As expected, on a party-line vote, today Republicans on the Wisconsin Assembly’s Jobs, Economy and Small Business Committee approved AB 426, a bill seemingly ghostwritten by the mining industry.

Here’s what Clean Wisconsin’s government relations director, Amber Meyer Smith, had to say in a press release after the Assembly Committee vote:

The Assembly Mining Bill rolls back commonsense environmental protections, silences the voice of the public, and eliminates accountability for mining corporations. The Committee’s attempt to improve the bill with a substitute amendment today is like trying to fix a broken leg with a Band-Aid. This bill clearly puts the interests of out-of-state mining corporations ahead of the health and safety of Wisconsin residents, and should be rejected by our legislators when it comes up for a vote before the full Assembly on Thursday.

Good information on the ecological threats of the proposed strip mine in the Penokee Hills of northern Wisconsin and what you can do to stop it can be found at the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters.

Though a poll by WPRI has shown that weakening environmental regulations for mining is unpopular (51% oppose, 38% approve), Wisconsin Republicans are so desperate to lure corporations to the state they seem willing to return us all to the age of robber barons.