Republican Legislators who want to set arbitrary 300-day mining permit review deadlines - - this to give a proposed four-mile-long open pit mine near Lake Superior a quickie approval - - are said to considering a concession to an outraged public: adding 65 days to their arbitrary review scheme to make it a nice, neat one-year.
Is there any science, data, experience that says 365 days is the magic number? Why not 366? Or 500?
This is legislating with calculators, Ouija boards and dice. The whole approach is condescending and over-the-top political.
And needs to be rejected.
Why do they hate our waters?
ReplyDeleteHave people also seen how in other states the "public comment" procedure was completely re-made? Instead of people speaking in public,in a group or having any sense of community, knowing how many of their fellows are also protesting or dissenting, seeing and hearing each other's ideas and perhaps being able to build on them etc = people are taken as individuals in to a private room with a stenographer type person who then records their remarks. In total isolation as I understand it. You would never have any idea what other citizens are saying. The mining company could say that 1000 people made pro-mine remarks and 5 made anti-mine remarks. You'd never have any sense of reality or real numbers. Absolutely no witnesses to what people said. It's described very benignly here but I find this very weird
ReplyDeleteHow can it really be Public comment if the Public can't hear it?
http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/index.php/2009/12/02/interest-in-polymet-proposal-leads-to-enhanced-public-information-efforts/