Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

June 4, 2014

Dear WRPC Member,

Ever since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7^th Circuit in Chicago found a creative way to let Flambeau Mining Company (FMC) “off the hook” for violations of the Clean Water Act that had been assessed against the company by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (for ongoing pollution of public waters at the Flambeau Mine site near Ladysmith, Wisconsin), FMC attorneys have been coming after the three plaintiffs in the case, including WRPC, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Laura Gauger.

January 9, 2013

Dear WRPC Member,

Wisconsin is now under a well-funded mining industry attack on the grassroots environmental, sportfishing, and tribal movement which mobilized tens of thousands of Wisconsin citizens to successfully oppose Exxon’s destructive Crandon mine at the headwaters of the Wolf River and enact Wisconsin’s landmark Mining Moratorium Law.

Assembly Republican leaders say the first bill they’ll introduce in early January is the Bad River Watershed Destruction Act, also known as Gogebic Taconite’s Strip Mine Legislation

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.

For Immediate Release, July 25, 2012

MADISON, Wis.— A federal court ruled yesterday that the Flambeau Mining Company violated the Clean Water Act on multiple occasions by allowing pollution from its Flambeau Mine site, near Ladysmith, Wis., to enter the Flambeau River and a nearby tributary.  Eleven of these occasions occurred within the applicable statute of limitations, resulting in liability for 11 violations of the Act.

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.

January 11, 2012

Dear WRPC Member,

Despite efforts to discourage people from northern Wisconsin from attending a public hearing on the Iron Mining bill (AB 426) by holding the hearing in Milwaukee, many northern residents got in their cars or caught a bus at 5am to make the long trip to testify at the hearing. Opponents of this wholesale gutting of Wisconsin’s mining regulatory framework outnumbered supporters 2 to 1!

The Wisconsin Resources Protection Council (WRPC) is asking you to voice your support for a proposal by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to list an unnamed stream at the Flambeau Mine site (known as “Stream C”) as “impaired” due to copper and zinc toxicity.

For Immediate Release, January 18, 2011

Lawsuit Filed to Stop Release of Toxic Metals at Wisconsin’s Flambeau Mine

MADISON, Wis.— The Wisconsin Resources Protection Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and Laura Gauger filed a Clean Water Act citizen suit today against Flambeau Mining Company over its partially reclaimed Flambeau Mine near Ladysmith, Wis. According to the suit, the mining company is violating federal law by discharging pollutants, including potentially toxic metals like copper, iron and zinc, into the Flambeau River and a tributary known as “Stream C” that flows across the company’s property.

1. Wisconsin Public Radio, December 28, 2010

More metallic mines are being proposed for the Far North, even as questions linger about a now-closed mine just outside of Ladysmith. For our News From 72 series, Chuck Quirmbach went to Rusk County, to dig into one more controversy about the Flambeau Mine.

Listen to the segment in RealPlayer (4 min, 3 sec)

or click below to listen to an mp3 file

Wisconsin Public Radio, The costs and benefits of mining debated in Rusk County, December 28, 2010

(Note:  This legal action supersedes the action initiated in June 2009)

1. Press Release – January 18, 2011 – Lawsuit Filed to Stop Release of Toxic Metals at Wisconsin’s Flambeau Mine

2. Fact Sheet – January 18, 2011 – Summary of Clean Water Act Citizen Suit Against Flambeau Mining Company (for an updated July 2011 fact sheet, please click HERE)

3. Mine Schematic

4. Background Information on Flambeau Mine

5. Official Correspondence

Complaint by WRPC, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Laura Gauger to Kennecott’s Flambeau Mining Company for violations of the Federal Clean Water Act – January 18, 2011

• Entire Document

Response to WRPC Notice Letter, issued by Kennecott’s Flambeau Mining Company – December 30, 2010

• FMC Response

Notice Letter sent by WRPC, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Laura Gauger to Kennecott’s Flambeau Mining Company – November 16, 2010

• Entire Document

6. Scientific Reports that Form the Basis of WRPC’s Complaint

• Report on Groundwater and Surface Water Contamination at the Flambeau Mine, David M Chambers, Ph.D. and Kendra Zamzow, Ph.D., Center for Science in Public Participation, June 5, 2009
  • Groundwater Summary
  • Surface Water Summary
  • Entire Document

7. Contact Information:

• Attorney James Saul
• Attorney Marc Fink
• Attorney Dan Mensher
• Dr. David Chambers
• Dr. Al Gedicks
• Laura Gauger