The Wisconsin state Assembly passed the contentious mining bill in a 58-to-39 vote along party lines Thursday, meaning the bill will now go to Gov. Scott Walker for a signature.
In the nine and a half hour discussion, state representatives rehashed many of the partisan issues legislators have been discussing since the bill was introduced in January after a similar bill failed last session.
Most Republicans have said the bill, which would streamline the state’s mine permitting process, would keep state environmental standards in place and also bring jobs to citizens living in an economically devastated northern Wisconsin.
Democrats have disagreed, saying the bill would help to create a mine that would not only cause irreversible harm to the northern Wisconsin wetlands and waterways, but would also fail to bring the promised jobs to the struggling northern Wisconsin economy.
State Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee, said the bill would take important regulatory powers away from environmental regulators, like the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“[The legislation’s authors] have made the DNR a toothless tiger with this bill,” Richards said.
State Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, and state Rep. Mary Williams, R-Medford, who co-authored the bill, said Republicans worked to adopt amendments to ensure the legislation would protect the environment, while also providing much-needed jobs to the state.
At one point during the discussion, Williams expressed her optimism about the bill’s potential benefits after state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said he would eat his shoe if a single mining job were created because of the bill.
“I will bring the ketchup if that’s what [he’d] like on it,” Williams said.
