Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates' positions, 2002

This page is to provide information on the positions of 2002 candidates for the Wisconsin governor's office. It is not intended as an endorsement or disendorsement of any candidate.

I oppose the Arrowhead-Weston project, and I have publicly criticized the process the Public Service Commission used in approving the A-W power line.

Communities and landowners should have had a stronger voice at the table during consideration of a project that will so greatly affects Northern and Central Wisconsin. We must have a realistic public discussion about long-term energy needs in Wisconsin.

When I am Governor, my administration will ensure that Wisconsin has a comprehensive energy plan that is developed in partnership with producers, consumers, communities, landowners and concerned citizens so that there is clarity on our energy needs and the ways we will meet them. As governor, I will appoint members to the Public Service Commission who will actually serve the public.

The A-W project was approved under leadership that woefully neglected the public's concern. The question now is what legally can be done in light of the fact that the PSC has made a decision. In the absence of a final court ruling to the contrary, legally the project may proceed. Since by law the PSC is an independent commission, the next governor will not have the authority to order the PSC to change its decision or even to review its decision.

Nonetheless, as governor, I will request a careful review the process through which the PSC approved the A-W line to ensure that the PSC played by the rules, and I will develop and implement a real Wisconsin energy policy. I will also do all I can to ensure that the concerns of Northern and Central Wisconsin are addressed in this process.

Candidates call for cyanide ban
Gubernatorial hopefuls tout green credentials

Three Democratic candidates for governor used Earth Day on Monday to advance their environmental agendas, and all three called for a ban on the use of cyanide in mining.

Kathleen Falk, the Dane County executive, said during a campaign stop in Wausau that the ban would end the controversy over a proposed zinc and copper mine near Crandon.

She also would require mine companies "to operate at the same standards others must meet," she said.

Falk also vowed to push for further limits on mercury emissions from power plants; make the state's Public Service Commission more responsive and less political; and restore the office of public intervenor, which represented citizens on environmental issues. She served as the state's intervenor in the 1970s and early 1980s, long before former Gov. Tommy Thompson eliminated the office.

U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, a Milwaukee Democrat, listed the cyanide ban among his five environmental goals in a campaign statement.

He said he also would restore the public intervenor, allow a citizen board to again select the state's secretary of natural resources, block any "raid" on the Public Benefits energy-conservation fund and fight efforts to drill for oil in the Great Lakes.

Attorney General James Doyle, also one of four Democrats seeking their party's nomination in the Sept. 10 primary, said he contacted Gov. Scott McCallum and leaders in both houses to urge a special session of the Legislature be called to work on two mining bills.

The state Senate has approved one of the bills, calling for the cyanide ban, but the measure has not been passed by the Assembly or signed by the governor.

"Using cyanide in mining is both unsafe and unneeded," Doyle said in a campaign statement. "Technology is already in use that is much safer for the environment."

The other bill would require that a 90-foot-high tailings landfill at the proposed Crandon mine be held to the same water-quality boundaries as other landfills.

Environmentalists fear that cyanide would escape the mine site, poisoning the environment.

Nicolet Minerals Co. plans to use cyanide during the proposed 30-year life of the Crandon mine to help separate metal from pulverized rock.

Mine officials assert the cyanide would be used in an enclosed facility where spills could be contained.

Nicolet President Dale Alberts said the mine would create 400 jobs over its three-decade life and another 300 during construction, a major boost to one of Wisconsin's most economically distressed counties.

In Madison, Gov. McCallum used the 33rd annual Earth Day celebration to point out the passage last year of the nation's first Wetlands Protection Act and an increase in funding for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund from $46 million to $60 million a year. Stewardship purchases have allowed the state to protect thousands of acres from development, he said.

The other Democrat seeking to challenge McCallum in November is state Sen. Gary George of Milwaukee.

- Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
contributed to this report.

