in Ashland County.

With Republicans gaining a healthier majority in the State Senate, passage of the Assembly's mining bill for streamlining of the mining approval process is likely. And with a passed mining bill, Gogebic Taconite says they are still interested in Wisconsin.

Because State Senate Republicans are no longer dependent on their weakest link, Sen. Dale Schultz, they should be able to pass the streamlined mining approval bill. Ironically, now that passage seems inevitable, Democrat Senator Tim Cullen now invokes Thomas Jefferson's appeal for "broad support for sweeping change"! In Sunday's paper, Cullen made his plea for not ramming through legislation with a slim majority.

Cullen's plea, however, seems very out of character with Democrats' actions, both in state and in Washington. After all, didn't Cullen join with the other Democrat State Senators when the 14 fled the state to deny the Senate Republicans from having a quorum during the Act 10 battle? And though he flirted with leaving the Democrat caucus in July, 3 days later he rejoined them with a promise of chairing 2 newly created committees--one being Mining.

As for Democrats in the U.S. Senate, didn't Harry Reid tweak and torture Senate rules to pass Obamacare on the slimmest of majorities? Hardly following Thomas Jefferson's appeal for broad support for sweeping change! Cullen stood with both Obama and Tammy Baldwin in the last election, so I guess that shows how much Cullen really values Thomas Jefferson's words of wisdom.

Since the introduction of iron mining would be a great boon for all of Wisconsin, I would like to think Democrats could put partisanship aside and do what is best for the state. Keep in mind the mining bill includes environmental protections, and iron mining is akin to quarrying, which goes on all over our state, it is not toxic strip mining. And the 700 jobs? Those are promised to be 95% union jobs, certainly a boon to economically challenged northern Wisconsin.

However, putting partisanship aside doesn't seem to be the direction state Democrats wish to move in: they just named Democrat Chris Larson as their Minority Leader. (Larson is a true liberal, believing that reducing government is reducing democracy!)

No doubt a passed mining bill will end up tangled in the Madison courts, just as our passed Voter ID and Act 10 have. But at least we should be able to jump the first hurdle of passing the mining legislation. The court battle will have to be overcome another day*.


*Note: Wisconsin has an extremely important State Supreme Court race coming up in April 2013, where we must reelect Justice Pat Roggensack.



Walker: With new bill, mining company will return 
Best mining bill would have wide support 
UPDATE: Sen. Tim Cullen rejoins Democratic Caucus
Democrats elected Chris Larson as state Senate leader
Sen Chris Larson Says, "Reducing Government" is Reducing Democracy"
Hurley residents decry 'devastating' collapse of Wisconsin mining bill
The importance of the upcoming WI Supreme Court race to Republicans 
Wisconsin Justice Pat Roggensack
Past Posts:

State mining bill on life support, call Senators to save! March 9, 2012

Wisconsin Tea Party Reaction to Mining Debacle  March 9, 2012
Wisconsin Senate mining bill took wrong turn, now better Feb. 15, 2012

Links: Practically Speaking, Fairly Conservative, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, WisPolitics Quorum Call, Wisconsin Reporter, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation, The Way <><

Senate mining bill on life support, call Senators to save!

Sixteen Democrats and one Republican in Wisconsin's State Senate put a stake in the heart of the mining industry in our state on Tuesday, when the Senate version compromise bill was narrowly defeated by 1 vote. If Republican Dale Shultz or even just one Democrat would have voted in favor of this bill, Gogebic Taconite, G-Tac, wouldn't be leaving for more mining friendly, and also iron rich, Minnesota and Michigan.

It seemed any hope of streamlining the mining approval process with a mining reform bill was dead, because the Senate session ends on March 15th. But yesterday and today it seems there just might be a glimmer of hope to revive this job-rich bill.

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp spoke on both the Mark Belling Show yesterday and Vicki McKenna's radio program today. She emphasized how the Senate Mining Bill did not circumvent DNR rules as opponents said; it just set a timeline, a shorter deadline, for a mine's approval process. Each specific mine proposal would still have to meet DNR, Army Corps of Engineers, etc. requirements.

So what wasn't to like? The failed Senate mining bill added improved wet land creation in its language over present legislation, it was backed by 9 private sector unions, and G-Tac assured 95% of the jobs created would be union jobs.

Vicki also emphasized today that iron mining is NOT strip mining, but pit mining. We are familiar with pit mining in almost every area of Wisconsin because it is the same type of mining that rock quarries use. The G-Tac mine pit would be 15 acres in size, about the size of the square block I live on. Once all the iron ore was extracted, it would be restored. In fact, beautiful Lake Wazee, the deepest inland lake in Wisconsin, is a good example of the aftermath of a former taconite quarry or pit mine.

