State’s Republicans name mining committee members

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans in the state Senate have put together a committee that will consider changes to Wisconsin’s mining regulations.

Sen. Neal Kedzie of Elkhorn will chair the mining panel. The other Republican members will include Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center, Sen. Rob Cowles of Green Bay and Sen. Rich Zipperer of Pewaukee.

It’ll be up to Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, a Monona Democrat, to appoint Democrats to the panel.

Gogebic Taconite has proposed an iron mine in Iron and Ashland counties. The company claims the project would create hundreds of jobs for northwestern Wisconsin, but said it wants assurances of an end point in the state permitting process before it moves forward.

Conservationists fear the mine will pollute the Bad River watershed.