Assembly Vote On Mining Bill Delayed

The state Assembly will not be voting next week as previously promised on a bill designed to help open an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin.

Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald said in a statement on Tuesday that he hoped to vote on the bill Thursday. But that session day got canceled Friday.

Fitzgerald’s spokesman John Jagler saidhe plan is to vote on the bill Jan. 26. He says the delay is because amendments are still being drafted, but he said the bill is not in trouble.

The mine’s backers say it would bring more than 700 mining jobs to an economically depressed area. Environmentalists and tribal leaders who live in the Penokee Hills area are worried about the long-term effects of mining in one of the state’s most pristine regions.