Controversial Mining Bill Driven Over The Ferrous Cliff(s)
You have to give mining association executive and retired industrialist Tim Sullivan credit:
It takes ingenuity to a) be tasked by Gov. Walker to help save a once-defeated GOP Assembly iron mining bill originally labeled by the Journal Sentinel "a travesty of legislation" - - but then to b) further muddy the issue by getting the bill's version 2.0 tangled up in conflict-of-interest allegations...by the GOP's incoming Assembly Leader:
Rep. Scott Suder, the incoming Assembly majority leader, criticized Sullivan for not disclosing his ties to Cliffs [Natural Resources] when he testified before a Senate committee last week on the mining legislation...And, c) in this moment of minute-by-minute references to the "fiscal cliff," set off the latest round of rancor by accepting a lucrative board seat on a business named "Cliffs Natural Resources." Over the ferrous cliffs we go.
"I find this very disturbing," Suder said of Sullivan's work for Cliffs. "This raises some pretty serious red flags about Tim Sullivan's personal ethics and all of his comments about mining over the last six months."
Hat tip for the entire saga, Dan Bice.
6 comments:
Suder questioning someone's ethics. Ha!
So let’s get this straight, Tim Sullivan is the head of the Wisconsin Mining Association and now is also working for an iron mining company in Michigan. His testimony at the senate committee involved mining in general, and his views that there are changes to AB426 that would make it easier to pass federal regulations, and he also stressed that the sulfide mining laws need to be changed also. He never claimed to be a spokesman for GTAC or AB426 in particular, but for the mining industry in general; which he has done very well. If he was working against the interest of GTAC in Wisconsin and wanted to favor Cliffs in Michigan, and also felt that AB426 could be made better to facilitate federal permit approval, he simply would not have even brought the subject up. The fact that he did, shows that he is giving the best advice to the legislature that he can to promote mining in Wisconsin and it would be unethical for him not to do so.
The Republicans will present a mining bill in January which will be passed in the legislature that will bring mining back to Wisconsin. It will contain the essential elements of AB426 plus a few minor tweaks to help it sail through the federal permit process a bit easier. Those ferrous cliffs are a good launching pad to begin flying from, and the Wisconsin economy and employment rates should start to gently rise, like a bird with spread wings floating on an updraft.
For the record, Cliffs Natural Resources has a long history pollution violations in Minnesota and Michigan -- Fish kills in rivers and lakes as well as air pollution. This information is easily available through a simple google search. I don't think an official from the company is in any position to give beneficial advice on mining legislation.
Poetically delusional.
Have you also heard that GTAC is merely a contractor signing on to facilitate a public performance art project to transform the Penokee Hills into the world's largest man-made canyon and eco-park?
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Please, demonstrate how this flying-leap-off-a-cliff thing works.
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