The Wisconsin Republicans’ goal of passing a bill easing mining restrictions by the end of the legislative session could be in jeopardy after state Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, said he would not support the most recent version of the legislation Wednesday.
State Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, attempted to craft a compromise to appeal to Schultz after he raised concerns over the lack of environmental protections and public input in the Assembly’s version of the bill, which passed in January.
Republicans, who have argued changing regulations on mining in northern Wisconsin will create thousands of new jobs, need Schultz to vote for the bill because they only hold a one-seat majority in the Senate.
No Democrats support the bill because they say it does not allow for enough public input on mining activity and the lowered environmental regulations would threaten fragile ecosystems.
Darling and Vos said they believed their proposal struck the right balance by allowing mining to thrive in the state while taking environmental concerns into consideration.
“Wisconsin has a great tradition of mining and stewardship,” Darling and Vos said in a joint statement. “We are confident the compromise proposal offered to Senator Schultz achieves both of those goals.”
But Schultz said the environmental safeguards in the Darling and Vos proposal did not go far enough and called for a more open discussion on the issue.
“My conscience simply won’t allow me to surrender the existing environmental protections without a full and open public debate,” Schultz said in a statement. “To move mining reform forward, we need a full and open process on environmental law, with respected contributors at the table.”
Schultz introduced his own mining bill along with state Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, two weeks ago. However, Assembly Republicans quickly dismissed the proposal.
Jauch also criticized Darling and Vos’ plan, saying the proposal did not address many of the public’s concerns and was not truly bipartisan.
“The public is starving for reasonable, bipartisan leadership to tackle the complicated issues of the day,” Jauch said in a statement. “The responses and rhetoric have fallen far short of the public’s expectations.”
The Joint Finance Committee will vote on the Assembly’s version of the mining bill Monday morning, even though the Senate is unlikely to pass it.
