http://news.wpr.org/post/mining-bill-signed-law
Mining Bill Signed Into Law
By: Chuck Quirmbach
Scott Walker has signed Wisconsin's new bill into a law, despite continuing oppositing statewide. Resistence is coming from several angles, including environmetalists, politicians, and Native Nations. The Native American tribes are expected to continue challenging the bill, hopefuly taking it all the way to the Supreme Court, and may be the strongest adversary of the bill claiming it violates federal treaties. The Governor says "Ultimately there will be a process in place. We'll consult, just as I started doing nearly two years ago with the tribal governments in the state..."
Walker, however, feels the mine will be a good thing for the state. The mine will certainly create hundreds of jobs for Wisconsin, including mining equipment manufacturers in Milwaukee. Job creation is an obvious reality for a project like this, but whats the cost? Native nations could pay the most, by being forced to give up the small plots of prestine lands they have left.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary #6
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/anne-sayers-mining-bill-puts-public-health-at-risk/article_dc68ad22-8824-11e2-8e60-001a4bcf887a.html
Mining bill puts public health at risk.
By Anne Sayers
"The open-pit mining bill gives the mining industry special exemptions from environmental and public health protections- protections that other industries must follow. In fact, the bill explicitly states that groundwater contamination by mining companies is acceptable."
Sayers' column for The Cap Times takes the time to pencil out the public health ramifications brought on by the ignorant, shameless passing of AB 426 in Wisconsin. She alerts readers that may not already be aware that this mine will put toxic material directly into our air as well as our water. The article defines for us both the specific chemicals, as well as the science behind how it ends up in the air and water, as well as the effect it will have on the human body. Diseases such as Mesothelioma, neurological disorders in adults, and developmental disabilities in fetuses, infants, and children.
Many rhetoricians have placed the focus on money, soverign nations, and also the environment, regarding the bill, but Sayers article might be more effective, placing the idea of our children becoming sick because of the mine. This bill is disturbing and disgusting, and I can't believe the offer is still on the table. Maybe the zombie apocalypse will begin right here in Wisconsin, after we all get mercury poisoning.
Mining bill puts public health at risk.
By Anne Sayers
"The open-pit mining bill gives the mining industry special exemptions from environmental and public health protections- protections that other industries must follow. In fact, the bill explicitly states that groundwater contamination by mining companies is acceptable."
Sayers' column for The Cap Times takes the time to pencil out the public health ramifications brought on by the ignorant, shameless passing of AB 426 in Wisconsin. She alerts readers that may not already be aware that this mine will put toxic material directly into our air as well as our water. The article defines for us both the specific chemicals, as well as the science behind how it ends up in the air and water, as well as the effect it will have on the human body. Diseases such as Mesothelioma, neurological disorders in adults, and developmental disabilities in fetuses, infants, and children.
Many rhetoricians have placed the focus on money, soverign nations, and also the environment, regarding the bill, but Sayers article might be more effective, placing the idea of our children becoming sick because of the mine. This bill is disturbing and disgusting, and I can't believe the offer is still on the table. Maybe the zombie apocalypse will begin right here in Wisconsin, after we all get mercury poisoning.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary #5
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/al-gedicks-wisconsin-is-testing-ground-for-mining-industry-response/article_d456bb28-8695-11e2-9195-0019bb2963f4.html
Al Gedicks: Wisconsin is testing ground for mining industry responses to opposition
In 1998 EXXON lost its battle with Mole Lake Ojibwe over the Crandon project, a sulfide mine operation threatening Wisconsin beginning in 1975. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crandon_mine)
This operation was set to destroy the headwaters of the Wolf River, but this "Prove it First" Mining Moratorium Law shut the operation down.
"Veterans of the Crandon mine battle were among those who mobilized public opinion against GogebicTaconite's proposal for a giant open-pit iron mine i the headwaters of the Bad River watershed..." This grass-roots movement has shut down many other mining proposals, so shouldn't we feel optimistic about it shutting down GTac, too?
