A Republican state senator is proposing scaling back potential access restrictions to the forest surrounding iron mine site just south of Lake Superior.
After nearly a year of maneuvering to help a Florida-based company open an iron mine in far northwestern Wisconsin, Assembly Republicans were poised Thursday to finally pass a bill that streamlines the state's complex permitting process.
Republicans on the state Assembly's jobs committee approved a bill Tuesday that would streamline Wisconsin's iron mining permit process, brushing aside Democrats' claims that the measure is a license to pollute.
The state Assembly is set to vote next week on a bill that pits the promise of hundreds of jobs against worries an iron ore mine would despoil a pristine area in northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior.