State Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) recently introduced legislation to repeal a nearly 20-year-old state law that requires sulfide mining companies to show another mine they have operated for at least 10 years has been closed for at least 10 years without polluting groundwater or surface water.
Tom Tiffany
State Senator
“YES”
Environmental impact
“Sulfide mining can be done safely and effectively. The Flambeau Mine in Ladysmith has demonstrated this. During its operation, the Flambeau Mine successfully purified the surface area drainage and pit pumping water through a treatment plant. Upon closure, to avoid long-term acid rock drainage, the pit was backfilled with 30,000 tons of limestone to neutralize any ARD that forms.”
Economic opportunity
“People want to make things in America again. Our neighbors, Minnesota and Michigan, have placed their shovels in the dirt of America’s future. It is Wisconsin’s turn to do the same. American technological needs such as mobile phones, hybrid cars and even solar panels require mined minerals to be built. It is time for America to build these products. That process can begin here.”
State oversight of mining
“Consumers purchase products every day that are mined in countries with little to no environmental protection. It is time to step up to the plate and mine in a state that chooses to rigorously protect its environment.”
Kerry Schumann
Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
“NO”
Environmental impact
“According to the EPA, sulfide mining is America’s most toxic industry. It poisons rivers, kills wildlife, disrupts ecosystems and taints surface water and groundwater with heavy metals and carcinogens like lead, arsenic and cyanide. Metal mining accounts for 37 percent of all toxics reported to the EPA. Mining in the U.S. pollutes up to 27 billion gallons of water per year.”
Economic opportunity
“Mining does not bring prosperity. Across the nation, high levels of unemployment, slow rates of growth, high property taxes and stagnant or declining populations beset mining communities. During (the Flambeau Mine’s) last year of operation, (Rusk County) suffered from the second-to-worst unemployment rate in the state.”
State oversight of mining
“With this bill, Tiffany is trying…to give away our natural resources to foreign mining interests, and he’s requiring no proof they will not destroy our air, land and water.”