If Democrat Senators like Tim Carpenter (608) 266-8535 or Chris Larson (608) 266-7505 will rethink their votes, since their districts could benefit from the increase in jobs at mine equipment builders Caterpillar or Joy Global in Milwaukee, the mining bill and the mining industry in Wisconsin could be saved. If not, we have just secured our place in the race to the bottom for the most unfriendly mine locations in the world.

So it is up to the residents of this state to make one last plea to their Senator to change their mind on voting for mining in Wisconsin. Hopefully, they will reconsider. If just one Senator does, the mining bill could make a miraculous recovery and all of Wisconsin will benefit.

Find your State Senator here. Be polite; you are making an appeal.

More Reading:
Gogebic drops plans for iron ore mine
And now we know
Hurley residents decry 'devastating' collapse of Wisconsin mining bill
Wisconsin Tea Party Reaction to Mining Debacle

Past Post: Wisconsin Senate mining bill took wrong turn, now better

Links: Practically Speaking, Fairly Conservative, RandyMelchert, Betterbrookfield, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, WisPolitics Quorum Call, Wisconsin Reporter, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation

Wisconsin Tea Party Reaction to Mining Debacle

I received this press release in my inbox yesterday:

For Immediate Release: March 8, 2012
Contacts: Kim Simac, 715.479.8784
Annette Olson, 715.760.0665

Wisconsin Tea Party Leaders React to Mining Debacle

(Eagle River, WI) – Few examples illustrate as clearly as the GTac mining debacle why citizens across the state of Wisconsin now claim allegiance to the Tea Party Movement. So many of the problems with which we take profound issue have been on prominent display in recent days—not least, holding industry hostage to excessive taxation and over-burdensome regulations. The shameful and all too predictable outcome in this case has been yet another crippling of entrepreneurial spirit in our state.

Who really pays?

GTac is a large, proven employer with a good track record, whose executives honorably promised to bring good conservation practices and a great economy to a state starving for jobs. They can now find some other state in which to mine. Northern Wisconsin, however, remains in economic depression, under which it has already suffered for years. Hundreds of people across the state desperately want and need solid, good-paying jobs to help them survive a challenging economy remain. The GTac mine and the expansion it would have brought to related business and industry could have made a substantive difference. Never mind the valuable tax revenues this mining project would have brought to state and local tax bases.

As Tea Party organizers in Wisconsin, we have publicly maintained these past three years that opportunity, prosperity, and the individual right to pursue them have been grossly hindered by over-reaching and infringing state and federal governments. We have also consistently noted too great a willingness on the part of our elected officials to pander to special interests against the wise will of the people. We amplify that message today.

The mining bill is not the first victim of this marriage between special interests and big government. We can cite many others. The rich, renewable resources available in Wisconsin’s forests, for example, have long been placed beyond the reach of those who could benefit from them. Environmental groups, with the complicity of too many politicians and bureaucrats, have essentially hogtied Wisconsin logging, mills, and additional wood product businesses.

One must ask the question: How do environmental groups and the elected officials who pander to them propose that residents of Northern Wisconsin provide a living for themselves? With this mine now yanked out of reach, with the promise of economic success once again cruelly removed, how will people continue to inhabit these regions? Could it be that prosperity and a future for these citizens is not a priority for these special interest groups and their elected friends?

We put these questions to our Democratic state senators and their close ally Senator Dale Schultz, whose ―"Republican" alignment with radical environmental and other special interest agendas raises serious questions of its own.

This is a sad day for Wisconsin, and particularly for the children of our state, whose short- and long-term well being has been grossly overlooked. Radical outside interests, using obvious
influence to control the decisions of our legislators, have in fact assured that the children of northern Wisconsin in particular, now face a future of far less stability, opportunity, and prosperity.

We, the undersigned and our respective memberships, will not rest until this trend is reversed.

Kim Simac and Shirley Kufeldt, Northwoods Patriots
Annette Olson, Un-Infringed Liberty
Kirsten Lombard, The Wisconsin 9/12 Project
Dan Horvatin, Rock River Patriots
Joanne Terry, Ozaukee Patriots
Matt Strublic, Oshkosh TEA Party
Jim Kiser, Fond du Lac TEA Party
Jeff Horn, Prairie Patriots
Paul Lembrich, Rock County Voter Education Forum
Ed Perkins, Fox Valley Initiative
Ken Van Doren and Todd Welch, Campaign for Liberty
Dr. Sidney Johnson, Central Wisconsin Tea Party
Lora Halberstadt and Nancy Milholland, Racine TEA Party
Seth Cowan, Wolf River Area Patriots
Joe Delsman, Northeast Wisconsin Patriots
Steve Welcenbach, Conservative Insurgency
Dan Curran, Concerned Citizens of Iowa County

Links: Practically Speaking, Fairly Conservative, RandyMelchert, Betterbrookfield, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, WisPolitics Quorum Call, Wisconsin Reporter, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation