Newsmakers: Tribal Rights and the Mining Bill
Bad River Tribal leaders have repeatedly said they were not consulted when Assembly Republican lawmakers drafted and passed a bill that would allow Gogebic Taconite to apply for permits to open a huge open-pit mine in Ashland and Iron counties. In a Newsmakers interview on Feb. 24, attorney Glenn Stoddard, who represents the tribe, and UW-Madison American Indian Studies Professor Larry Nesper discussed the "sovereign nation" status of the tribe and how the role that could play out if a mining bill passes the Legislature and is signed into law. Because of the threat the mining proposal poses to reservation water supplies and rice beds, Stoddard doubted that federal permits will ever be issued for the Gogebic mine at that location.
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