Jauch Angry About 'Secret' Mining Bill

By KBJR Manager

May 11, 2011 Updated May 11, 2011 at 6:17 PM CDT

Wisconsin State Senator Bob Jauch is very upset about a hearing planned for Monday at the State Capitol in Madison on a controversial mining bill that has not yet been seen by the public.

Under the proposed bill a mining company must obtain some of the approvals required under the current environmental and natural resources laws, but other requirements would be waived or changed.

The bill creates new statutes for regulating iron mining, leaving the current law to cover only non ferrous mining.

Senator Jauch says he supports efforts to reform Wisconsin's iron mining laws by separating iron mining from sulfide mining but says a secret meeting is not the way to go about the process.

Senator Jauch wants the meeting postponed for another week so that the public can get up to speed on the proposed bill and offer constructive criticism if they feel it's needed.

Linked is a copy of the proposal, obtained from Wisconsin Public Radio:

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