In clash over Alaskan mineral lode, warnings for Wisconsin?

By   /  January 18, 2013  /  Business, economic development, Economy, Environment, Environmental, Featured, Federal Government, Free Market, Mining Wisconsin, News, Regulations, Regulatory Reform, Wisconsin  /  2 Comments

The Nushagak River flows into Bristol Bay, in a region said to contain some $400 billion in copper, gold and other metals

Part 1 of 4 in the series Mining in Wisconsin

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON – The Bristol Bay region in Southwest Alaska is wild country, wide open, marked by sweeping stretches of wind-blistered tundra, pocketed by wetlands and scissored with rivers pushing into the bay’s pristine, cobalt waters.
This is the land of the gray [...]

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State agency that lost track of millions wins big in WI mining bill

By   /  January 25, 2013  /  economic development, Economy, Energy, Environment, Environmental, Featured, News, State Government, Wisconsin  /  4 Comments

MONEY FOR MINING: Is there enough accountability for the millions of dollars the state economic development agency could receive if a mining project goes forward?

While legislators and citizens debate the costs and benefits of a potential mine in northern Wisconsin, the state’s embattled quasi-public economic development organization would reap a windfall from the legislation as it’s drafted.

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Mine’s future uncertain, despite near-certain passage of mining bill

By   /  February 27, 2013  /  Environment, Featured, News, State Government, Wisconsin  /  2 Comments

The Wisconsin state Senate on Wednesday took up a controversial bill aimed at streamlining the mining process. But while the bill's passage is all-but-certain, the rights and requirements of Native American tribes and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers call into question the future of the northern Wisconsin that is the impetus for the bill.

MADISON – Sen. Tim Cullen’s comment, made in passing, may end up being remarkably prescient.

And it may, ultimately, represent a key factor in determining whether Gogebic Taconite actually ends up building an open pit iron mine in the Penokee Range spanning parts of Iron and Ashland counties in northern Wisconsin.

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No ‘Friends’ found in last episode of WI mining dramedy

By   /  March 7, 2013  /  Environment, Environmental, Featured, Governor, Legislature, mining, Mining Wisconsin, Regulations, Regulatory Reform, State Government, Wisconsin  /  2 Comments

A TIGHT GROUP: Wisconsin's mining bill saga comes to an end with, as expected, passage by majority Republicans.

Part 4 of 4 in the series Mining in Wisconsin

By Ryan Ekvall and M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON – Two things were all but certain going into Thursday’s extended Assembly debate on the controversial mining bill: There would be enough grand-standing to choke a Trump, and, arguably, it would all be for naught.
Assembly Republicans had [...]

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