Bill to end moratorium on mining is introduced

Wisconsin’s mining moratorium law would be jettisoned under a bill proposed Thursday by two Republican legislators that could spur plans for new mining in northern Wisconsin.

Environmentalists have been expecting that Republicans, who control the Legislature, would introduce legislation to eliminate a moratorium on so-called sulfide mining – a type of mining that can pollute surface and groundwater when water washes off acidic rock deposits.

The bill would not affect iron mining, which does not have such prohibitions. But an iron mine has not operated in Wisconsin for decades. Gogebic Taconite proposed an iron mine in Ashland and Iron counties, but backed away from the project in 2015. 

The moratorium on sulfide mining has been in place since 1998 when it was signed into law by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican.

The law requires companies that want to develop sulfide mines in Wisconsin to demonstrate that another mine in the United States has been able to operate for 10 years and be closed for 10 years without polluting groundwater and surface water.

That’s kept such mining out of the state.

“People want to make things in America again,” Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) said in a statement about the bill.

Tiffany has said that such mining can be done safely and the moratorium is an impediment.

The co-author of the bill is Rep. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield).  

The potential sources of pollution from such mines are sulfide mineral deposits such as copper, nickle, gold and silver.

Companies have done exploration work for the minerals in northern Wisconsin over the last decade.

They include the Lynne deposit of zinc and other minerals in Oneida County and the Bend copper and gold deposit in the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest in Taylor County.

Minerals in sulfide rock deposits produce acidic water, also known as acid drainage, when exposed to air and water.

Also, cyanide, a naturally occurring chemical that is toxic in large doses, is used in a diluted form during processing to separate gold and silver particles from ore.

In Wisconsin, the Flambeau mine, a gold and copper mine on the Flambeau River near Ladysmith, operated from 1993 to 1997 and, according to the DNR, is the only metallic mine in Wisconsin to be successfully permitted and reclaimed under current law.

Environmentalists have said the site remains polluted.

Environmental groups, including the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin oppose the bill.

“Sulfide mining practices have long destroyed important, pristine and sacred lakes, rivers, forests and wetlands across the country,” Clean Wisconsin says.