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Thursday, January 05, 2012

Public hearing on Wis. mining law to be Jan. 11 in Hurley; Ashland hearing cancelled

HURLEY, Wis. -- The Wisconsin Assembly Jobs Committee has announced it will hold an official public hearing on the proposed mining bill, Assembly Bill 426, beginning at 10 a.m. next Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, at the Hurley Inn in Hurley, Wis.

Wisconsin State Rep. Janet Bewley and State Senator Bob Jauch have CANCELLED the public hearing on proposed Wisconsin mining bill AB 426 that had been scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, in the Ashland High School Auditorium in Ashland, Wis.

Despite what some local newspapers say, THE SATURDAY MEETING HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Rep. Bewley will be at the Ashland site on Saturday to tell people that the meeting will not be held so that people who did not get the notice and show up are not further confused.

An article today, Jan. 5, 2012, in the Ironwood Daily Globe, says, "It's the second public hearing on AB 426, which speeds up permitting and eases environmental standards for iron mines. The first was held last month in West Allis, about 300 miles away from Iron County. Jauch and Bewley both criticized the Jobs committee and its chair, Rep. Mary Williams, R-Medford, for only scheduling one public hearing far away from the proposed mine site. The Jobs committee held an informational hearing in Hurley in October."

The Daily Globe also states that Assembly Bill 426 "is intended to help the Gogebic Taconite company start a mine on the border of Ashland and Iron counties."*

* Editor's Notes: Visit the Web site Save the Water's Edge for links to information about this Dec. 14, 2011, proposed AB 426. See especially the Dec. 19, 2011, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article, "Legislators worked with Gogebic Taconite on mining bill." See also The Nature Conservancy's summary of this bill.

Click here to read our Nov. 19, 2011, article, "Updated: Penokee iron mining proposal threatens Bad River watershed," on the proposed Gogebic Taconite mine.

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