There are many aspects worthy of study in the reign of Scott Walker, the twice-elected goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their Midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin. One of the most intriguing is the way that he has turned the state's vast natural resources into the biggest fish in the smallest barrel with which various industries ever have been gifted.

For example, there are the plans for Gogebic Taconite to blow off the tops of mountains along a 22-mile stretch not far from Lake Superior in order to builda massive iron mine. How massive is the iron mine? I am glad you asked. The iron mine is so massive that the company needs to lease over 3000 acres of what is now forestland just to build a procession pland, and the dump in which it plans to toss whatever horrible byproducts the mine produces, which will be more than several, I assure you. The Iron County Board has voted to allow the company to get out from under a county forest law aimed at protecting, well, the forests in the counties of Wisconsin, so the ball has rolled pretty far down the hill here. But the dump is scaring the hell out of people.

This creates a tricky situation for the residents Iron County. Although the mining permit process is initiated by the mining company, the CFL withdrawal process must begin with a request to the DNR from the county board. Due to the lease with GTac legally binding them to request withdrawal, it appears that Iron County residents, through their representatives on the county board, rescinded their rights to consider whether removal of this land from CFL for the purposes of storing mining waste and locating production facilities is an appropriate or desirable request...Many Iron County residents are outraged that such a significant decision was taken in their names without public input or information ahead of time. At an Iron County board meeting with GTac representatives earlier this year, some county board members appeared to be thinking twice about this decision. According to minutes of the May 23, 2013 Iron County Mining Impact Committeemeeting, the county is bracing for some legal trouble in the future. The committee is interviewing "lawyers for proposed mining project in the Town of Anderson."

Nevertheless, the company, which has an environmental record elsewhere that is not stellar, started test drilling a few years ago and, watersheds be damned, it looks like the project's going to go ahead. Wisconsin is the national lab rat. If they can do this there, they can do it anywhere.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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