A projected surplus of worldwide iron ore may be raising a new cloud over efforts to spur employment growth in northern Wisconsin.
Wall Street analysts who specialize in minerals and commodities are predicting a glut of iron ore that will keep prices low. Demand is easing, they say, and new projects in the western hemisphere and west Australia are due to come on line.
In November, the company operating a mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula announced it was laying off 500 workers and another in northern Minnesota was talking about potential loss of 125 jobs.
The debate about mining in Wisconsin has been whether to change existing rules that would help open-pit iron ore mining, and accelerating the process for mines to get a regulatory green light.
If the economics are hazy, the politics are clear. Republican Gov. Scott Walker has toured the state citing the promise of job growth with regulatory changes. Walker has made mining the centerpiece of his job growth efforts.
Walker had promised to create 250,000 jobs in his first four years in office. The numbers to fulfill that promise are lagging, but the mine could be a job growth symbol for Walker's re-election efforts. That helps explain the Republican call for quick passage of streamlining mining rules.
The rhetoric has reached a high pitch.
Scott Manley, vice president of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Business (WMC), the state's largest business lobby, said mines would create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic opportunities.
Mike Wiggins Jr., chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, said it was remarkable that lawmakers "are pushing legislation drafted by mining interests to deregulate the treatment of waters, lands and impacts to the environment.
"Access to clean drinking water, clean air and healthy fish and game are inherent human rights that no lawmaker can give away," he said. The proposed mine would be built near the head waters of the Bad River which supplies water for the rice beds of the Indian band.
The Chippewa also suggest that pushing the mining bill would violate treaty rights between the government and the Native American community.
That sounds like the mining changes, no matter how written, could end up in a federal court. Also on the federal horizon is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has warned against efforts to rush mine approval.
Spokesmen for Gogebic Taconite, the company seeking to create the Wisconsin open pit mine near Ashland, indicated the firm would move ahead if appropriate changes were made in Wisconsin law.
"If this bill or something similar is passed, we absolutely want to be here," said its lobbyist Bob Seitz.
Environmentalists have rallied to oppose the changes. George Meyer, a former secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, and now executive director of Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said the legislation would allow wetlands to be destroyed, lakes to be filled in, and groundwater withdrawn.
But those seemed destined to take a back seat to jobs and politics. Walker would love a groundbreaking ceremony as the 2014 political season unfolds.
- Matt Pommer, a 35-year veteran of covering state government in Madison, writes the weekly State Capitol Newsletter for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His column is published Monday in the Times.
Wall Street analysts who specialize in minerals and commodities are predicting a glut of iron ore that will keep prices low. Demand is easing, they say, and new projects in the western hemisphere and west Australia are due to come on line.
In November, the company operating a mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula announced it was laying off 500 workers and another in northern Minnesota was talking about potential loss of 125 jobs.
The debate about mining in Wisconsin has been whether to change existing rules that would help open-pit iron ore mining, and accelerating the process for mines to get a regulatory green light.
If the economics are hazy, the politics are clear. Republican Gov. Scott Walker has toured the state citing the promise of job growth with regulatory changes. Walker has made mining the centerpiece of his job growth efforts.
Walker had promised to create 250,000 jobs in his first four years in office. The numbers to fulfill that promise are lagging, but the mine could be a job growth symbol for Walker's re-election efforts. That helps explain the Republican call for quick passage of streamlining mining rules.
The rhetoric has reached a high pitch.
Scott Manley, vice president of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Business (WMC), the state's largest business lobby, said mines would create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic opportunities.
Mike Wiggins Jr., chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, said it was remarkable that lawmakers "are pushing legislation drafted by mining interests to deregulate the treatment of waters, lands and impacts to the environment.
"Access to clean drinking water, clean air and healthy fish and game are inherent human rights that no lawmaker can give away," he said. The proposed mine would be built near the head waters of the Bad River which supplies water for the rice beds of the Indian band.
The Chippewa also suggest that pushing the mining bill would violate treaty rights between the government and the Native American community.
That sounds like the mining changes, no matter how written, could end up in a federal court. Also on the federal horizon is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has warned against efforts to rush mine approval.
Spokesmen for Gogebic Taconite, the company seeking to create the Wisconsin open pit mine near Ashland, indicated the firm would move ahead if appropriate changes were made in Wisconsin law.
"If this bill or something similar is passed, we absolutely want to be here," said its lobbyist Bob Seitz.
Environmentalists have rallied to oppose the changes. George Meyer, a former secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, and now executive director of Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, said the legislation would allow wetlands to be destroyed, lakes to be filled in, and groundwater withdrawn.
But those seemed destined to take a back seat to jobs and politics. Walker would love a groundbreaking ceremony as the 2014 political season unfolds.
- Matt Pommer, a 35-year veteran of covering state government in Madison, writes the weekly State Capitol Newsletter for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His column is published Monday in the Times.
