Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

August 16, 2012

Dear WRPC Member,

On July 24, 2012 a federal court ruled that the Flambeau Mining Company, a subsidiary of Kennecott/Rio Tinto, violated the Clean Water Act on multiple occasions by allowing pollution from its Flambeau Mine site, near Ladysmith, to enter the Flambeau River and a nearby tributary.

The lawsuit against Flambeau Mining Company (FMC) was filed last year by the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and Laura Gauger.  Monitoring data from the mining company and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources showed that copper levels in the discharges from a detention basin exceeded Wisconsin’s acute toxicity criterion set to protect fish and other aquatic species, sometimes by several times.

by Al Gedicks

Gov. Scott Walker has made mining reform legislation his top post-recall agenda item. “We should be able to lead the world in safe and environmentally sound mining,” he said recently.

If this is the goal, he is proceeding in the wrong direction.

Walker has asked Tim Sullivan, president of the Wisconsin Mining Association, to bring together mining experts from around the world to compare Wisconsin’s mining regulatory framework with our neighbors in Michigan and Minnesota. Sullivan has hired Behre Dolbear, a global mining consulting firm that describes itself on its website as a “businessman’s consultant.”

The not so-hidden agenda of this effort is to accommodate Gogebic Taconite’s demand that Wisconsin speed up the permitting process and eliminate environmental rules that would have made it difficult for GTac to obtain a mine permit for the Penokee Hills open pit iron mine in Iron and Ashland counties.

May 4, 2012

Dear WRPC Member,

Gogebic Taconite (GTac) may have temporarily abandoned its proposed open pit iron mine in the Penokee Hills but company spokesman Bob Seitz says they still want Wisconsin’s mining law changed. Efforts are already under way to develop a new “consensus” on mine legislation that failed to pass the Senate in the last session.

August 31, 2011

Dear WRPC Member,

As you know, WRPC, the Center for Biological Diversity and Laura Gauger are embroiled in a lawsuit against Kennecott Minerals over ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act at the Flambeau Mine site near Ladysmith, Wisconsin. What happens at Flambeau stands to impact ALL of us who are fighting ill-advised mining proposals in the Great Lakes region.

You know all too well what we mean. There are now over a dozen mining projects in various stages of permitting in the Lake Superior region of northern Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. All of these projects have the potential to affect the health and environmental quality of life for communities that depend upon clean water and clean air for their economy and their culture. Some mining projects, like Kennecott’s proposed Eagle Mine in Michigan are poised to begin underground construction as early as mid-September. But this is not a done deal. There are still efforts to delay construction, including an administrative appeal of the permit decision. We must do whatever we can to support our friends who are “on the ground” and have dedicated their lives to protecting the water.