Scott Walker's Failed Divide-and-Conquer Strategy for Iron County

Gogebic Taconite says Wisconsin mine isn't feasible; cites wetlands, EPA.   (Wisconsin State Journal, 2/28/2015)

Text source:  Wisconsin State Journal

As Bob Jauch also notes,
“This company manipulated the public, bought the Legislature and co-opted them into participating in one of the biggest scams in Wisconsin history.” 

The direct  Gogebic Taconite contributions to state legislators and candidates for office.

There was lots more where the above came from.

WI Senate Passes Mining Bill, Opposition to Continue.  (Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch, 2/28/2013)

As documented by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, special interest groups that support the mining bill "have contributed $15.6 million to the Republican-controlled legislature and GOP Governor Scott Walker" between 2010 and June 2012. They also found that mining deregulation interests outspent opponents of mining deregulation by 610 to 1. [Emphasis added]

The mining bill is SB1, introduced on January 18, 2013.

Solid red support.

Snippets from the Legislative Reference Bureau overview:

• This bill creates new statutes for regulating iron mining and modifies the current laws regulating metallic mining so that they cover only mining for nonferrous minerals. 
• The bill places standards for iron mining and for the reclamation of iron mining sites in the statutes, rather than requiring rule-making. The standards in the bill are similar in many respects to DNR's current rules and are less stringent in other respects. 
• Under the bill, these conditions on issuing a permit for metallic mining in a sulfide ore body do not apply to issuing a permit for iron mining. 
• This bill does not allow a contested case hearing on any decision by DNR related to a proposed iron mine before DNR acts on the application for the iron mining.
• Under this bill, the limits on the location of a mining waste site do not apply to the portion of an iron mine that is backfilled with mining waste. permit

Related posts:
Gogegic's best-laid plans.  (2/1/2015)
So says the Gogebic Taconite mouthpiece.  (9/3/2014)