"To counter growing opposition, GTac wrote a 206-page iron mining bill that not only exempts it from important environmental safeguards, such as prove it is safe first, but applies lessons the industry has learned from the Crandon mine defeat to the Penokee Hills strip mine project..."
This bill written by GTac gives only what they want the public toknow about their operation, and also gives the DNR very little to work with as well. Why would we trust a company that writes their own lawn to protect themselves? It makes no sense to me how something this obviously evil could ever be seen as something good for this state. Are we in need of jobs this badly. I only see this as a sure thing to destroy our wetlands and to be a cancer for this states environmental health. Lets all hope the movement that sent EXXON running for the hills can do so yet again before this evil empire can snake into our state and poinson our land.
Al Gedicks: Wisconsin is testing ground for mining industry responses to opposition
In 1998 EXXON lost its battle with Mole Lake Ojibwe over the Crandon project, a sulfide mine operation threatening Wisconsin beginning in 1975. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crandon_mine)
This operation was set to destroy the headwaters of the Wolf River, but this "Prove it First" Mining Moratorium Law shut the operation down.
"Veterans of the Crandon mine battle were among those who mobilized public opinion against GogebicTaconite's proposal for a giant open-pit iron mine i the headwaters of the Bad River watershed..." This grass-roots movement has shut down many other mining proposals, so shouldn't we feel optimistic about it shutting down GTac, too?
"To counter growing opposition, GTac wrote a 206-page iron mining bill that not only exempts it from important environmental safeguards, such as prove it is safe first, but applies lessons the industry has learned from the Crandon mine defeat to the Penokee Hills strip mine project..."
This bill written by GTac gives only what they want the public toknow about their operation, and also gives the DNR very little to work with as well. Why would we trust a company that writes their own lawn to protect themselves? It makes no sense to me how something this obviously evil could ever be seen as something good for this state. Are we in need of jobs this badly. I only see this as a sure thing to destroy our wetlands and to be a cancer for this states environmental health. Lets all hope the movement that sent EXXON running for the hills can do so yet again before this evil empire can snake into our state and poinson our land.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary Post #4
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20130303/GPG0602/303030147/Editorial-Process-writing-mining-legislation-flawed
Process of Writing Mining Legislation Flawed
Editorial- Green Bay Press Gazette
Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Polpar, hit the nail on the head when he said "Our job is not to be Santa Clause to a mining company and the Scrooge to the taxpayers of Wisconsin." We live in a state where the Republicans hold the majority, and with Republicans nearsighted solely on Bill 426 it's seems that they have one goal for this term; to wrecklessly disregard the environment and human life and turn Northern Wisconsin into a pit mine.
The editorial says, "It's been reported that Goebic Taconie called for modifications in the bill before it was even heard. For example, altering the recycling fee for waste rock from $7.03 per ton to 2.7 cents a ton benefits the mining company. That is estimated to cost the state's recycling and environmental programs $172 million a year." Special interests have plagued the Walker reign in Wisconsin, and this is another dispicable example of Big Business controlling our government. These decisions are mind boggling, and unfortunately not surprising one bit.
Process of Writing Mining Legislation Flawed
Editorial- Green Bay Press Gazette
Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Polpar, hit the nail on the head when he said "Our job is not to be Santa Clause to a mining company and the Scrooge to the taxpayers of Wisconsin." We live in a state where the Republicans hold the majority, and with Republicans nearsighted solely on Bill 426 it's seems that they have one goal for this term; to wrecklessly disregard the environment and human life and turn Northern Wisconsin into a pit mine.
