Gobebic Taconite Demands "Certainty" on Mine, thinks they're entitled to our natural resources.

Republicans have emboldened big business with repeatable talking points that don’t really fit in with the concept of free markets. At the hearing today, Gogebic demanded “certainty.” Hey, this is mining, where certainty means passing environmental review and concerns. Gogebic thinks they're entitled to an end date. In fact, they're demanding it. Welcome to market forces.

jsonline: Sen. Dale Schultz, a moderate who won't vote for an Assembly version of a mining bill, says he'll make significant alterations by Monday in the hope of forging a consensus.

Schultz said he has huddled with others, including Sen. Robert Cowles  and Sen. Bob Jauch. The aim is to strip away much of the regulatory changes in the Assembly bill and instead address the concerns expressed last year by Gogebic Taconite of Hurley … the company said it was putting plans on hold until mining regulations were changed to give the company more certainty that environmental reviews didn't drag on for years.

Schultz said his changes would provide a timeline of about one year … But he said it will also include an option for the DNR and Gogebic to hold up on time limits if unforeseen circumstances arise.

The environmental concerns were never a big issue for Gogebic, but delays were. That’s why Schultz is making the changes. As for Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, trashing scenic vacation country was never a concern. "To me, we can strike a balance that is reasonable and appropriate," Schultz said.

I thought this recent comment said it better than I could:

CERTAINTY? You want certainty? You want to be free from doubt or reservation? You want it to be inevitable? You want it to fixed, agreed upon? You want it to be unquestionable or indisputable?

Hmmm - that ain't gonna happen. So get those greedy salivating thoughts of an environmental rape out of your head. Slow down. That ore ain't going nowhere. Maybe a meet and greet with mother nature would be in order. Maybe just maybe your rape, burn and pillage approach won't work?