Mining bill in jeopardy

Talk about it

With a compromise not on the horizon, the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has scheduled a vote for Monday on the mining bill passed by the Assembly in January.

Senate leaders have already said they won’t have enough votes to pass the measure in their house. That’s because moderate Republican Dale Schultz marched out of step with his party, leaving only 16 Republicans of the Senate’s 33 total members who could favor the Assembly package.

It is assumed that all Senate Democrats will oppose the bill, just like the Democrats in the Assembly did.

Schultz offered an alternative to restore some of the environmental protections lost in the Assembly bill. His proposal also would provide a longer time period to act on state permits and continue to let the public challenge DNR decisions in contested-case hearings.

The Republican leadership has rejected Schultz’s bill so far.

Schultz has opposed a compromise offered Wednesday by the finance panel’s two GOP leaders.

Republicans are scrambling to find an acceptable measure to pass before the session ends on March 15.

Gogebic Taconite has said it might scrap its proposed iron ore mine near Hurley if nothing is passed. The company says over 700 jobs would be created by the open-pit mine that could eventually cover an area 21 miles long and four miles wide.

Gogebic Taconite has said the mine would be up to 1,000 feet deep.

Tags: news, government, environment