State Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said Friday Republicans are working on amendments to address controversial environmental sections of the contentious mining bill released earlier this month, but some Democrats remain skeptical the changes will be sufficient.
Republican legislators involved with the bill, which is designed to make the state’s mine permitting process easier for mining companies to navigate, met with Democrats and environmental groups this week to discuss the possible changes, Suder said.
The majority of the amendments will concern environmental protections in the bill and the working relationship between the state and environmental agencies.
“They will be changes that strengthen the environmental protections both inside and outside the mine site,” Suder said. “We also want to give the DNR more flexibility to both mitigate environmental harm and correct it.”
The amendments, which will number in the double-digits according to Suder, will be introduced early next week to give people plenty of time to “digest” them, specifically members of the committees in both houses of the state legislature that are set to vote on the bill at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Suder and other prominent Republicans involved with the bill have continually said they are working with people who have a variety of viewpoints on the bill, a claim Democrats have challenged recently in light of the limited changes made to the bill so far. It remains unclear whether the new amendments will be enough to satisfy Democratic opponents.
State Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, who sat on one of the committees overseeing the sole hearing on the bill Jan. 23, was skeptical of the promised changes to the bill and maintained the “Walker strip mine bill” is still an “attack” on water, health and environmental protections within the state, even with changes
“You can only dress up this dog so much,” Hulsey said.
Suder said he and other Republican legislators remain open to suggestions on the bill and will keep their doors open.
“Our goal is to find common ground and to listen and to take into consideration good ideas whether they are from Democrats or Republicans,” he said.
