Bad River photo by Tim Kiser

The  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  recently reported two items of interest to rivers.  Getting the biggest headline was the news that open-pit iron mining is a distinct possibility for northern Wisconsin.  River Alliance got wind of this possibility in January, when a meeting to introduce the idea was quietly organized by the state Dept. of Commerce.

Wisconsin has lived uneasily with the shadow of metallic mining hanging over it, comforted somewhat by the so-called "mining moratorium" law passed in the wake of the Crandon mine dispute in 1997. That lawrefers only to so-called "sulfide mining," or mining of those metals, such as copper and nickel, associated with sulfide minerals.  People are concerned that runoff from the piles of mining spoils will contaminate surface and groundwater.

The law calls for a mining company to show that a "mining operation in a sulfide ore body" has been closed for at least10 years without contaminating nearby waters.  But it's not clear whether an iron mine is a "sulfide" mine, as those sulfide minerals are not usually associated with iron.  Moreover, a DNR official stated to us that "no one knows" whether there's a closed iron mine somewhere in the country that's been closed for at least 10 years that was also a "sulfide ore body."

Then there's this possibility:  if the Walker administration and the new Legislature decide the state's mining moratorium gets in the way of the "open for business" credo of the new administration, they could easily repeal it.
The proposed iron mine is in the Bad River watershed; the Bad River flows to Lake Superior.