   Kathleen Falk opposes the Crandon mine as part of her conservation agenda:

Protect the Wolf River from the Crandon Mine
Despite years of study, the company proposing the Crandon Mine has not demonstrated they could operate the mine and reclaim the site without a substantial risk of permanent damage to natural resources. Consequently,

Kathleen is opposed to the Crandon Mine. As governor, she will ban the use of cyanide mining, require mining companies to operate by the same pollution standards applicable to other industries and issue strong regulations implementing the Mining Moratorium Act, requiring mining companies prove - before getting any permits - that a sulfide ore mine can operate without polluting Wisconsin's waterways. http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/May02/0510falkconserve.PDF

   Thank you for asking about Ed Thompson's opinion on the environmental concerns related to the Crandon mine and the Duluth-Wausau powerline. Ed's approach to these two issues is based in his strong support for protecting the environment and private property rights. The environment is so important because it is the air we breath and the water we drink. A clean environment is necessary for a healthy life. Ed Thompson loves the beauty of Wisconsin and will fight to protect that beauty as governor. Property rights are so important because they are the basis by which we can say, "This is ours, you cannot pollute it or take it away.

Ed Thompson has not had access to all the reports concerning the environmental consequences that could result from the Crandon mine and the Duluth-Wausau powerline. As governor, Ed Thompson will review the science regarding environmental damage and the potential property damage from the mine and powerline and make a decision uninfluenced by special interests. Ed Thompson can promise to make the decision that is in the best interests of our rights and our environment because he has refused in his campaign to take political action committee money.

As governor, Ed Thompson will look to good science to determine whether a mine or proposed mine pollutes the environment. Pollution of neighboring private or public land or pollution of the air or water will not be tolerated. Companies operating mines that pollute would have to clean up the mess and either (1) find a way to continue mining without harming the environment or (2) terminate mining.

Regarding power lines, Ed Thompson would as governor look to good science to determine whether powerlines are dangerous and reject forcing on people powerlines that may harm their health and the environment. Ed Thompson would also require the payment of just compensation, as required by the U.S. Constitution, for the condemnation of land for the building of powerlines. Too often, market value compensation is not paid in condemnations, forcing private individuals to shoulder a financial burden that should be shared. Requiring just compensation will make clear the full cost of electricity transmission projects, encouraging powerline builders to find alternatives such as alternative energy sources, local energy production, transmitting the energy in a manner causing less interference, or reevaluating the need for so much energy.

-Adam Dick, operations director
Friends for Ed Thompson
www.EdThompson.com
adam_dick2@yahoo.com (608)374-2537

   Wisconsin Attorney General Jim Doyle is running for governor. With one hand, he recently supported two legislative bills to reform state mining laws. Yet with the other hand, he is suing the Mole Lake Chippewa Tribe for using the federal Clean Water Act to protect its wild rice beds from the proposed Crandon mine. Doyle has it within his power to drop the lawsuit against Mole Lake's "Treatment-As-State" (TAS) status within the EPA, and help the effort to stop the proposed Crandon mine. Yet instead, he has chosen to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Even the Bush Administration has now sided with the tribe against Wisconsin's "poor" legal challenge.

Doyle lost a federal appeal of Wisconsin v. EPA last September. In its ruling, the Court stated: "This grant of TAS status alarmed the State of Wisconsin, which saw it as both an affront to the state's sovereignty and, more pragmatically, as an action with the potential to throw a wrench into the state's planned construction of a huge zinc-copper sulfide mine on the Wolf River, upstream from Rice Lake. Concerned about its loss of authority over certain territory within its outer boundaries and worried that the tribal water standards might limit the activities of the mine by prohibiting some or all of the discharge from the mine, Wisconsin filed this action...."

Please write the Doyle for Governor Campaign, to ask that the candidate put his actions where his words are, and drop Wisconsin v. EPA. We don't want our state taxes being used to fight a hopeless legal battle against a tiny Native community trying to protect its water and its culture. Please write or call the campaign, bring it up in debates and interviews, and ask other candidates to point out Doyle's contradictory behavior.

