Wisconsin is known as the Badger State. However, the state’s nickname does not come from the short-legged member of the weasel family, portrayed by University of Wisconsin mascot Bucky Badger. The Badger State name is actually derived from lead miners who were called badgers because they borrowed into holes in the southwestern part of the state in the 1800s.
Today mining is largely a forgotten industry in Wisconsin. There are thousands of non-metallic mines in the state, mostly gravel pits. However, there has not been a metallic mine operating in Wisconsin since 1999.
But now two mining companies are considering plans for new metallic mines in the state. Gogebic Taconite LLC is exploring plans to create an iron ore mine near Ashland in Ashland County and Iron County. Aquila Resources Inc. is exploring plans to create a gold mine east of Wausau in Marathon County.
The mine proposals appear likely to pit environmental advocates against mine supporters who hope their mines will boost the state’s economy.
A report released recently by Madison-based NorthStar Economics Inc. estimates the iron ore mine would create 3,175 jobs a year over a two-year period just to build it. Once the mine begins operating it would support 2,834 jobs in a 12-county region, including 700 mining jobs, the NorthStar report says. The total economic impact from the mine’s operations would be $604 million a year, the report says.
“This is such a good thing for Wisconsin,” said state Rep. Mark Honadel, R-South Milwaukee, who plans to introduce legislation to change the approval process for iron ore mines. “It’s going to be great for our state.”
The job opportunities would be welcomed by many in an area of the state that has experienced little economic growth and significant population decline in recent years.
“Economically, it’s going to be a boom town for us,” said Joseph Barabe, mayor of Mellen, which has a population of about 800 and is one of the closest communities to the proposed iron ore mine site. “Mellen has survived the recession pretty well. The towns around us have not. Mills have been closed for two or three years and this is a really, really depressed area right now. This will be a godsend if this happens because right now, no young person can stay in the area because there are no jobs. We’ve only got the wood industry up here and the wood industry has been hurting.”
But others, including environmental groups and members of some American Indian tribes have criticized the mine plans and say they would be detrimental to the environment.
“No matter what they end up doing they are certainly going to be adding additional air and potentially water pollution to the area,” said Katie Nekola, general counsel for Clean Wisconsin. “Biologically, it’s extremely important to protect that land and the quality of the plants and animals that live there. Wild rice is really sensitive to water contamination and fluctuations in the water levels as are many of the trout species that live in the area. Erosion could add sediment to river systems and toxics from the blasting process could have negative effects as well.”
However, Wisconsin’s current political leadership could make it easier for the proposed mines to be approved. Gov. Scott Walker has promised to make state regulation more favorable for businesses and job creation. The mine proposals will be reviewed, and ultimately approved or denied, by the state Department of Natural Resources. After his inauguration, Walker appointed Cathy Stepp as DNR secretary. Prior to the appointment, Stepp, a former Republican state senator from Racine County and a former member of the state Natural Resources Board, had been critical of the DNR, calling it “anti-development.” After her appointment to lead the DNR, Stepp said the agency could protect the state’s environment without stifling economic growth.
“The political landscape I think from top to bottom is very favorable for the project,” said Honadel.
Stepp and a spokesman for Walker did not return phone calls seeking comment for this report.
Ann Coakley, the director for the Bureau of Waste and Materials Management for the DNR, said politics will not influence the agency’s review of the mine proposals.
“I have never known that to happen in the department,” she said. “We look at the environmental review in an unbiased way. (We look at) what is your impact and how are you going to manage it?”
The DNR is not permitted to consider the economic impact of a proposed mine, Coakley said.
“We just review the potential environmental impact,” she said. “We don’t have the authority to review the economics.”
Honadel plans to introduce a bill that would make it easier for iron ore mines, such as the one planned by Gogebic Taconite, to be approved. Iron ore mines should be reviewed in a separate process from how sulfide mine proposals, such as the possible gold mine near Wausau, are reviewed, he said.
State Sen. Rich Zipperer, R-Pewaukee, said it is “very likely” he will sponsor a companion bill in the Senate.
