Senator Tammy Baldwin visits Bad River and Red Cliff Reservations
Economic and education issues on agenda in visits
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin made stops in Ashland and Bayfield County Tuesday, visiting the Bad River and Red Cliff Indian Reservations.
In Bad River, Baldwin visited the tribal head start operation and the human services offices before meeting with Bad River Tribal Chairman Mike Wiggins and members of the Tribal Council.
In Red Cliff, she met with Chairwoman Rose Soulier and participated in a driving tour of the reservation, which included a tour of the Red Cliff Community Health Clinic.
In his presentation to Baldwin, Wiggins spoke against the development of the Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) iron mine in Ashland and Iron County.
He charged that Gogebic Taconite owner Chris Cline has a pattern of mine development at the expense of local communities.
“They say that company knowingly reintroduced arsenic-laden tailings into the aquifer of Seville,” he said, asserting that the current president of GTAC has been indicted in Spain.
He identified Cline with the legend of the Wendigo, a malevolent, demonic half-beast of Native American legend.
He also spoke against the development of a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFOS) proposed for Bayfield County, which he said was a part of a class of development that could “leave Main Streets and towns just devastated, and we don’t want that.”
He contrasted those proposals with food expansions involving Memorial Medical Center, Northland College and the Chequamegon Food Cooperative.
“They have committed to 30 percent buying local,” he said, noting that the Alliance for Sustainability has asserted that the area was actually 189 growers short.
“The spirit that is driving that local movement is not apples to apples with those CAFOs,” he said. “The people do not want that.”
Baldwin said her visit to Bad River and Red Cliff was “a wonderful opportunity” for her.
“I regret previously that I’ve just driven through U.S. Highway 2,” she said. “I’ve had the opportunity to speak with the chairman on a couple of occasions, but this was a really great opportunity for me to deepen my understanding of tribal services, their focus on early childhood education, future generations, thinking forward.”
Baldwin said the real goal of the visits was to build relationships with tribal officials.
“I hope to be in my role for a long time, and I hope that Chairman Wiggins will also be in his role for a long time,” she said. “As a sovereign nation within the State of Wisconsin, I hope that we can build a long and complementary relationship.”
Baldwin said she viewed one of the key interactions in her job involving Wiggins’ concerns involved the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We don’t have an application from any companies yet,” she said of the Penokee Hills mine. “But everyone predicts there will be one forthcoming and I have tried to impress upon the EPA that they need to deepen their knowledge of the Lake Superior basin watershed in particular, because we really need that knowledge to advocate for its protection.”
Baldwin observed that to date, the questions concerning the Gogebic Taconite issue have been largely state issues.
“One of the things that I have taken great note of in recent months has been that in many ways the state’s rewriting of their mining laws to give short shrift to some of the very vital issues being studied has in a way backfired on them,” she said. “The Army Corps of Engineers has said that typically in states they like to work hand-in-hand with the State DNR, but because they have so shortened the review, they are going to have to start their activities when they are done. So in a way, the state legislature may have elongated the process when they were trying to shorten it.”
Baldwin noted that there were a number of federal angles to the GTAC mining plans, including the Army Corps, EPA and agencies involved in wildlife habitat protections, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
“They have an obligation to protect treaty rights and tribal traditions and culture,” she said.
Baldwin said she was concerned about an issue of economic development raised by Wiggins, that of broadband connectivity.
“In the Congress recently, we reauthorized the farm bill, and in it there are provisions that allow for greater support of connectivity,” she said. “We would like to see those grants deployed quickly and fairly. I understand the chairman’s strong points about what happens to a community that isn’t connected. They are behind in terms of opportunity for economic development but also for building community and opportunity.”
