To Citizens & Leaders of Marathon County:

It was an unfortunate day in 2017 when our state leaders, and I use that term leader loosely, thought it was a good idea to end the moratorium on metallic mining in Wisconsin.  Shame on those of you who did this.  To make things worse some members of our county leadership did not think anything of approving this flaw in common sense.

At a time when wells are being shut down due to pollution, water quality should be first and foremost on the minds of everyone.  More than ever clean ground water for drinking and recreation needs to be protected. The Eau Claire River runs through more than one municipality. If a sulfuric acid mineral exploration drilling project to evaluate if an open-pit gold mine is constructed in the Town of Easton with the potential of mining that area, more than just one municipality will be affected by the ground water pollution created by this process if mining progresses.

Are you ready for a foreign company to come into our beautiful county and potentially destroy our pristine waters? Do you really believe their promises that they will leave things in good condition? Do you really think a foreign company will care? We will be an afterthought and in their rear-view mirror after the damage is done. All the promises in the world from good paying jobs, help with financial issues in the township etc. are temporary and will end when they pull up stakes and LEAVE. No promises in the world will ever take away the damage done if we allow any kind of metallic mining in Marathon County.

I encourage leadership to deny permits to these companies and push for our legislators to reinstate moratoriums on metallic mining in Wisconsin forever. Save our natural resources. The future is in our hands, your hands, it is time to stand up for the safety and beauty of our state, our county, our precious waters.

---