DOYLE 2002
P.O. Box 2687,
Madison, WI 53701
Phone (608) 284-2002
Fax (608) 284-2003
E-mail: campaign@doyle2002.com

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

• Petition to Wisconsin Attorney General James Doyle to drop Mole Lake water quality case
  
• http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/water.html
• Supreme Court Docket Sheet
  http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/01-1247.htm
• U.S. Department of Justice Brief
  http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/briefs/2001/0responses/2001-1247.resp.pdf
• State of Wisconsin v. Environmental Protection Agency
  No 99-2618 (7th Cir. September 21, 2001)
  http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/7th/992618.html

The Wisconsin Green Party Urges Passage of Ban on Cyanide in Mining and No Special Treatment for the Mining Industry Bills

Contacts:
Amy Heart, Co spokesperson, 715-345-2739 amylheart@hotmail.com,
John Peck, Co spokesperson, 608-294-0380 jepeck@students.wisc.edu

The Wisconsin Green Party, the only political party in Wisconsin to add its voice to the outcry against the Crandon mine, has joined other citizens groups to call for a vote in the legislature to protect the waterways of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Green Party calls on representatives to pass two mining-related bills coming up in the Wisconsin Assembly: SB-160 (to ban cyanide in mining) and SB271 (to end special treatment for the mining industry). Both would protect the Wolf River from the potentially devastating pollution from the proposed Crandon mine. Both passed the Wisconsin Senate, 19 to 14. The Wisconsin Green Party calls for the Assembly Environment Committee to have an immediate committee vote on both bills.

Metallic mining is known to be responsible for over half of the United States' toxic releases. Currently, wastes produced at mines are not subject to hazardous waste laws, in spite of the fact that even small amounts of cyanide are toxic to fish and other wildlife.

Results of a statewide pool in 2001 by Chamberlain research indicate that 90% of Wisconsin adults believe mining should be held to the same groundwater and hazardous waste standards as other industries, and 58% support a ban on cyanide in all Wisconsin mines, without exemptions for any mines.

Nicolet Minerals Company (NMC), a subsidiary of the Australian/South African mining giant BHP Billiton, wants to use 20 tons of cyanide a month at its proposed Crandon mine - despite the fact that most U.S. copper and zinc mines use alternatives, and do not use cyanide for ore processing. The proposed Crandon mine site is near the headwaters of the pristine Wolf River. A ban on cyanide in mining would prevent these risks.

SB-271 (to end special treatment for the mining industry) would eliminate mining loopholes and exemptions from environmental laws, repealing the current exemption for mining waste from hazardous waste laws. It would also require mining permits to be based on the same groundwater standards that they will be required to live with once they are operating. Currently, the decision to grant mining permits are based on groundwater pollution levels 1,200 feet away from mines and tailing dumps, even though they are required to meet those standards at 150 feet once they are operating. The disparity means that it is likely that mines will get variances from the 150' standard once they are operating - meaning they will be allowed to pollute more than any other waste facilities in the state, even at the headwaters of the Wolf River.

"Mining waste is much different than landfill waste", said Jeff Peterson, a long time Wisconsin Green Party member. "Although landfill waste will eventually degrade biologically, mining waste will change very little even over vast amounts of time. Since metallic mining accounts for more than half of the nation's toxic releases, the strictest standards should be put into place in regards to mining. Both the bill to End Special Treatment for the Mining Industry, and the Ban Cyanide in Mining bill will increase safeguards for the people and environment of Wisconsin."

The Green Party sees the action to ban cyanide in mining and to end special treatment for the mining industry as a tool to protect small business owners, tourist related industry, farmers, and communities in northern Wisconsin.

"Mining is one of the most destructive human practices on earth. In order for us to live sustainably on the earth, we can not continue to mine metals and minerals in quantities that put their occurrence on the surface of the earth at a higher proportion than what is naturally occurring," said Amy Heart, Wisconsin Green Party spokesperson.