The editorial says, "It's been reported that Goebic Taconie called for modifications in the bill before it was even heard. For example, altering the recycling fee for waste rock from $7.03 per ton to 2.7 cents a ton benefits the mining company. That is estimated to cost the state's recycling and environmental programs $172 million a year." Special interests have plagued the Walker reign in Wisconsin, and this is another dispicable example of Big Business controlling our government. These decisions are mind boggling, and unfortunately not surprising one bit.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary Post #3
http://www.protectourmanoomin.org/1/post/2013/02/wisconsin-mining-bill-threatens-genocide.html
"Wisconsin Mining Bill Threatens Genocide"
by Barbara With
Wisconsin's Bad River Band of Ojibwe's way of life, as promised to be protected by treaties of 1837 and 1842, is being threatened by Assembly Bill 426. "The treaties of 1837 and 1842 guaranteed the Ojibwe [the right] to stay in Lake Superrior basin in exchange for ceding the US government 23 million acres. In return, they would receive annuity pyments for 20-25 years, a combination of cash, food and services, and the right to hunt, fish, and gather on those 23 million acres for perpetuity (forver)." What that means is that they were allowed to stay, and continue living their lives as they had done for thousands of years, and even get a little monetary compensation for roughly a quarter century. Of course, it was understood by Chief Buffalo, who signed the treaties, that refusal to cooperate would end in the bloody demise of his entire nation.
Assembly Bill 426 threatens to turn the Ojibwe civilization in to a "21 -mile open-pit mountaintop removal iron ore mine." On January 23, current chair of the Bad River Band, Mike Mike Wiggins, jr., was allotted 2 minutes to stand before representatives of state legislature in Madison and "beg for the lives of 7,000 members of his community." With was in attendance and notes, "Having faced similar tibunal several times before, Wiggins looks slightly impatient with the new incarnation of yet another committee pushing the same corporate sponsored bill. Neither he nor any other representative of Wisconsin's Native Soverign Nations have been consulted."
So is Bill 426, this disgusting demolition of land and person, worth the opportunites for our state that it can't even guaruntee? This is the fourth time the public has been heard in regards to 426 since 2011. Each time evidence of the destruction iron mining wrought on our neighbors in Minnesota. "...iron ore mining [has] killed off wild rice in the St. Louis River for 100 miles..."
The Bad River Band relies on the waters of their land for the survival of his people, and Wiggins issues warnings to the committee- "Because were directly downstream and set to endure the impacts of this project, we view it as an iminent threat. This human threat really manifests itself in a form of genocide. Genocide." and "the obliteration of the head waters in a watershed system is catastrophic. It is catastrophic for the ecosystem, which is ultimately catastrophis for the human populationthat is dependent and interconnected with it."
Certainly what is acceptable treatment of human beings has changed since the first treaties were signed at gunpoint in the 1800's, but wiping out an entire civilization by poisoning its water in 2013 would be sending us back in time faster than Doc Brown ever could. The state of Wisconsin will have blood on it's hands if bill 426 is passed and mining begins.
"Wisconsin Mining Bill Threatens Genocide"
by Barbara With
Wisconsin's Bad River Band of Ojibwe's way of life, as promised to be protected by treaties of 1837 and 1842, is being threatened by Assembly Bill 426. "The treaties of 1837 and 1842 guaranteed the Ojibwe [the right] to stay in Lake Superrior basin in exchange for ceding the US government 23 million acres. In return, they would receive annuity pyments for 20-25 years, a combination of cash, food and services, and the right to hunt, fish, and gather on those 23 million acres for perpetuity (forver)." What that means is that they were allowed to stay, and continue living their lives as they had done for thousands of years, and even get a little monetary compensation for roughly a quarter century. Of course, it was understood by Chief Buffalo, who signed the treaties, that refusal to cooperate would end in the bloody demise of his entire nation.
Assembly Bill 426 threatens to turn the Ojibwe civilization in to a "21 -mile open-pit mountaintop removal iron ore mine." On January 23, current chair of the Bad River Band, Mike Mike Wiggins, jr., was allotted 2 minutes to stand before representatives of state legislature in Madison and "beg for the lives of 7,000 members of his community." With was in attendance and notes, "Having faced similar tibunal several times before, Wiggins looks slightly impatient with the new incarnation of yet another committee pushing the same corporate sponsored bill. Neither he nor any other representative of Wisconsin's Native Soverign Nations have been consulted."
