Ask any Capitol watcher what tops the agenda for the 2013-2014 legislative session, and it doesn't take long for mining to come up. A mining bill is coming any day now and is expected to be acted on early in the session.
The question is whether the bill has any hope of actually producing a mine.
Discussion of mining legislation centers around a proposed iron ore mine in the Penokee-Gogebic Range in the northern part of the state. The project has more than its share of doubters. Experts question its economic feasibility, pointing out that the ore is relatively low-grade not to mention deeply buried and hard to reach, quite possibly making the mine cost prohibitive.
Then there is the fact that the proposed mine's location is upstream from tribal land and would have a considerable environmental impact on the headwaters of the Bad River watershed. No state law can make the Army Corps of Engineers ignore its obligation to follow federal environmental protection laws during its review and approval process. Nor can any state law make the Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians surrender their treaty rights and their federally delegated authority to protect the watershed.
So this mining project seems doomed, either because it doesn't make economic sense or because of federal regulators or because of an inevitable tribal lawsuit. Looks like state legislators are in a huge rush to pass legislation greasing the skids for mining that contains no grease.
Looks like a fool's mission on the surface. But something tells me there is much more to this than meets the eye. There are at least three reasons state politicians might be eager to pass a mining bill that is exceedingly unlikely to result in the mine they claim they want and Wisconsin needs.
Reason #1: It's not iron ore lawmakers are interested in mining. Mining interests started making campaign contributions in Wisconsin in the summer of 2010. There is a lot more where that came from. Earlier this year, the day after telling reporters there was a way to breathe life back into the Penokee-Gogebic mining project, Governor Scott Walker embarked on a very successful mining expedition to the faraway hometown of the man behind the mine.
Reason #2: What they really are looking to dig up is a way to divert attention and deflect criticism. By one measure after another, Wisconsin is lagging badly in job creation. For all their promises to jumpstart the economy, state officials still have a dead battery on their hands. Those in charge know they stand to get blamed and they need cover. What to do? Pass a bill promising an economic boom and when it produces exactly what is to be realistically expected, which is nothing, throw up your hands in mock frustration and shift the blame for the state's woeful job-creation record to the feds and the tribes and the environmentalists and every last legislator who votes against the bill.
Reason #3: It's not this mine they really want. Pro-mining legislators let the industry write the legislation and showed no interest whatsoever in the input of tribal officials or the Army Corps of Engineers. That's curious since mining in the Penokee-Gogebic Range has huge environmental implications for the Bad River watershed, so this project necessarily gets caught up in the messy business of treaty rights and tribal sovereignty. And blowing off the Army Corps only stands to lengthen a review and approval process that business interests and their legislative supporters say they want to shorten. Makes no sense if you actually want this particular iron ore mine to happen. Starts making sense if Penokee-Gogebic is a trojan horse concealing the true motives for shortcircuiting the state permitting process and rewriting Wisconsin's environmental protection laws. All this legislative maneuvering for a project that has all the makings of a lost cause serves a purpose if what you are really trying to do is lay the groundwork for another form of mining that is even more environmentally sensitive than iron ore mining or some other kind of politically explosive land use that would best not be publicly acknowledged until after ground has been broken . . . nowhere near any reservation, of course, so as to avoid countless trips to federal court.
5 comments:
Reason #4: Gtac plans to cash in on the prospects of an iron mine, not the mine itself. Remember that in today's economy you don't need to be successful to get rich. Failure is as lucrative as success (think of Donald Trump and Mitt Romney). There are many ways that Gtac could enrich itself from this without every opening a mine. Bilking investors, for example. There is more than a little Music Man in Bill Williams song and dance about the iron mine.
Reason #5: Walker and the GOP are true believers who simply do not understand that they cannot legislate economic and physical reality. This may be a simple case of something being so stupid that it looks like cunning.
Frac sand is bad, but water is worse. It seems frac sand mining hasn't inspired much interest from the public. I guess they all feel it won't affect them directly. The only thing the oil industry needs more than Wisconsin's frac sand is water. Maybe the prospect of not having fresh water will light a candle under the populace.
The iron ore starts at the surface of the ground. The people up here have lived with mining for over a hundred years and want the mine. As far as water, the mining company was going to buy water from the city of Ironwood and pipe it out to the mine and recycle as much as possible. Right now is a good time to start a mine because by the time they have all the building done the market will be up.
"Right now is a good time to start a mine because by the time they have all the building done the market will be up." Really? What do you base that on? Worldwide iron mining capacity is expanding far faster than demand, and could expand even faster. China has had to slow its expansion plans because it cannot compete with cheaper ore from Australia, and Australia has more idle capacity than the US could produce if it mined everything it has at full tilt. In fact, the idle capacity of a single iron mining company could produce more iron in one year than Wisconsin has produced in its entire history. Do you really think that G-tac can mine a near-vertical deposit of crap ore more cheaply than China mines better deposits?
"The people up here have lived with mining for over a hundred years and want the mine." A lie. I live up there. I know for a fact that John Sendra who ran against Bewley lost by a sizable margin. That at every single public hearing on AB426 the response was overwhelmingly NO to this bill. That most of us who have to drink the water that the mine will destroy say no. Madeline Island passed a NO MINING resolution. No we "all" do not want the mine, in fact, most of us will give our lives to stop this disaster from happening. Get it straight before you speak.
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