LANSING, MI-- Legislation to create a Committee on Michigan’s Mining Future has been signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The committee will include 15 representatives from mining operations, local governments, environmental groups, Native American tribes and other groups. They will make advisory legislative and policy recommendations for sustainable mining practices in Michigan.
“I’m extremely happy to have my first bill signed into law… by Governor Whitmer,” says bill sponsor, Representative Sara Cambensy. “Establishing an advisory committee to look at existing gaps in coordination, communication, and what industry and interest groups find important or lacking in terms of mining research, infrastructure, energy, and the environment will be key to coming up with long-term goals and strategies that help elected leaders make sound policy decisions.”
Cambensy says the idea for the legislation came from watching the idling of the Empire Mine in 2016. A few years earlier, a major expansion and the development of a direct reduced iron pellet that is necessary in order to melt recycled steel and create new steel products was being worked on at the Marquette Iron Range. “It became increasingly clear after watching the investment shift from Michigan to Minnesota, that what elected leaders do or don’t do at the state level can be crucial to where investments are made,” she says.
