Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

WRPC note:  The public hearings listed on the WRPC Website for June 23, in Rhinelander and Lynne, have been cancelled.

by Marcus Nesemann, Rhinelander Daily News, June 14, 2012

The Oneida County Forestry, Land and Recreation Committee will forward two resolutions to the county board seeking permission to advertise for bids for mining proposals and to hold a referendum in November to gauge public interest in moving forward with mining in the town of Lynne.

The bids would be for “exploration, prospecting, and mining lease agreements.” The committee, according to the resolution, “feels that it is necessary for the lease agreements (to) be put out for bid in order to garner valuable information from the mining companies, which will in turn lead to a better assesment of public reaction at the time of the informational meetings that the committee is required to conduct pursuant to county policy.”

Those meetings, not to be confused with now-canceled public-information meetings, are required by the Oneida County Metallic Ore Prospecting and Mining Policy, which calls for them to be held “prior to entering into any mining agreements to asses public reaction.”

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.

December 8, 2011

Dear WRPC Member,

Supporters of Gogebic Taconite’s (GTac) open pit iron mine in the Wisconsin State Assembly are once again trying to rush through a major assault on Wisconsin’s mining regulations. Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) said that lawmakers will hold a news conference on December 8 to reveal details of the legislation. Although copies of the bill have not been available to the public or legislators who represent the proposed mining area, the bill is already scheduled for public hearings on December 15 with the stated goal of getting the bill passed by the end of the year. What’s the big rush to completely overhaul Wisconsin’s mining regulations to accommodate the wishes of one mining company that has never developed an iron ore mine?

Proposed Lynne mining sparks new debate over ongoing issue

Deborah Bedolla, The Lakeland Times

September 14, 2010

It has been more than a year since Tamerlane Ventures, a publicly-traded international mining firm, first expressed interest in exploring a sulfide ore deposit near the town of Lynne.

The Oneida County Mining Oversight Committee has since been considering opening a public bid for leasing mineral rights to allow exploratory studies. The committee’s consideration has been, in the words of chairman Dave Hintz, “slow and deliberate” in the face of the myriad technical, economic and environmental issues the proposal raises.

A well-attended July 24 information session in Lynne brought some of those issues before the public, but it was only the beginning of a process that is likely to become contentious quickly.

“It’s going to be extremely controversial and it’s going to be extremely long term. It’s not going to happen quickly, if at all,” Dan Kuzlik, the UW-Extension professor who facilitated the information session and is serving as liaison for the committee, said.

Hintz underscored the long-term nature of the conversation at a committee meeting last week: “Mining is not going to happen in Oneida County for some time. We’re in the early stages of this process.”