opinion

Tiffany: Mine failure shows EPA has business in sights

Last Friday, the iron ore industries in Michigan and Minnesota gave a collective sigh of relief when Gogebic Taconite, or GTac, announced they are suspending operations in Hurley. A technologically-advanced facility in Iron County would have brought a new, low-cost producer to the iron ore industry here in the Great Lakes region. Our loss of hundreds of family-supporting jobs is their gain.

Two years ago I introduced legislation streamlining the permitting process to mine iron ore in Wisconsin. Because iron ore mining is a more benign process than sulfide mining — iron ore is processed mechanically versus sulfide mining using chemicals — legislation was created specifically for iron ore mining. The bill balanced Wisconsin's high environmental standards while giving certainty to an applicant during the permitting process. For example, NR 140, the rules that set emission limits for discharges into groundwater were not changed in any way. In the process of creating the legislation we also consulted with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. They recommended we insert tough regulations governing the waste characterization process. We did exactly that to prevent the problem Minnesota had in the 1970s with the Dunka Mine.

Story: Mining company closing office in northern Wisconsin

With today's advanced know-how and technology, mining can be done in an environmentally-safe manner. In fact, Minnesota is now attempting to permit a sulfide mine.

In their statement last week, GTac cited the cost of mitigating wetlands and federal regulatory uncertainty as prime concerns for suspending operations. While acknowledging having more wetlands than originally anticipated, Gogebic had certainty of replacing each acre of wetland affected at the mine site with 1.5 acres of mitigation as provided in the bill. GTac has already invested millions in the project, they would have to invest as much as $30 million to create the Environmental Impact Report and they expected to spend several millions to mitigate wetlands under Wisconsin law. Their uncertainty of whether to spend the additional millions for the next phase creating the EIR primarily stemmed from federal uncertainty, specifically, the Environmental Protection Agency.

Last year the EPA preemptively shut down the permitting process for the Pebble Mine project in Alaska. Without even letting the Pebble applicants submit an application, the EPA, in an unprecedented decision, told the Pebble applicants not to bother. They would make the wetland mitigation requirements so onerous as to make it uneconomical to mine the site.

A parallel situation is occurring in the Upper Peninsula as we speak. The EPA has denied the construction of a twenty-mile segment of road in Marquette County for the recently permitted Eagle Mine. As a result of EPA's actions, trucks are having to travel 65 miles through the city of Marquette, Michigan to reach the processing facility. Marquette County is about to sue the EPA for its intransigence. The Northern Michigan University Board of Regents was enlisted its support of Marquette County.

Make no mistake, what occurred with GTac is not an isolated situation. The EPA and the Obama administration are openly hostile to natural resources utilization in our state and country. Not long ago, the president vetoed the Keystone pipeline — slowing our efforts for greater energy self-sufficiency. This is happening at the same time the U.S. Forest Service continues to restrict timber harvest on federal forest lands even though there is twice as much growth as harvest. A federal judge stopped Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan from managing wolves. And now the EPA is stifling mining projects from Alaska to Michigan.

Rural America is caught in the sights of a radical EPA, and northern Wisconsin residents' economic prosperity is their latest casualty.

Though disappointed, I remain optimistic that our positive tax and regulatory reforms are making Wisconsin a great place to live, raise a family and do business. To reach our full potential we must be able to utilize the great natural resource wealth in our state. I remain committed to making those opportunities come to fruition while balancing the well-being of Wisconsin citizens and our natural environment.

Sen. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, represents the 12th Senate District.