Frederica Freyberg:

Two legislative committees this week passed a Republican bill reworking Wisconsin’s mining regulations. This paves the way for a new iron ore mine in northwestern Wisconsin. Speaker Vos says he thinks the full legislature will pass the measure the first week in March. Meanwhile, Democrats are holding a public hearing on the mine Saturday in Ashland, saying people who live near the proposed mine site haven’t had a chance to be heard. Today, they also toured the proposed site. Wisconsin Public Radio’s Shawn Johnson is in Ashland County and joins us now by phone. Shawn, thanks a lot for doing so.

Shawn Johnson:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

Shawn, why was this tour and series of meetings called when the mining bill is already, kind of, sailing through these committees?

Shawn Johnson:

It sailed through the committees, but I think you heard signals from, you know, even Republicans on those committees, that there are changes yet to come to this bill. That’s a sign that while it may have sailed through a couple committees, it still has to clear the budget panel and it has to, most importantly, pass the state senate, where, you know, margins are fairly close.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is that in question?

Shawn Johnson:

I think it’s, yeah, I think it’s in question enough. I think if, you know, if it they had the votes they needed, they wouldn’t be talking about making more changes and, you know, you wouldn’t have some of the lawmakers up here on this tour. You got nine Democratic senators up here that have toured some properties that would be near the mining site or the cabin near what would be a tailings pile right now. But you also have a couple Republicans up here, Dale Schultz of Richland Center and Green Bay senator Robert Cowles, who’s actually off on his own tour with the mining company right now. So that’s a signal that there are votes yet to be secured.

Frederica Freyberg:

Now, you went along on this tour to some of these locations that would be near the proposed site. Was it instructive for you?

Shawn Johnson:

It’s– You know, it’s just something that if you’ve only heard about or seen on paper, so it's, you know, kind of nice to put a physical glimpse at, you know, a piece of landscape that could be pretty seriously changed.

Frederica Freyberg:

There were a couple of meetings, I understood from you, ahead of you going up there, that were also planned for today, as well as that, kind of, listening session tomorrow, and again, to what end?

Shawn Johnson:

I think, you know, that there have been signals that there– That critics of the bill want to have some more changes to environmental law, or they want to make some more tweaks to the environmental changes in the bill and there are many. And so I think it’s just sort of finding a mix, okay, what would happen if you have a massive mine here and you had this deep pit. Where would all the waste go? What does it look like? And so you’re– It’s a chance for lawmakers to kind of see, you know, all these concepts they’ve been talking about in Madison.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Shawn Johnson, thanks very much for calling us on the phone even in the midst of your tour up there outside.

Shawn Johnson:

All right. Thanks.