New bi-partisan mining committee announced

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New bi-partisan mining committee announced

Story posted Thursday at 5:09 p.m.

9/22/2011

The Republican Senator who will help oversee a major rewrite of Wisconsin's mining laws says the process will be fair, thorough, and bipartisan. Shawn Johnson reports.

Neil Kedzie of Elkhorn says mining has a place in Wisconsin. Senator Kedzie won't give a timeline for when the mining bill will be finished, but he says committee members will take the time they need to get it right.

"Because all of us will live with the legacy of what is determined through this committee through the rest of our lifetimes.

The push to overhaul Wisconsin's mining laws is being driven by a proposed mine in northern Wisconsin that would stretch four miles along Ashland and Iron Counties. Tribal leaders from a nearby reservation oppose the plan, saying it would endanger the water they drink and the air they breathe.

Kedzie says his committee will take those concerns under consideration, but says they also have to weigh the economic impact this mine could have on the region.

"It won't be a small operation and so we have to give this extra special care because this will have an impact on generations to come."

Along with Kedzie, the committee will include Republican Senators Dale Schultz, Rich Zipperer and Robert Cowles. Democratic members have not yet been named.