Trying to ram through the Gogebic Taconite mining project in the Northern Wisconsin Penokee-Gogebic Range has been fairly contentious ever since Representative Jeff Fitzgerald abruptly cut off a press conference when it came up the Wisconsin citizens would not be able to protect themselves and have no legal powers if any mining project inflicted environmental damage in their community. Never mind that Florida fatcats like Chris Cline gave lots of money to Walker and the mine needs to be put into place with a devil-may-care attitude.
What’s even more bizarre is how Senator Scott Fitzgerald decided to cut off discussions on the bill and try to ram the legislation forward with Walker’s approval.
Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) says people around the state are receiving automated phone calls from a political action committee that is misinforming residents about his role in the legislature’s mining bill process.
The calls are being made by the “Wisconsin Club for Growth,” Jauch says, and the robo-calls say he is “opposed to the mining project” and then urge the recipient to call Jauch’s office and urge his support for the mining bill. Along with robo-calls, advertisements are being run in certain areas of the state.
“Certain Republican districts are targeted with an ad that states that mining bill is being opposed by one liberal Senator and that citizens should call their Senator,” Jauch says. “They obviously imply that their Senator is ‘the liberal Senator’ in question.”
Jauch says that the timing of the ads is no coincidence given the announcement from Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to dissolve the Senate Select Committee on Mining and move ahead with the Assembly mining bill in the Joint Finance Committee on Friday.
Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison) says the situation doesn’t pass the smell test.
“The Assembly version of the mining bill disregards the rights of the public to participate in mining decisions and adversely affects Wisconsin’s air and water quality,” Risser says. “The corporate special interests that wrote and passed the Assembly mining bill were apparently afraid of Senate review of their bill.”
Only after Fitzgerald’s announcement to dissolve the senate committee did robo-calls begin, Jauch says.
A public hearing on the mining project and legislation on February 17 featured all sides of the arguments in the legislation. Jennifer Giegerich (Legislative Director – Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters) gave a very succinct case for questioning the current legislation. This is an excerpt:
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The bottom line is that even environmentalists are not against mining as a business. Many want legislation and regulation to makes sure that poisoning the population isn’t a loophole or even a possibilities. Carelessly passing laws that favor only the few while the many are in danger is criminal.
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