MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Senate Republicans edged toward compromise Friday on a stalled bill to help a Florida company open an iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin as mine opponents jammed a public hearing in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the GOP to give up on the bill completely.
Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, has said he can't vote for the contentious measure. His vote is crucial to passage; Republicans hold a 17-16 majority in the chamber. Schultz said he's working with Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, on a substitute bill that could be ready as early as Monday.
Andrew Welhouse, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the rest of the GOP caucus will review whatever Schultz and Jauch put out and discuss where to go from there.
"There's going to have to be changes made to get Dale's vote," Welhouse said. "Right now, there's no version that has 17 votes."
Florida-based Gogebic Taconite wants to dig a giant open-pit iron mine in the Penokee Hills just south of Lake Superior.
Company officials have promised the project will create hundreds of jobs and bring decades of income to economically depressed northern Wisconsin. But they've put their plans on hold until lawmakers can guarantee a stopping point in the state's open-ended mining permitting process.
Eager to deliver on job creation promises they made on the campaign trail, Republicans have spent the last year developing legislation for the company. Conservationists, meanwhile, have rallied against the mine, warning it would pollute one of the most beautiful areas in the state. Now GOP legislators find themselves locked in one of the most intense debates over how to balance business and the environment Wisconsin has seen in years.
Assembly Republicans passed a bill last month that dramatically reforms the state's mining laws. The measure would require a permitting decision within a year of receiving a complete application, eliminate contested case hearings and cap application fees at $2 million. It also would divide a state tax on ore sales 60-40 between local governments near the mine and the state; currently all the proceeds from the tax go to the locals.
The issue intensified this week after a Senate mining committee introduced its own bill. That measure allowed state regulators and mining companies to extend the year deadline by mutual agreement, created an additional sales tax on minerals that would be split 70-30 between the locals and the state and restored a version of the contested case proceedings.
Fitzgerald scrapped the committee's bill, even though he hand-picked the panel himself, and threw his support behind the original Assembly version. He dissolved the mining committee and sent the bill to the Legislature's finance committee.
That set off Schultz, a moderate who sat on the committee. He announced he would not vote for the Assembly bill because it contained no money to cover mine-related catastrophes and the state shouldn't get a share of any ore taxes because it would encourage spending.
Schultz said his bill will contain the catastrophic fund, restore some form of contested case hearings and allow extensions of the year decision window. He said the bill also will contain a section on ore taxes. Pressed on whether it would prohibit the state from collecting any, he said, "I've made it as clear as I can that my attitude is we have big government in Madison and taking money out of some of the poorest areas of the state to feed the leviathan (isn't right)."
The legislative session ends in mid-March and Gogebic Taconite officials have hinted they may pull up stakes if permit changes don't materialize by then.
Dozens of mine opponents packed a public hearing in front of the finance committee Friday morning. Tension was high; they applauded anyone who spoke against the bill and snickered, coughed and made remarks under their breath whenever a supporter took the microphone.
Republicans already have held public hearings on the bill in Milwaukee and in Hurley in northern Wisconsin. But both sides were quick to push their talking points out again.
Supporters argued the bill preserves Wisconsin's environmental traditions and that the mine has long-term economic potential.
"The sooner it happens, the sooner the people in the north woods can go to work," Gogebic Taconite President Bill Williams said.
Environmental advocates and other opponents complained the bill would clear the way for destroying wetlands, pollute the Bad River watershed and Lake Superior and ruin wildlife habitats.
"Leaders are supposed to be thoughtful," Laura Armagost, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's water resources manager, told the committee. "You dangle that carrot of jobs in front them. Of course they're not going to be thinking about what's in the bill. It's so sad."
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