mining

WI Legislators Set Up Mining Committee, But Leave Off Citizens

September 22, 2011 by The Political E...

Why don't they create a Legislative Council Study Committee instead of a Senate members-only body to get input into mining, science, employment and environmental issues?

Could it be that on those advisory committees, for more than 50 years, citizens have been strongly represented? 

...it provided a mechanism for the open and deliberative study of complex problems and the development of legislative solutions to those problems; and it involved private citizens in the legislative process.

That Senate Select Committee will be led by a member from Elkhorn whose pro-mining mind is made up, according to The Journal Sentinel:

On Wednesday, leaders of the Bad River band of Lake Superior Chippewa said they opposed the mine.

But tribal leaders also said they recognized that lawmakers would try to write new mining laws, and they said those changes should include environmental protections.

Confidence-Builder Up North? - - "Responsible Mining" Endorsed

September 16, 2011 by The Political E...

The Ashland County Board endorses "responsible mining."

That's how you protect the Lake Superior watershed?

Isn't responsible [open pit, for 20 miles, on pristine land] mining a little like "clean coal" or "low-tar cigarettes" or "low-fat potato chips?"

And as the State Legislature gets set to again take up fast-tracked permitting by a DNR deliberately turned pro-business by Scott Walker, is anyone reading the US Army Corps of Engineers warning against short-cutting state mining reviews?

Remember that Walker said he wanted someone running the DNR with "a chamber of commerce mentality."

How's about instead some responsible oversight, responsible policy-making, responsible stewardship, etc?

16 Democratic state senators; Do I hear 17? Going once, going twice ...

September 13, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

You've heard it here before and will no doubt hear it again: What's going on, Democrats?

On Tuesday, we celebrated the swearing-in of two new State Senators, Jennifer Schilling and Jessica King, slicing the Republican majority in the upper house to a single vote, at 17-16.

Those two women won recall elections last month, but Democrats failed to pick up the third seat they needed to be able to block the further passage of the Scott Walker/right-wing Republlican agenda.

A month ago, taking over the State Senate was life and death. So, have we given up, when one more seat would swing the balance? That's the way the media portrays it, reporting only about the possibility of recalling Walker himself next year and speculating about whether that will or could happen.

The latest Journal Sentinel story all but wrote off the legislature:

Will Wisconsin Officials Find Federal Water Letter In Their Minnesota Field Trip Packet?

September 3, 2011 by The Political E...

Wisconsin officials travel to Minnesota Tuesday to see how our neighbors to the northwest handle iron mine permitting.

Open pit mining projects are on Wisconsin's radar, and Walkerites have been talking about fast-tracking them - - even embedding in the law a shortened and fixed-term review period, regardless of projects' complexity, consequences and public participation requirements.

I wonder if a month-old letter from the US Army Corps of Engineers will find its way into the Wisconsin officials' field trip reading material, as the federal agency warns Wisconsin not to cut corners when reviewing mine permit applications - - a responsibility shared among state and federal agencies - - under the Clean Water Act and related law.

Summed up, I'd say the letter says open for business should not mean closed to law and common sense.

Wisconsin DNR Secretary Checks Her Beliefs At The Door. Really?

August 30, 2011 by The Political E...

That's the management style for the state's leading resource regulator, reports The Journal Sentinel's Lee Bergquist.

She said her job now is to serve as a cheerleader for the agency and its employees. She said she is striving to harmonize the often competing agendas of environmental regulation and environmental protection.

On the issue of climate change, Stepp declined to offer her thoughts on whether humans are contributing to a warming of the earth’s atmosphere.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” she said, adding, “My job is to check my beliefs and ideologies at the door.”

Or is this more about avoiding negative media and citizen criticism, other than being judged negatively for perhaps being inept, or uninformed, or just plain obtuse?

In a separate public television interview, Stepp said she didn't have any positions, or those that counted, on subjects such as clean water rules, or phosphorus regulation.