One State Senator's Exasperation At Legislating Arrogance

State Sen. Tim Cullen, (D-Janesville), author of an alternative measure to the GOP's mining bill on a fast track to adoption, called out his colleagues:

The overarching difference between the mining legislation I introduced and Senate Bill 1, a competing mining proposal, is that my bill will ensure the mining waste stays out of all of that water in the Penokee area. SB 1 allows waste to be dumped in water. For example, SB 1:

• Directs the state Department of Natural Resources to presume the destruction of wetlands is necessary for iron mining. This would reverse current law, which requires the minimization of damages to wetlands and directs the DNR to presume adverse impacts to wetlands are unnecessary.
• Creates loopholes to environmental regulations by drastically broadening the scope of exemptions that are permissible throughout the permitting process.
• Allows mining companies to destroy streams, rivers and lakes as long as minimal "compensation" measures are taken anywhere else in the state...

Why the authors of SB 1 never reached out to the Army Corps I will never understand.

The Bad River band, whose reservation is downstream from the mine site, is a sovereign nation and will have an enormous say in whether mining ever occurs in northern Wisconsin.

Yet it seems as though the authors of SB 1 intend to pass a bill without input from the tribes.

The fact that the authors of SB 1 do not acknowledge these absolute realities astounds me.