Monday, December 15, 2014

WI taxpayers paying iron mining firm permit costs

On Sunday night I wrote a posting about the money Wisconsin taxpayers are shelling out to pay bills created by Walker and the GOP's right-wing methods and ideology:
Attention WI taxpayers: Your Governor's ideology is costing you $$
And just a few hours later, the Journal Sentinel posted on-line a story that, while outrageous, should surprise no one in a state where Walker intentionally installed a "chamber-of commerce mentality" atop the DNR and turned a science and environmental protection agency into a donor-friendly, business-first, people-last corporate tool:

The story: taxpayer dollars and other fees under the control of the DNR are being used to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars of permitting expenses incurred by GTac, the mining company that legislators let help write a sweetheart iron mining bill for Northwest Wisconsin. GTac also shoveled a secret $700,000 into Walker's 2012 recall campaign, legal documents disclosed.

I'll have to pay freshly-aggrieved and enlightened Wisconsin hunters and anglers whose license fees are paying the company's costs, not for fish restocking or education programs, to my ever-growing list of Wisconsinites disrespected and manipulated by Walker and his crew.

For people living in the threatened Bad River watershed, this would be like losing their homes to an arsonist, then having the authorities bill those who were burned out to pay for the arsonist's time and materials.

5 comments:

Jerri said...

Dude, are you aware the price for iron ore has fallen about 30% over the last 6 months? Oh and the downward trend goes much farther back. So, I must ask...is this plan to mine iron ore real?

James Rowen said...

Dude, it's more of a question for the mining company, the DNR and the Governor, but please read what I've written. http://thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com/2014/11/boom-and-bust-oil-markets-lesson-for-nw.html

Anonymous said...

James has the right answers about every political issue known to man. He is never wrong.

Anonymous said...

Dude, the moneys spent whether the iron mine is real or just more Walker Jobs Hopium.

Jim Limbach said...

It may not be iron that's of such incredible future value. I can't think of a more water rich area of our state than from the Penokees to The Big Lake. Nestle is still smarting from being told to take a hike in Central Wisconsin. Now they're draining Lake Michigan. I won't argue the point. It's just my best guess.