So is Bill 426, this disgusting demolition of land and person, worth the opportunites for our state that it can't even guaruntee? This is the fourth time the public has been heard in regards to 426 since 2011. Each time evidence of the destruction iron mining wrought on our neighbors in Minnesota. "...iron ore mining [has] killed off wild rice in the St. Louis River for 100 miles..."
The Bad River Band relies on the waters of their land for the survival of his people, and Wiggins issues warnings to the committee- "Because were directly downstream and set to endure the impacts of this project, we view it as an iminent threat. This human threat really manifests itself in a form of genocide. Genocide." and "the obliteration of the head waters in a watershed system is catastrophic. It is catastrophic for the ecosystem, which is ultimately catastrophis for the human populationthat is dependent and interconnected with it."
Certainly what is acceptable treatment of human beings has changed since the first treaties were signed at gunpoint in the 1800's, but wiping out an entire civilization by poisoning its water in 2013 would be sending us back in time faster than Doc Brown ever could. The state of Wisconsin will have blood on it's hands if bill 426 is passed and mining begins.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary Post #2
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/margaret_krome/margaret-krome-mining-bill-an-assault-on-sacred-lands-and/article_a31c93d4-747a-11e2-ba47-001a4bcf887a.html
"Margaret Krome: Mining bill an assault on sacred lands and waters"
Chair of Wisconsin's Bad River Band of Ojibwe, Mike Wiggins, spoke recently of his tribes ancient way of growing and harvesting wild rice at an agricultural conference near Ashland, Wi. Among the sets of ears in the crowd was Margaret Krome, program director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institue in East Troy. Krome had hoped to hear Wiggins speak his thoughts in regards to Wisonsin Assembly Bill 426, a proposed bill that would permit a taconite mining operation to set up and drill in Ojibwe, as well as state land, in Northern Wiscinsin. Wiggins, however, kept politics out of his presentation and spoke only of the "sacred nature of these rice beds, these fruitful waters and lands,so necessary to the clean waters around them, and so dependent on them."
Krome's column shows a firm understanding of how bill 426 will inevitably destroy the local tribes rice beds stating-"The proposed taconite mine in the Penokee Hills is a monumental assault upon the 125,000 acres or their reservation, the miles of waterways that empty into the Bad River, the prestine waters that would inevitably be polluted, and the rice beds that have been the corner stone of the tribe's identity for centuries."
Bill 426 would effectively remove the Department of Natural Resources, as well as the public's ability to have any review of mining operations, essentially tying our hands and forcing us to go along with whatever the mining company says is safe, or in our best interest. Secondly, the bill would "set a cap for how much the [mining] company must pay for such review and transfer the rest of the costs to the state." Lastly, the mining company would be "exempt from natural resource and public health rotections that are needed to protect the health of our state."
"Margaret Krome: Mining bill an assault on sacred lands and waters"
Chair of Wisconsin's Bad River Band of Ojibwe, Mike Wiggins, spoke recently of his tribes ancient way of growing and harvesting wild rice at an agricultural conference near Ashland, Wi. Among the sets of ears in the crowd was Margaret Krome, program director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institue in East Troy. Krome had hoped to hear Wiggins speak his thoughts in regards to Wisonsin Assembly Bill 426, a proposed bill that would permit a taconite mining operation to set up and drill in Ojibwe, as well as state land, in Northern Wiscinsin. Wiggins, however, kept politics out of his presentation and spoke only of the "sacred nature of these rice beds, these fruitful waters and lands,so necessary to the clean waters around them, and so dependent on them."
Krome's column shows a firm understanding of how bill 426 will inevitably destroy the local tribes rice beds stating-"The proposed taconite mine in the Penokee Hills is a monumental assault upon the 125,000 acres or their reservation, the miles of waterways that empty into the Bad River, the prestine waters that would inevitably be polluted, and the rice beds that have been the corner stone of the tribe's identity for centuries."
