The Wisconsin Resources Protection Council (WRPC) was founded in 1982 to help counter the lack of information about the effects of large-scale metallic sulfide mining on our state's precious water supplies, on the tourism and dairy industries, and upon the many Native American communities that are located near potential mine sites.

Our members share a common goal: to educate the public about the consequences of allowing international mining corporations to develop a new mining district in northern Wisconsin under the present legal and regulatory framework.  We believe that current laws and rules regarding metallic sulfide mining in Wisconsin simply do not offer the kind of protection we need in order to be sure that mining operations will take place without unacceptable damage to our state's environment and economy.

Current activities: The Forest County chapter of WRPC is in the final stage of a lawsuit brought on behalf of the citizens of the Town of Nashville against the former town board for repeated violations of the state's open meetings law during the negotiation of a local agreement with Exxon/Rio Algom to allow the Crandon mine project to go forward. Once the former town board admits to this pattern of violations of the open meetings law we intend to ask the judge to overturn the local agreement itself. If the judge refuses to do this, WRPC will then take the case to the Appeals Court.

WRPC's most recent accomplishment was our participation in the "Save Our Clean Waters" speaking tour along the Wolf and Wisconsin rivers in the spring of 1996. WRPC also participated in the "Circle Tour" to follow up the "Save Our Clean Waters" tour in the fall of 1997. All of this was part of the statewide grassroots educational and organizing effort to mobilize Wisconsin citizens to support passage of the Churchill Mining Moratorium Law.

WRPC has always emphasized the integral connection between the threat to our clean waters from metallic sulfide mining and the cultural threat to the Native American Nations who depend on these waters for the continuation of their lifestyles. Whether it is the threat to the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa's wild rice lake, or the threat to the Wolf River watershed from mining pollution, we have tried to build understanding and mutual support between native and non-native communties who depend upon a shared resource. In 1994, WRPC assisted the Sokaogon Chippewa in filing a shareholder resolution about the resistance to the proposed Crandon mine for Exxon shareholders to consider at their annual meeting. The resolution received 6% of the vote, which guaranteed that the resolution would reappear on the 1995 shareholder ballot. In 1996, WRPC released its documentary film, Keepers of the Water,  about the threat to the Wolf River from Exxon's proposed mine.

For updates on WRPC activities, check out current and back issues of our newsletter. To receive information about WRPC membership, contact us at:

WRPC
P.O. Box 263
Tomahawk, WI 54487