At a press conference late this morning in Madison, Assembly Republicans unveiled their 183 page rewrite of Wisconsin’s mine permitting process. The first question that comes to mind is, who wrote this bill? The second question would be, why a public hearing on the bill less than a week after we finally get a look at it? And the third and most obvious question, why a public hearing only in Milwaukee?
Let’s be perfectly clear. Mary Williams, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economy and Small Business, has the authority to schedule a hearing on this bill anywhere she likes, and yet she’s refusing to hold a hearing in the northwoods of Wisconsin where the environmental impacts of the Penokee Hills open pit iron mine could prove devastating to our water, land and air.
What are you afraid of, Representative Williams? Are you afraid of the people of northern Wisconsin? We won’t bite you. Promise. Schedule a hearing in Odanah, on the Bad River reservation, where Tribal Chairman Michael Wiggins has been very eloquent in his concerns about both the environmental and economic impacts the Penokee Hills mine will likely bring, and where people stand to lose the most if the mine becomes a polluter.
So bring your mining bill up north for a hearing, Representative Williams. As Tea Party darling Sharron Angle once said, ” Man Up. ” Anything less makes you look weak at the knees.
Milwaukee…home to the mining equipment manufacturers who will benefit from the mine…makes perfect sense.
Joy and Caterpillar are both having great years, too. Heck, I’ve heard rumors that Joy may become a takeover target.
Maybe Milwaukee would like to take the overburden from the mine? We could pile it on the shores of Lake Michigan. It would create a lot more trucking jobs!