Bill 426 would effectively remove the Department of Natural Resources, as well as the public's ability to have any review of mining operations, essentially tying our hands and forcing us to go along with whatever the mining company says is safe, or in our best interest. Secondly, the bill would "set a cap for how much the [mining] company must pay for such review and transfer the rest of the costs to the state." Lastly, the mining company would be "exempt from natural resource and public health rotections that are needed to protect the health of our state."
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Dan Millis Article Summary Post #1
http://mountainsofwisconsin.onza.net/
"The Mining Bill Will Tax You; It Might Take Your Home Too"
by Kevin O'Connell
Wisconsinite Kevin O'Connell is calling our state to help take a stand against Florida based mining company Gogebic Taconite and their push for us to change our mining laws. A few changes in our laws would allow them to mine iron ore from the Penokee Mtn. Range.
Of our current mining laws, written just a few years ago,O'Connell says "...we seem to have done pretty well by them to this point. The state is in fact undergoing a mining bonanaza currently, as Wisconsin's clean sandstone is being brought up by the trainload by the oil, and natural gas industry. However, a Florida company, Gogebic Taconite, wishes us to change our laws so that they may make a good profit taking the iron that is locked up in one of the only real mountain ranges that we have in wisconsin, destroying it in the process."
On the surface, a new mining operation might sound like a good thing for Wisconsin, but if we dig deeper into the issue the author points out what starting an operation of this magnitued entails, and maybe more importantly, will cost.
"For one thing for this mine to operate, the state will have to pour money into infrastructure such as new schools, sewage treatment plants, hospitals and clinics, police and fire departments, utility lines, roads, and a big new local government bureaucracy to administer the whole thing. No doubt the cost will be at least a billion dollars to start."
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, it is a state rich in many mineable minerals, such as zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold. The article continues on as a hypothetical- a slippery slope account of what could happen to our state if we let down our "barriers against irresponsible mining." Madison and Mt. Horeb, from Green Bay to Lake Geneva, Oshkosh, Appleton, Baraboo, Devil's Lake State Park, Wausau all turned into pits, homes destroyed, our state stripped and left naked and broken. But hey, it would bring jobs to Wisconsin, right?
"The Mining Bill Will Tax You; It Might Take Your Home Too"
by Kevin O'Connell
Wisconsinite Kevin O'Connell is calling our state to help take a stand against Florida based mining company Gogebic Taconite and their push for us to change our mining laws. A few changes in our laws would allow them to mine iron ore from the Penokee Mtn. Range.
Of our current mining laws, written just a few years ago,O'Connell says "...we seem to have done pretty well by them to this point. The state is in fact undergoing a mining bonanaza currently, as Wisconsin's clean sandstone is being brought up by the trainload by the oil, and natural gas industry. However, a Florida company, Gogebic Taconite, wishes us to change our laws so that they may make a good profit taking the iron that is locked up in one of the only real mountain ranges that we have in wisconsin, destroying it in the process."
On the surface, a new mining operation might sound like a good thing for Wisconsin, but if we dig deeper into the issue the author points out what starting an operation of this magnitued entails, and maybe more importantly, will cost.
"For one thing for this mine to operate, the state will have to pour money into infrastructure such as new schools, sewage treatment plants, hospitals and clinics, police and fire departments, utility lines, roads, and a big new local government bureaucracy to administer the whole thing. No doubt the cost will be at least a billion dollars to start."
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, it is a state rich in many mineable minerals, such as zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold. The article continues on as a hypothetical- a slippery slope account of what could happen to our state if we let down our "barriers against irresponsible mining." Madison and Mt. Horeb, from Green Bay to Lake Geneva, Oshkosh, Appleton, Baraboo, Devil's Lake State Park, Wausau all turned into pits, homes destroyed, our state stripped and left naked and broken. But hey, it would bring jobs to Wisconsin, right?
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