Senate Republicans, Industry Captives, Endorse "Travesty" Mining Bill

The State Senate has officially and undeniably had a breakdown.

News organizations are reporting that Wisconsin's far-right Senate leadership and eight other members of its 17-person caucus  - - including River Hills Senator Alberta Darling - - prefer the Assembly's outlandish mining bill to an ever-so-slightly less-toxic bill drafted by a GOP-led Senate special committee..

[An earlier version of this posting mistakenly brought a wetlands bill into the discussion. My apologies. The language was up briefly and is gone.]

The Assembly mining bill - - lauded earlier this week by conservative talk radio - - has been denounced as a childish environmental "travesty" by the Journal Sentinel - - though the paper editorially supports mining permit reform and faster-tracked applications.

The Assembly's bill wipes out a mandatory public hearing in existing law from mining permit reviews that the Senate bill delayed - - but did not eliminate - - and allowed for the possibility of short, 30-day permit review extensions if the DNR and applicant agreed.

That was all too much open government for the Assembly, and now for a majority of the Senate GOP caucus, too.

The Assembly bill was written behind closed doors, but with the help of officials from GTAC, the firm that wants a bill to speed its proposed open-pit iron ore mine near Ashland.

The Journal Sentinel is reporting that the clique of pro-Assembly Senators/mining captives is saying disingenuously that the Assembly bill - - written without named sponsors - - was "vetted" by the public and also by "federal agencies," suggesting endorsements, but the US Army Corps of Engineers warned the state months ago in writing that short-cutting permit review procedures, as the Assembly bill mandates, actually would lengthen the process.

And "vetted" by the public? How does that square with the Assembly's closed-door drafting process, pro forma hearings, and unwillingness to give a seat at the drafting table to northern Wisconsin residents, including the Bad River band of Chippewa whose treaty-protected wild-rice waterways are unacceptably close to the proposed mine?

From the Journal Sentinel today:

In a memo to legislators, Sen. Pam Galloway (R-Wausau) said, “given that the Assembly bill has been carefully vetted by the (Department of Natural Resources), federal agencies, several stakeholders, lawmakers, and the public alike, now is the time to move this reasonable legislation forward so we can create thousands of mining jobs in Wisconsin.”

In addition to Fitzgerald and Galloway, also signing on to the Assembly version of the bill were: Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa, Rich Zipperer of Pewaukee, Van Wanggaard of Racine, Alberta Darling of River Hills, Frank Lasee of De Pere , Mary Lazich of New Berlin and Joe Leibham of Sheboygabn.