To The Editor:

As a former Wisconsin resident, I found it interesting that Kennecott Mining Company points to their success with the Flambeau sulfide mine in Ladysmith, WI to promote their proposed sulfide mine in Marquette County. Your readers should be aware of these facts:

The total mining tax revenue to Ladysmith, the Town of Grant, and Rusk County from 1989 through 1999 was less than 1% of the profits garnered by the mining company from their exploitation of Rusk County’s mineral resources.

Much of the “investment as a result of mine-stimulated project” claimed by mining promoters was actually state and federal development money coming out of tax dollars.

In 1993, the year with the greatest local employment by the mining company, the annual unemployment rate for Rusk County shot up to an unprecedented 11.8%, over three times the statewide jobless rate of 3.1%. Even at peak operation, the Flambeau mine only employed about 40 “local” residents, some of whom were actually long-term Kennecott employees, brought into the area early enough to establish local residency according to the local agreement, and itinerant miners.

Rusk County ranked next to the bottom in western Wisconsin in both 1997 equalized property values and percent increase in property values since 1996. While most of western Wisconsin saw unprecedented growth between 1989 and 1997, the population of Ladysmith actually decreased during these years of mine operation.

In 1997, Rusk County received a grant from the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Commission because it had the lowest income per capita and ranked third in juvenile violent crime offenses in the state.

Ladysmith’s economic gains compared with other north central Wisconsin communities over the same period show that sulfide mining does not draw people to an area to recreate, relocate and spend money like communities with recreational assets. People don’t vacation at a sulfide mine.

If Ladysmith is an example, the claim of economic revival resulting from massive influx of capital into the region due to a sulfide mine is a myth. The profits and the jobs went out of the county, state, and country along with the gold, copper, and silver.

In Marquette county, will jobs and businesses be at risk with loss of tourism dollars? If people don’t move here, will property values decline? Aside from the serious environmental and health risks associated with this mine, your readers along with city, county, and state leaders should ask if this community will be economically better off with a sulfide mine in its backyard.

Merrill Horswill

Marquette