According to an AP article last week, In Madison, Wisconsin, Assembly Republicans plan to introduce a bill this week designed to accommodate iron mining plans by Gogebic Taconite (GTac) in the Penokee Hills of northern Wisconsin.

He said Republicans plan to hold a mandatory public hearing on the measure in two weeks, but it would likely take place in Milwaukee, which is more than 300 miles from the proposed mine site. He said he believes it makes sense to hold the hearing in southern Wisconsin because that region is home to several heavy equipment companies that would benefit if the mine became operational.

Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald said the full Assembly could pass the measure when it returns from its holiday break next month.

Company officials contend they’d be conscious of the environment and say the mine would create hundreds of jobs for the economically downtrodden region, but they want assurances of a clear end point in the state’s rigorous permitting process before they go any further.

Republicans, eager for any chance to help Gov. Scott Walker deliver on his campaign pledge to create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin before the end of his first term, have been working for months on legislation that would streamline the mine permit process.

The Earth First! Newswire has just posted a feature article by Sarah Tops on the growing resistance to the mining plan, Protecting Wisconsin’s Waters: Anti-Mining Struggles in the Penokee Hills and Lake Superior Region

Check it out and learn how you can stop the destruction GTac has proposed in a 22-mile open-pit taconite mine in the headwaters of the Bad River and Kakagon Sloughs, also known as Wisconsin’s Everglades.