Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Will DNR Green-Light Iron Ore Test Borings In Penokee Hills?

We'll know in a few days if the DNR will give GTAC a permit to drill 13 test borings up to 1,200 feet deep where the company wants to mine iron ore in Northern Wisconson.

How will the agency make sure polluted drilling waste water and other boring debris does not contaminate the ground water, surface water and surrounding terrain?

Good questions to turn into comments calling for a careful environmental review in advance of any permit or remediation orders, and sent to your legislator and also to the DNR's mining person:
Ann Coakley
Director, Bureau of Waste and Materials Management at Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Ann.Coakley@wisconsin.gov   
How the DNR manages this process will indicate how rigorous a regulator it intends to be as perhaps decades of mountain-top and open-pit mining moves billions of tons of trees, vegetation and rock - - for decades - - in the Bad River watershed near Lake Superior.    

3 comments:

  1. They had ten days to respond. What a farce. How can you make a decision in 10 days?

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  2. Will the DNR approve the test borings? Is a 40-pound rabbit fat?

    Will the DNR approve the mine itself regardless of the environmental risks? Is Cathy Stepp a hard-line right-wing partisan hack with no background or interest in natural resources?

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  3. Text Ann with your concerns - she is out of the office me due to poor broadband up there she may not be able to be reached.

    Greetings, I will be out of the office on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you need to reach me immediately, please try my cell phone at 608-516-2492. Please note that I will be out of cell phone coverage most of Tuesday. I will be back in the office on Thursday. Regards, Ann

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