WRPC website address: http://www.wrpc.net/index.html

Feb 4, 2002

Dear WRPC/WATER Network Member,

The Wisconsin Campaign to Ban Cyanide in Mining is turning up the heat on legislators in the Wisconsin Assembly to bring Senate Bills (SB) 160 (the bill to ban the use of cyanide in mining) and SB 271 (the bill to end special treatment for mining) to the Assembly floor for a vote by March 14. The Forest County Potawatomi Community has just announced that they are using a quarter million dollar media campaign to boost support for SB 160 SB 271. The campaign includes television, radio and billboard ads in the Green Bay, Madison, Wausau and Rhinelander media markets. "We know that the public supports these bills - we want the public to send that message to the State Assembly" says Forest County Potawatomi Community Atttoney General Jeff Crawford. 

"The recent train derailment near the Wolf River shows the great risk from transporting cyanide in northern Wisconsin," said Forest County Potawatomi Community Chairman Gus Frank.  "Twenty-five rail cars of iron ore went off the tracks in Forest County two weeks ago (January 9, 2002). I'm told that the accident occurred within a quarter-mile from where the tracks cross the headwaters of the Wolf River at Pine Lake. This derailment is a chilling reminder that accidents happen, including in the Northwoods," he said.  "A transportation accident could just as easily happen with a truckload or a railroad car of cyanide headed to the proposed mine near Crandon."

Although Nicolet Minerals Company (NMC) claimed that there had never been any cyanide-related transportation spills in the U.S., David Blouin of the Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin has uncovered at least 23 spills of cyanide in the ten year period ending in 1997. Blouin also documents that the new owner of the Crandon project, BHP Billiton, was responsible for 31 spills of hazardous materials at three mining operations in Nevada and Arizona. This is the same company that claims they can safely handle cyanide at Crandon!

Environmental, tribal, sportfishing and hunting groups turned out for a forum on SB 160 and SB 271 in Appleton on January 14, 2002. Rep. Terri McCormick (R-Grand Chute) told the audience that "This is not a Republican issue and it is not a Democratic issue. It affects all of us," she said.

This is a crucial moment in the ongoing Crandon mine battle. Your letter, phone call, e-mail, or office visit can make a difference in the fight to preserve the Wolf River watershed from the kind of cyanide disasters that happen in so many places where cyanide is used in mining. "They don't need to bring this deadly poison to the Wolf River, " says Chairman Gus Frank. "There are safer alternatives being used to process this type of ore in Canadian mines. But since the company won't voluntarily agree not to use cyanide, the Legislature should ban it for mining."

Stay tuned,

Al Gedicks, Exec. Sec.
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