The Wisconsin Green Party asserts that current mining laws must be strengthened by preventing DNR rules from granting variances to important environmental criteria. Mining of ore deposits must be carried out with complete protection of the air, surface and ground waters and wildlife, and with respect for sacred sites and medicines of Native Americans. Mining companies must prove that they have no violations of federal, state or local environmental and workplace safety laws in this or other jurisdictions before being granted permits to mine in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Green Party believes that local units of government must be able to ban mining activities within their jurisdictions by local ordinance, not withstanding state law permitting mining activities.

The Wisconsin Green Party believes that to the greatest extent possible, Wisconsin's needs for minerals should be met through recycling.

Indian casinos around Wisconsin would remain open under longer - and potentially more profitable - compacts with the state if voters pick any of the four Democratic candidates for governor this year.

That was the promise from all four Democratic gubernatorial candidates and Green Party candidate Jim Young during a forum Monday sponsored by the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council. The council is made up of all of the state's Indian tribes.

Nine of the 11 tribes that operate casinos have been sponsoring TV ads in recent weeks pressing Gov. Scott McCallum and other state leaders to extend the compacts beyond the current five-year terms.

Those compacts, which give the tribes the exclusive authority to operate casinos in exchange for payments to the state, will start to expire next year.

The tribes say they cannot make long-term business decisions - or obtain the financing needed for major projects - if they have to renegotiate the compacts every five years. They want the compacts to last at least 10 years.

McCallum, who has consistently opposed gambling, has not said what he intends to do about renewing the compacts or extending their terms.

But the Democrats and Young all expressed their support.

"I believe Indian gaming is here to stay in Wisconsin," Attorney General Jim Doyle told the group. "I assure you that as governor (gambling) will continue and we will enter into longer-term compacts."

U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee, acknowledged, "I am not a big lover of gambling, but I recognize that when the eggs are scrambled, they are not unscrambled."

He said he would renew the compacts and extend them for longer than five years, although he did not specify how much longer.

State Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee, said the current compacts "prove the viability of these economic opportunities," but that "extending the compacts is critical."

George, who has made reform of state campaign finance and budgeting laws the centerpiece of his candidacy, added that the governor should not use the compact negotiations as a way to leverage campaign contributions from the tribes.

"That is just plain wrong," he said.

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said she supports the current gambling compacts and favors extending the length of the agreements.

She also said she supports the expansion of casinos around the state as long as they have community and state support.

McCallum has blocked the opening of proposed casinos in Kenosha and Beloit, both of which had the active backing of local officials.

Young also expressed support for the compacts, but said they should be part of a bigger economic development package.

The 16 tribal casinos generate an estimated $1 billion in revenues annually for the tribes, according to the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

Because the tribes are sovereign nations and not subject to Wisconsin taxes, the tribes have agreed to pay the state $24 million annually, which is about what they would pay in corporate income taxes.

Young and the four Democrats promised to improve government-to-government relations between the tribes and the state. Barrett promised that he would field calls from tribal leaders himself - as befitting a call from the head of another sovereign state - while George said he would appoint a Native American to his cabinet.

All of the candidates said there is a strong overlap between the state's and the tribes' interests in environmental regulation. The tribes - as well as many environmental groups - are pressing for tougher mining regulations to prevent potential cyanide contamination of the Wolf and other rivers.

Ackerville Bridge Project Public Information Meeting

Ed Thompson attended the state Department of Transportation's Ackerville Bridge Project public information meeting at Slinger Middle School in Slinger on Tuesday, May 7th. At the meeting, Ed criticized the proposed multi-million dollar bridge over a couple railroad tracks and a rural intersection as an example of big money pushing unneeded and unwanted highway expansion. Ed also criticized the artificial separation of the Ackerville Bridge Project from the rest of the 22 mile Highway 164 expansion as a political trick by the state to avoid otherwise required environmental studies and respect for Native American burial grounds. Ed expressed particular concern about a study indicating the presence of contaminants and the discovery of Native American burial grounds in the path of the proposed construction project.