Assembly Leaders Attack Bi-Partisan Mining Proposal
State Assembly leaders attacked Tuesday a bi-partisan mining bill that would restore funding to local municipalities and allow citizens to participate in the permitting process through contested hearings.
Calling the bill a “non-starter” in the Assembly, three lawmakers issued a statement shortly after state Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) and Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) unveiled the bill at a news conference in Madison on Tuesday morning.
“We need a bill that is going to bring mining back to the state of Wisconsin and create thousands of jobs for struggling workers statewide,” reads the statement from Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon), Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) and Joint Finance Co-Chair Robin Vos (R-Rochester). “On its face, the Schultz-Jauch proposal is based largely on a substitute amendment that was already rejected by the Assembly because it ensures that no company will ever do business here.”
The three Republicans say they are willing to work with the Senate on a compromise, but “tax increases and legal red tape that will deny Wisconsin thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue are non-starters in this house.”
Jauch's and Schultz's proposal return 100 percent of a net proceeds tax to municipalities affected by mining operations. Seventy percent would go to taxpayers to offset costs related to Gogebic Taconite's proposed open-pit operation in the Penokee-Gogebic Range. The proposal provides 20 percent for a program dedicated to economic development diversification and catastrophic abatement, and 10 percent would go toward offsetting transportation and infrastructure costs.
A bill passed by the Assembly last month would only send 60 percent of the net proceeds tax to local municipalities, while giving 40 percent to the state's general fund.
The Assembly bill also requires the state Department of Natural Resources to review a mining permit application within 360 days. Jauch has described that time limit as unrealistic and is proposing a limit of 540 days and to allow the DNR to call a timeout, or use an "off ramp," if necessary during the review process.
Jauch's and Schultz's bill also would require a mining company to pay $5 million upfront in lieu of property taxes during the first five years of operation because high expenses during the first few years of operation would minimize revenue generated from a net proceeds tax.
The bill does allow the mining company to recoup the $5 million in subsequent years, according to Jauch.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Jauch described the bill as a compromise. “We are not interested in forwarding a plan that creates impasse. This plan honors our commitment to achieving resolution through compromise,” he stated. “Instead of offering a politically pure bill that would define insurmountable differences, we included many significant Assembly provisions in an attempt to find common ground.”