St. Croix County Democratic Party Decries GOP Mining (Disaster) Bill

The St. Croix County Democratic Party

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, March 11, 2013

Contact: Roy Sjoberg, CoChair, St. Croix County Democratic Party

(651) 295-4811, rsjoberg2010@gmail.com

HUDSON – Anyone observing the limited legislative public hearings on the mining bill would come to a quick conclusion that there would be no amendments allowed to pass that would upset the big money investors from Florida, the true authors of this bill.  It would not be too difficult to see which political party was the recipient of hundreds of thousands of soft money campaign contributions from the mining interests.  This legislation was bought and paid for sure enough. That’s the way it works after Citizens United.  Some of the common sense amendments offered, but ignored, by our local assembly person and our local senator, included:

1. The Cullen Bill. This was a bipartisan mining reform bill that was a product of four informational hearings, a public mark-up meeting, and a listening session in Northern Wisconsin. Rejected by the Republican-controlled legislature.
2. Habitat Protection Amendment. This amendment would have protected our natural waters by making it clear that the destruction of wetlands should be presumed unnecessary. The Army Corps of Engineers has stated that it would not be able to work with Wisconsin regulators who are forced to follow the new bill’s presumption that the filling of wetlands is necessary. The Republicans’ bill does exactly that.
3. Save Trout Streams Amendment. This amendment would have removed language that puts navigable waters at risk. The Republicans’ mining bill allows for the complete elimination of many trout streams, in clear violation of the Public Trust Doctrine.
4. Stop Pollution Amendment.  This amendment aimed to protect the DNR’s authority to stop work at a mine if there is an immediate and substantial threat to public health and safety, which is current law. This amendment was rejected by the Republican controlled Senate and Senator Harsdorf went right along. You might ask, why didn’t she speak out against this widely unpopular bill?
5. Jobs for Wisconsin Amendment. This amendment would have required the out-of-state (Florida) mining company to hire Wisconsin residents to work any mines in Wisconsin, holding the bill’s authors and corporation to their promise of creating jobs for Wisconsin workers. This, too, was rejected by the Republicans. Go figure.

There are two impressions that will really hit home going forward, as a result of this disaster of a mining bill.

1. Legal challenges, delays and great expense. Because of the issues with the Army Corps of Engineers, the violation of the Public Trust Doctrine, the possible violation of our Native American Treaty, and the violations of the federal clean water laws, this bill will require a huge legal budget for the Department of Justice. Perhaps this bill should be called the Republican sponsored Lawyer Full Employment and Enrichment Act. Wisconsin taxpayers will, of course, be the ones who have to pay for this!
2. Why Can’t Our Republican Leaders Just Be Honest With Us?   In Governor Walker’s remarks as recently February 28, 2013 to the Business Journal in Milwaukee, he stated, “We are going to go forward with a permitting process that still protects our natural resources. It’s (meaning our natural resources) incredibly important to tourism, it’s important to agriculture and timber in (northern Wisconsin). We’re not going to do anything that jeopardizes that.”

But then finally, the bill’s official author, Senator Tom Tiffany, was forced to admit that the bill would have impacts to the environment. Why did he come clean?  Was it that he could not sleep due to the torment of the stream of misinformation that there would be no harm?  Nope.  He only changed his tune so that if there is a court challenge, which is a certainty, that the legislative intent would indicate that the legislature itself anticipated and consented to the harmful impacts. Thus offering a protective shield to the Florida operators.

Very sad that the bill’s official author is more interested in protecting the Florida investors’ profits than Wisconsin’s wetlands, rivers, streams and rice beds. But then, what else could he do when the real authors of this scandalous legislation are the lawyers of the Florida mining company.

Senator Tiffany confessed the truth when he was grilled by a reporter at Cap Times on how Republicans could continue to claim the mining bill doesn’t risk environmental harm when:

1. Existing statutory language is changed from “significant adverse effects are presumed to be unnecessary” to “significant adverse effects are presumed necessary.”
2. The president of Gogebic Taconite said in a recent Wisconsin State Journal article that as much as 30 to 40 percent of the 3,300 acres it is leasing could be covered by waste piles if its builds the open-pit ore mine.
3. The iron ore containing area contains hundreds of acres of wetlands, numerous pristine trout streams and small tributaries that feed into the Bad River. And the Bad River winds through numerous culturally and economically significant rice beds. [Can you spell lawsuit?

To end this sad review, here is a partial list of misleading tales told by some of the promoters of this ruinous legislation:

1. Sen. Alberta Darling, “It’s clear that people voting against this bill are more interested in hurting our economy than protecting the environment.”
2. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, “Today, after nearly two years of public debate, Senate Republicans passed a bill that opens the door for thousands of jobs while protecting our natural resources.”
3. Rep. Dean Knudson, “Here in Wisconsin we have a mining heritage and a tradition of environmental stewardship. This bill changes none of that. I’m confident that our process has produced legislation [that] will allow for much-needed economic development without harming the environment.”

Erin O’Brien, the wetland policy director with the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, said, “If this is not an environmental rollback, I don’t know what is. We have been told again and again and again that this bill does not harm the environment.  Here, (with Sen. Tiffany’s late admission) we finally have an admission from this Legislature that [it] is not only their intent to pass legislation that allows significant adverse effects to wetlands but for those adverse impacts to hold up in court.”

We suggest you ask yourself, “What justification was there for our Republican friends and elected leaders in the state legislature to cover up the truth about the impact this bill will have on Northern Wisconsin’s environment?” Great environmental harm will certainly occur unless our court system can stop this sell out of our natural resources. Dozens of conservation groups, environmental organizations, and our friends who are most directly and seriously affected, the Native American tribes of Northern Wisconsin, will be filing their lawsuits before Governor Walker’s ink is dry.

View the area through the photos on the Nature Conservancy website.  Then picture what the area will look like once the Florida profiteers have made their riches at the permanent expense of God’s land, rivers and streams.  That will be the lasting legacy of this Republican-made disaster of a mining bill. It is totally sad.

Roy Sjoberg, CoChair 2013

The St. Croix County Democratic Party

Contact the party at 715-381-9600 or visit www.stcroixcountydemocrats.org