Budget committee to take up mining bill

MADISON (AP) - The Legislature's finance committee is poised to vote next week on a divisive bill that would overhaul Wisconsin's iron mining regulations.

The Joint Finance Committee has scheduled a vote on the Republican measure for Monday afternoon at the state Capitol. Approval would set up votes in the full Senate and Assembly.

Passage is all but certain. The GOP controls the finance committee as well as both legislative houses and Republican Gov. Scott Walker has touted the bill as his signature job creation project.

The bill is designed to ease the regulatory path for Gogebic Taconite's plans for a giant open-pit iron mine just south of Lake Superior. Environmentalists and Democrats insist the bill would allow the company to pollute the pristine area.