With an iron ore mine rock is dug up, crushed and then iron ore pellets are collected by magnets. The Gogebic Taconite mine would be an open pit mine. Open pit mines eliminate the landscape that is dug up, which disturbs wildlife habitat, wetlands, waterways and stormwater runoff patterns, Coakley said.
Gogebic Taconite has an option to lease a 22-mile stretch of land between Mellen and Upson, south of and parallel to Highway 77. The area has about 2.3 billion tons of iron ore, said Gogebic Taconite president Bill Williams.
“There is 120 years worth or more of iron ore in that 22-mile stretch, so the mine has definite potential to span across many generations,” Williams said.
Gogebic Taconite plans to operate the mine for at least 35 years and would reevaluate its operations after that, Williams said. The open pit mine could be as deep as 1,200 feet in some places and as shallow as 200 feet deep in others. The company plans to replace the sand it digs up from the mine to fill in some of the shallow areas that it digs. The deeper holes would eventually be made into lakes.
“With mining, people think of a big open hole,” Honadel said. “Those days are long gone. When this mine is done with its useful life it will be transformed back into beautiful Wisconsin habitat. This can be done. It can be done right.”
Sulfide mines, like the gold mine proposed in the Town of Easton in Marathon County (just east of Wausau), or the controversial zinc and copper mine proposal near Crandon in the 1990s that was never approved, can pose an additional environmental threat than an iron ore mine. When sulfide ores are removed from underground their exposure to air and water starts a chemical reaction creating acid mine drainage which can contaminate groundwater and surface water if it is not contained.
But, Coakley said, “(mines) can engineer around that.”
It takes several years for the DNR to make a decision on a mine proposal.
“The state indicates four to seven years for (the review) process,” Williams said. “But we would like to think we can accelerate this thing and get our permits in three years, then have two years of construction and then be off and running.”
The state’s metallic mining review process takes at least two and a half years, and each review is different, Coakley said.
“There’s nothing typical,” she said.
Since iron ore mines pose a lower environmental threat than sulfide mines the state should be able to complete a review process in less than two years for iron ore mines, Honadel said.
“There’s (sulfide) mining and there’s iron mining,” he said. “They’re really two different processes. It’s definitely apples and oranges.”
But Clean Wisconsin is concerned about proposals to change the state regulation of proposed iron ore mines, Nekola said.
“The current legislation requires a really thorough environmental analysis on the part of the company and we want to try to preserve the opportunity for public participation and the ability to address public concerns,” Nekola said. “It’s unfortunate that too often, protecting the environment gets pitted against the creation of jobs. I think it’s a false dilemma. We can certainly grow the economy and create family supporting jobs, and we can do it in a way that doesn’t degrade the environment. Now, can you have a 22-mile open pit (iron ore) mine without degrading the environment? I doubt it, and I think the people who oppose this project have made that calculation.”
Wisconsin should take the same approach that Michigan and Minnesota do, which is to have separate regulatory standards for iron mines than for sulfide mines Honadel said.
“Having only one set of standards (for all metallic mines) in the state really hinders Wisconsin from becoming a mover and a shaker in the iron ore mining industry,” he said. “If a (mining) company knows there is solid legislation in place and it’s fair for everybody, then they have peace of mind to still invest in Wisconsin.”
Honadel said most of his bill, which will be introduced soon, contains existing DNR regulations for mines.
“We want to keep our good air, water and wetland stuff in place,” he said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am for this bill.”
Honadel said a major reason he is interested in the iron ore mine proposal, which is located far from his district, is because South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc. plans to sell equipment for the mine.
The economic benefit the state would receive from an iron ore mine would be significant, Honadel said. Bucyrus, which is being acquired by Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc., is just one of several companies in the state that could benefit, he said.
“This is going to be in place for a couple of generations of good family-supporting jobs,” Honadel said. “Mills could pop up to process the iron ore. This is going to be a huge, huge deal.”
“We’re talking about an enormous investment into the state,” Zipperer said. “A large number of jobs, and pretty well-paying jobs.”
